I have certain criteria that help me decide whether to take a personal injury case. Here are some of the most important questions I ask when making this decision in a mild traumatic brain injury case:
- Does the potential client have an unresolved, symptomatic mild traumatic brain injury, and is this injury supported by the potential client’s medical records? In other words, will a doctor who has examined and treated the potential client be able to testify that the person has a brain injury?
- Does the potential client have friends, family members, co-workers, or doctors who have observed the plaintiff and who are willing and able to come to court and to the jury that there has been a notable change in the plaintiff since the accident?
- Was the brain injury caused by an accident, and can it be successfully demonstrated to the jury how the injury was caused by the accident?
- Who is the potential defendant, and does that defendant have sufficient assets or insurance coverage to satisfy a significant judgment for money damages in the case?
- Who caused the accident, and was that person negligent? If the potential client was partly to blame for the accident, this is a problem because Virginia law would bar the injured person from recovering any money from the potential defendant, even if the defendant was also negligent.
