Content reviewed by:
Alex Shulman
If someone else caused your brain injury, you may be able to recover money for medical bills, lost wages, long-term care, and pain and suffering. Your spouse may also have a claim for what the injury took from your marriage. What you collect depends on how the injury happened and how it changed your life.
A traumatic brain injury (TBI) can be hard to see on a scan and easy for an insurer to doubt. That is why brain injury compensation in Queens often turns on medical records, test results, and the people who knew you before. At Shulman & Hill Injury Lawyers, our brain injury lawyer in Queens looks at how you were hurt and what the injury will cost you.
What Types of Brain Injury Compensation Can You Recover in Queens?
Compensation after a TBI usually falls into two groups. Economic damages repay money the injury costs you, and non-economic damages cover harm that has no price tag. Depending on your case, you may be able to recover:
- Medical bills: Emergency care, CT and MRI scans, surgery, hospital stays, and visits with a neurologist.
- Rehab costs: Physical, occupational, speech, and cognitive therapy.
- Lost wages: Pay you missed while you were in treatment or unable to work.
- Lost earning power: Income you may lose later if you have to cut your hours or take lower-paying work.
- Future care: Home health aides, medical equipment, and changes to your home.
- Pain and suffering: Headaches, memory loss, mood changes, and the loss of activities you used to enjoy.
- Loss of consortium: Your spouse’s own claim for lost companionship and support.
Brain injury cases follow the same basic rules as any claim apersonal injury lawyer in Queens handles: you must show fault and prove each loss. Shulman & Hill builds that proof item by item, because a missing record can cost you part of your claim.
How Does Long-Term Care Affect the Value of a Brain Injury Claim?
Many brain injuries do not heal on a set schedule. Problems with memory, focus, speech, balance, or mood can last for months or years. A claim may include future care when doctors can show you are reasonably certain to need it.
Neuropsychological testing measures memory and thinking skills, which can show damage that a scan misses. For serious injuries, a life care plan may list the therapy, aides, equipment, and home changes you will likely need, with a cost for each. An economist may then turn those costs into today’s dollars.
A settlement usually ends your right to ask the same parties for more money later, even if your care costs rise. Shulman & Hill weighs your expected recovery before any offer is considered, so the years ahead count as much as the first few months.
Where Can You Get Brain Injury Treatment in Queens?
NewYork-Presbyterian Queens in Flushing is a Level I trauma center verified by the American College of Surgeons. The hospital also runs a neurocritical care unit for patients with serious brain and nerve injuries. That level of care protects your health first, and it also creates the detailed records a claim depends on.
Concussions and milder TBIs are often missed at first. If you have headaches, confusion, light sensitivity, or memory gaps after an accident, get checked even if you felt fine at the scene. Follow-up visits with a neurologist give doctors a chance to record symptoms that show up days or weeks later.
Shulman & Hill does not choose your doctors, and your treatment decisions are yours. What helps a claim is steady care and honest reports to each provider about how you feel.
How Does the Cause of Your Injury Affect What You Can Recover?
Car crashes fall under the state’s no-fault system, which may pay some medical bills and lost wages no matter who caused the crash. To sue for pain and suffering, you generally have to meet the serious injury threshold. A TBI diagnosis does not meet that threshold on its own.
Workplace injuries usually go through workers’ compensation, which may pay medical bills and part of your lost wages but not pain and suffering. You may still qualify for medical benefits even if you never miss a shift. If a contractor, property owner, or equipment maker shares the blame, you may also have a separate injury claim against that party.
Shulman & Hill handles workers’ compensation and personal injury under one roof. That matters on construction sites because many injured workers there have both types of claims.
Where Is a Queens Brain Injury Compensation Case Filed?
A lawsuit for brain injury compensation in Queens is usually filed in Queens County Supreme Court, which hears civil cases with no upper dollar limit. The court sits at 88-11 Sutphin Boulevard in Jamaica, with a second courthouse at 25-10 Court Square in Long Island City. Smaller claims, up to $50,000, can go to Civil Court instead.
A case can generally be filed in Queens if the accident happened there or if you or the defendant lived there when the case began. Claims against the city are usually filed in the county where the injury happened. Shulman & Hill has an office in Queens, so meetings and court dates can stay close to home.
What Evidence Shows the Value of a Brain Injury Claim?
Brain injuries are often disputed because the damage is hard to see. Insurers may argue that your symptoms come from stress, age, or an old condition. Evidence that may help includes:
- Emergency and hospital records from the first hours after the injury
- Imaging and test results, including CT, MRI, and neuropsychological testing
- Therapy notes tracking your progress or setbacks
- Pay records and employer letters showing missed work or changed duties
- Statements from family, friends, and coworkers about how you have changed
- A symptom journal noting headaches, memory lapses, and tasks you now need help with
Shulman & Hill has recovered more than $1 billion for clients. Our in-house investigators gather accident reports, photos, and video, while we work with your providers to collect the medical proof.
How Do Shared Fault and Deadlines Affect Your Claim?
Under the state’s pure comparative fault rule, being partly to blame does not end your claim. Your award goes down by your share of the fault. If a jury finds you 20% at fault, your damages would generally drop by 20%.
Many injury lawsuits must be filed within three years. Claims against the city or another public agency move faster: you generally must file a notice of claim within 90 days and sue within one year and 90 days.
Ongoing treatment and settlement talks do not pause these deadlines. Shulman & Hill tracks each date from the start, because a missed deadline can end a claim no matter how serious the injury.
Get Answers About Your Brain Injury Claim
The compensation available for a brain injury in Queens depends on the cause, the proof, and how the injury changes your work and home life. Future care is often the piece people overlook, and it can outweigh the bills you have today.
Shulman & Hill works on contingency, so you pay no fee unless we win. Contact Shulman & Hill today for a free case review before you accept a settlement or let a deadline pass.