Traumatic Brain Injury Claims in Los Angeles

Los Angeles County’s combination of high-speed freeway crashes, the state’s highest pedestrian collision counts and heavy motorcycle traffic produces more traumatic brain injuries from vehicles than any other region in California. It also has the most developed trauma and rehabilitation system in the state, which means the records exist to prove these injuries—if the claim is built properly. This page addresses TBI claims arising from Los Angeles collisions specifically.

How Los Angeles crashes cause brain injury

• Pedestrian collisions on the High-Injury Network arterials—head strikes on hoods, windshields and pavement account for a large share of the county’s severe TBI. See Los Angeles pedestrian collisions.
• High-speed freeway crashes on the 405, 10, 5, 101, 110 and 710—rollovers, head-on collisions through center dividers and secondary impacts.
• Motorcycle collisions, especially lane-splitting crashes on the 405 and 10 and crashes on Angeles Crest Highway and Mulholland.
• Side-impact collisions at wide intersections, where the head strikes the window or pillar.
• Rear-end collisions without head contact, where acceleration alone produces concussion.

Trauma care

Serious head injuries are transported by LAFD paramedics to the nearest appropriate trauma center under the county EMS Agency’s trauma triage criteria. Level I centers: LAC+USC Medical Center (Boyle Heights), Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center (Westwood), Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (West Hollywood area) and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (Torrance area). Level II centers include California Hospital (downtown), Northridge Hospital, Providence Holy Cross (Mission Hills), Huntington Hospital (Pasadena), Long Beach Medical Center and others. Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is the pediatric Level I center. The trauma record—Glasgow Coma Scale at the scene and on arrival, CT findings, duration of post-traumatic amnesia, neurosurgical notes—is the foundation of the claim.

Rehabilitation

Los Angeles County operates Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center in Downey, one of the nation’s leading brain and spinal cord injury rehabilitation hospitals and the origin of the Rancho Levels of Cognitive Functioning scale used worldwide to describe TBI recovery. Casa Colina in Pomona, Cedars-Sinai and UCLA rehabilitation programs and numerous outpatient neuro-rehabilitation providers complete the system. Rehabilitation records, including Rancho Level progression, neuropsychological testing and discharge plans, document deficits objectively.

Mild TBI and the normal CT

Most brain injuries from Los Angeles crashes are concussions with normal imaging, and most resolve. For those that do not, insurers rely on the normal CT to deny that any brain injury occurred. UCLA’s Steve Tisch BrainSPORT program, the Cedars-Sinai and Keck concussion clinics and neuropsychologists throughout the county provide the objective testing—cognitive, vestibular, oculomotor—that documents persistent post-concussive deficits. See concussions.

What a Los Angeles TBI claim requires

• Neuropsychological evaluation documenting deficits relative to estimated pre-injury function.
• Treating neurologist, neurosurgeon or physiatrist opinions on diagnosis, causation and prognosis.
• A life-care plan for moderate and severe injuries, itemizing future care, therapy, supervision and equipment.
• Vocational and economic analysis of lost earning capacity—significant in Los Angeles’s entertainment, technology and professional sectors where cognitive work is the livelihood.
• Lay witnesses: family, friends and co-workers who can describe the person before and after.

Finding adequate insurance

A serious TBI claim exceeds any private driver’s policy. In Los Angeles, the search for coverage includes the at-fault driver’s umbrella policy; your own and household UIM coverage; employers of drivers working at the time (delivery, rideshare in Periods 2–3, studio and production vehicles, company cars); Metro, LADOT and city vehicles (six-month claim deadline); the City of Los Angeles or Caltrans for dangerous road conditions; and vehicle manufacturers for airbag, seat or roof failures. Medi-Cal and Medicare liens and special needs trusts must be addressed before settlement. See catastrophic injuries.

Next step

If you or a family member suffered a brain injury in a Los Angeles collision, tell us about your accident. See also traumatic brain injuries and our Los Angeles car accident page.

Los Angeles questions

My husband was treated at LAC+USC and is now at Rancho Los Amigos. The other driver has a $30,000 policy. What can we do?

Pursue every other source: your UIM coverage, the driver’s employer if working, any umbrella policy, public entities if road design contributed, and product liability if a vehicle component failed. Address Medi-Cal and Medicare reimbursement and consider a special needs trust. Catastrophic claims require this kind of search.

The ER CT was normal but my daughter still cannot concentrate at school months later. Is there a claim?

Yes. Persistent post-concussive symptoms are a recognized brain injury. Neuropsychological testing and a concussion clinic evaluation document it objectively. Minors’ settlements require court approval, and later-emerging effects should be considered.

Who provides the “life-care plan” and who pays for it?

A certified life-care planner, usually a nurse or rehabilitation professional, retained by the attorney as part of litigation costs, which are typically advanced by the law firm and reimbursed from the recovery.

Sources and official resources

• CDC — traumatic brain injury and concussion
• California DHCS — Personal Injury (Medi-Cal recovery)
• Medicare Secondary Payer recovery (liens on settlements)
• Government Code § 911.2 (six-month claim deadline against public entities)
• Rancho Los Amigos — Levels of Cognitive Functioning
• LA County EMS Agency — Trauma centers

Links go to official government, court and public-health sources. Laws change; verify current text before relying on it.