Get the right specialists involved
Ask the treating physicians about neurology, neuropsychology, physiatry, and rehabilitation referrals. Early specialist care is better medicine and better proof.
Personal injury
Long Beach Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer
These are the injuries where the first settlement offer is the most dangerous one. A brain or spinal cord injury is valued over a lifetime, and the number has to be built before it is negotiated. The consultation is free.
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Brain injury
Traumatic brain injury, from concussion to coma
A traumatic brain injury is a blow or jolt that disrupts how the brain works. The severe cases are unmistakable. The common cases are not: a concussion after a rear-end crash or a fall, a normal CT scan, a discharge from the emergency room, and then weeks of headaches, memory problems, sensitivity to light, irritability, trouble concentrating, and a person who is, as families put it, not themselves.
Insurers treat a normal scan as the end of the question. It is not. Mild traumatic brain injury is a clinical diagnosis, made from symptoms, history, and neuropsychological testing, and its effects can be lasting. Proving it means getting the right specialists involved early, neurology, neuropsychology, and sometimes advanced imaging, and documenting the change in the person from people who knew them before.
Sources: NINDS, spinal cord injury classification resources; Characterizing Natural Recovery after Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury.
Spinal cord injury
Spinal cord injury and what “complete” means
A spinal cord injury interrupts the signals between the brain and the body below the level of the damage. Injuries in the neck can affect all four limbs; injuries lower in the back affect the legs and trunk. Clinicians classify injuries as complete or incomplete using a neurological examination, including preserved sensation and movement in the lowest sacral segments. Recovery varies and can continue beyond the first months; the treating team should explain the classification and prognosis.
The costs are lifelong and predictable in kind: rehabilitation, medications, equipment and its replacement, attendant care, home and vehicle modification, treatment of secondary conditions such as pressure injuries and infections, and the loss of the work the person did. A life-care planner and an economist put numbers on each of those over the person’s expected life, and that document is the claim.
How they happen
The crashes and falls behind these injuries
- Car, truck, and motorcycle collisions, especially rear-end and rollover crashes
- Pedestrians and cyclists struck by vehicles
- Falls from height and falls on stairs, common in older adults
- Diving and swimming pool injuries
- Assaults, which can support a civil claim against the attacker and sometimes the property where it happened
An injury at work usually goes through workers’ compensation instead of a personal injury claim, but a third party who caused it, another driver or a contractor, can still be sued. Both routes should be looked at.
What is at stake
What a catastrophic injury claim covers
Past medical care and every element of the life-care plan, lost wages and the lifetime earning capacity a vocational expert can quantify, the cost of care a family member is providing for free, and the pain, suffering, and loss of independence the injury caused. A spouse has a separate claim for what the injury took from the marriage. When the injury is fatal, the family’s claim is for wrongful death.
California’s pure comparative fault rule reduces a recovery by any share of blame assigned to the injured person without eliminating it. Proposition 213 generally bars pain-and-suffering damages for a driver who was uninsured at the time of a crash, which in a catastrophic case is the difference between a recovery and a fraction of one, so policy status must be established at the outset.
Coverage
Where the money comes from when the injury exceeds the policy
The at-fault driver’s minimum policy in California is $30,000 per person. A brain or spinal cord injury passes that in the first day. Recovery beyond the limits comes from finding every policy: the driver’s umbrella coverage, an employer’s policy if the driver was working, the vehicle owner’s policy if it was borrowed, a second at-fault party, and your own household’s underinsured motorist coverage, which pays the difference between the other driver’s limits and yours.
A properly made demand for the policy limits, with the medical proof attached, puts the insurer on notice. An insurer that unreasonably refuses a reasonable limits demand can end up responsible for a judgment above the policy. Health insurers, Medi-Cal, Medicare, and hospitals assert liens against the recovery, and negotiating those down is part of what the injured person actually keeps.
Deadlines
Two years, and the exceptions that matter here
A personal injury lawsuit must be filed within two years under Code of Civil Procedure 335.1. The period can be paused while an injured person lacks the capacity to make legal decisions, but a claim against a public entity, a city bus, a county road, a school, still requires a written government claim within six months under Government Code 911.2, and relief from that deadline is narrow. Families should not wait for capacity to return before getting advice.
The first weeks
What families should do now
Keep a record of the change
A daily note of symptoms, sleep, mood, memory, and what the person could and could not do. Families see the injury long before a test measures it.
Preserve the crash or fall evidence
Police report, photographs, the vehicle or the scene, witness names. The injury is the case; the fault still has to be proven.
Do not accept or sign anything
An early offer may fail to account for future care and lasting losses. Have it assessed against the medical prognosis before accepting. Do not give recorded statements or sign medical releases for the other side’s insurer.
Ask about capacity and authority
If the injured person cannot make decisions, a family member may need court authority to act. The office can explain what that takes.
The office
How the Law Offices of Patrick S. Aguirre handles catastrophic injury cases
The office builds these cases from the medicine outward: the treating doctors, the specialists the injury needs, the life-care plan, and the economic analysis of what the injury will cost and what it took. Fault is locked down early with preservation demands and, when needed, reconstruction. Every policy that could respond is identified, and the limits demand is made once the proof supports it. Where the insurers do not pay what the injury will cost, the case is filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and prepared for trial.
The office has represented injured people in Long Beach and across Los Angeles County for nearly three decades. The firm now has offices in Long Beach and Downey, and speaks Spanish. Families are part of these cases from the first call.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions
The CT scan was normal. Can it still be a brain injury?
Yes. CT scans detect bleeding and fractures, not the diffuse damage of a concussion. Mild traumatic brain injury is diagnosed clinically, from symptoms and neuropsychological testing, and its effects are compensable when treating specialists document them.
The other driver only has a $30,000 policy. Is that all we can recover?
Not necessarily. Umbrella policies, an employer’s coverage, a vehicle owner’s policy, additional at-fault parties, and your own household’s underinsured motorist coverage can all add to it. Finding every source is the first task in a catastrophic case.
How long does a brain or spinal cord injury case take?
Longer than a typical injury claim, because the value depends on the medical picture stabilizing and on expert work that takes months. A case settled before the prognosis is known leaves the lifetime costs out of the number.
My family member cannot make decisions right now. Can we still act?
Yes. A spouse or family member can begin the process, and the court can appoint someone to act for the injured person when needed. Do not wait; the evidence deadlines, especially the six-month government claim, do not wait either.
Selected case results
Personal injury results
A selection from 55 documented results
$2,850,000
Slip-and-fall matter
Premises liability
$320,000
Civil injury matter
Maricopa County, Arizona
$480,000
Slip-and-fall matter
Premises liability
$520,000
Civil injury matter
Maricopa County, Arizona
$360,000
Motor-vehicle collision
Los Angeles Superior Court
Client experiences
What clients say
★★★★★
“Patrick and his staff were very helpful with taking care of all the bills and legalities, so we can focus on healing.”
★★★★★
“Got my money and my vehicle fixed. Don’t hesitate to give them a call.”
★★★★★
“Patrick helped me with a dog bite case. He was able to get me more than I expected and was easy to work with. … I would recommend his services.”
★★★★★
“Patrick is very reliable, trustworthy, and will definitely be able to help you out. Cost is very reasonable.”
Meet your attorney
Law Offices of Patrick S. Aguirre
A Professional Law Corporation
The future of your case may depend on a successful outcome. It can be stressful to go through the legal process alone—but thankfully, you don’t have to.
The Law Offices of Patrick S. Aguirre will stand up for clients’ interests and rights, providing high-quality representation in personal injury cases and criminal defense matters throughout California from its Long Beach office.
We work with you and for your best interests. Our legal team is compassionate, hard-working, and tenacious—fighting to get the job done right when it matters most. No case is too complicated or insignificant for our full attention. Our clients may move forward into a brighter future free from worry about past mistakes.
We’re the legal team that never gives up. When you need an attorney who will fight for what’s right, turn to us, and we’ll do everything in our power to help. No matter how challenging your situation may seem, there is hope.
“Courage is the most important attribute of a lawyer.”
Robert F. Kennedy
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