A traumatic brain injury is often the hardest injury to prove and the one that changes a person’s life the most. There is no cast and no visible wound. What the family sees is a person who loses their words mid-sentence, cannot tolerate noise or light, sleeps twelve hours and wakes exhausted, snaps at people they love, and can no longer do the job they did without effort a month earlier.
Manoukian Law Firm represents people with brain injuries throughout California from the firm’s Chatsworth office. Attorney Vaheh Manoukian handles each case personally, and in brain injury cases much of that work is medical: making sure the right specialists are involved early and that what the family observes ends up in the record. If travel or screen time is difficult, we meet clients at home or in the hospital.
What to do after a head injury
- Get evaluated the same day, and say clearly whether you lost consciousness, felt dazed, or cannot remember the moments around the impact. Those words matter in the record.
- Return to a doctor when symptoms appear later. Headaches, nausea, light sensitivity, irritability, and word-finding trouble are all reportable, and delay is used to argue the symptoms came from something else.
- Ask for a referral to neurology and, when symptoms persist beyond a few weeks, to a neuropsychologist.
- Keep a daily symptom journal: what happened, how long it lasted, what you could not do. This becomes some of the most useful evidence in the case.
- Ask a spouse, parent, roommate, or coworker to write down the changes they notice. The injured person is often the last to see them.
- Save the evidence of the impact itself: the helmet, the vehicle damage photographs, the incident report.
- Follow return-to-work and return-to-activity restrictions and keep the paperwork. Pushing through and failing at work is documented differently than not trying.
How these cases work in California
Liability in a brain injury case is proven the same way as in any other injury claim. What is different is causation and damages, and that is where these cases are actually contested.
Symptoms can be delayed. A person may walk away from a collision, decline the ambulance, and begin having headaches, memory lapses, and mood changes two or three days later. A normal CT scan at the emergency room does not rule out a traumatic brain injury; CT is designed to find bleeding and skull fractures, not the diffuse injury that produces most persistent post-concussion symptoms. That gap between an unremarkable scan and a person who is clearly not themselves is the space in which most disputes over these claims occur.
Because of that, documentation by treating physicians carries the case. Neurology and physical medicine evaluations, symptom inventories recorded over time, vestibular and vision testing where indicated, and formal neuropsychological evaluation are what turn a family’s description into medical evidence. A neuropsychologist administers standardized testing that measures processing speed, memory, attention, and executive function against normed expectations, and includes validity measures that address the argument that symptoms are exaggerated.
Two rules of California law shape the rest. Medical damages are limited to the amounts actually paid or owed under Howell v. Hamilton Meats (2011), so the billing, the lien balances, and the projected cost of future care all have to be documented rather than estimated. And under pure comparative negligence from Li v. Yellow Cab (1975), a share of fault attributed to the injured person reduces the recovery proportionally rather than barring it. It is also settled law that a defendant takes the injured person as they find them, so a prior concussion or an existing condition does not excuse making it worse.
How Manoukian Law Firm handles brain injury cases
We begin with the mechanism of injury. Event data recorder downloads, vehicle damage analysis, and reconstruction establish the forces involved, which matters because insurers frequently argue that a given impact could not have produced a brain injury. Surveillance video and 911 recordings sometimes capture the minutes after the event, when confusion and disorientation are visible.
Then we build the medical picture. That means coordinating care so that the client is seen by physicians who evaluate carefully rather than only clearing them, arranging neuropsychological evaluation at the right point in the recovery, and obtaining advanced imaging when a treating physician determines it is warranted. We collect the complete records, including the pre-incident records, because the honest comparison between before and after is usually the most persuasive evidence in the file.
We also document the human side. School records, performance reviews, timesheets, and statements from family and coworkers show the change in a way test scores alone cannot. In serious cases we work with a physician and a life care planner to set out the future care the injury will require, and with an economist to establish lost earning capacity. When the claim is presented, it is presented with all of it attached. If the response does not reflect the injury, we file suit and prepare the case for a jury. San Fernando Valley cases are generally heard in the Los Angeles Superior Court’s North Valley district in Chatsworth or Northwest district in Van Nuys.
What can be recovered
California law allows recovery of past and future medical care, including neurological treatment, cognitive and vestibular therapy, medication, and the attendant or supervisory care some clients need permanently. Lost income is recoverable, as is lost earning capacity when a person can no longer do the work they trained for, which in a younger client can be the largest element of the claim. Household services, vocational retraining, and home modifications are recoverable where they are reasonably required.
Non-economic damages address what a brain injury actually takes: the loss of concentration, the exhaustion, the personality changes, the strain on a marriage, and the activities a person can no longer do. We make no predictions about amounts. We document the injury thoroughly and present it plainly.
Deadlines
The general deadline to file a California personal injury lawsuit is two years from the date of injury (Code Civ. Proc. 335.1). If a government entity is involved, a written claim must first be presented to that entity within six months (Gov. Code 911.2), followed by a shorter lawsuit deadline if the claim is rejected. Brain injury cases also have a practical timeline of their own: the early medical record, taken in the weeks when symptoms first appear, is far more persuasive than one assembled a year later, so there is real value in speaking with a lawyer while treatment is still underway.
Case results
Our client suffered catastrophic injuries after being struck by a commercial delivery driver who was on the job.
Our client developed ongoing neck pain after a multi-vehicle rear-end collision on the highway, requiring pain-management treatment.
First offer: $0. The insurer valued our client's injuries at $5,000 to $10,000, and called it a “soft impact.”
Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Frequently asked questions
My CT scan was normal. Do I still have a case?
Very possibly. CT imaging is used to identify bleeding and fractures, and a normal scan does not exclude a traumatic brain injury. Persistent symptoms are established through the treating physicians’ examinations, neuropsychological testing, and the documented change in daily function.
How long do post-concussion symptoms last?
Many people improve substantially within weeks or a few months. A meaningful minority have symptoms that persist far longer, and some are permanent. Because the course varies so widely, we do not resolve a claim before the treating physicians can say where a client is likely to end up.
The insurance company says my symptoms are from stress or a prior injury. What then?
That is a common position, and it is answered with evidence: pre-incident medical records showing the person’s baseline, validity testing within the neuropsychological evaluation, statements from people who knew the client before, and the treating physicians’ opinions on causation.
What if the injury happened in a fall or on someone’s property?
The medical proof is the same; the liability proof is different and turns on notice of the hazard. See our pages on Slip and Fall and Apartment Complex Injuries for how those claims are built.
What does it cost to hire the firm?
Nothing up front. Brain injury cases are handled on a contingency fee and there is no fee unless we recover for you. Case costs, including expert evaluations, are advanced by the firm. The consultation is free.
If you or someone in your family is dealing with a head injury after a collision or a fall, call Manoukian Law Firm at (818) 818-5031. Calls are answered 24 hours a day, we speak English, Spanish and Armenian, and we will come to your home or the hospital if that is easier. You can also reach us through our contact page, read more about Vaheh Manoukian, or see related pages for Car Accidents, Motorcycle Accidents, and Wrongful Death.
Serving clients across California
The office is on Topanga Canyon Boulevard in Chatsworth, and the firm represents injured people throughout California. If you cannot travel, we meet by phone, by video, at your home or in the hospital.
