How Insurance Companies Dispute TBI Claims in Indiana

• Traumatic brain injuries or TBIs are incredibly common in the State of Indiana, although compensation may be available when outside parties are at fault for them, and it will usually come from their insurance policies.
• Unfortunately, your TBI claim could be fiercely disputed by the defendants’ insurance companies, who may cast doubt on the causation of your traumatic brain injury or the damages you’ve incurred because of it.
• Nevertheless, you can push back against the insurers by partnering with Hensley Legal Group, PC, which has a history of success with major injury cases, like a $25 million verdict* for a collision with an ambulance.

*SPECIFIC CASE RESULTS. NO TWO CASES ARE EXACTLY ALIKE.

Traumatic brain injuries or TBIs are far from rare in Indiana, where over 23,000 TBI cases were recorded in 2023 alone, and the effects of an exceptionally punishing traumatic brain injury can linger well after the “trauma” took place.

Fortunately, compensation may be available when other parties are responsible for your TBI, and it will typically come from their insurance companies, although obtaining it can be tough thanks to how fiercely these claims are often disputed.

Yet regardless of how many obstacles the insurers put up, they don’t have to stop you from getting the verdict or settlement you deserve if you partner with the skilled traumatic brain injury lawyers at Hensley Legal Group, PC, a dedicated Indiana personal injury law firm whose experienced attorneys have been fighting on behalf of the wrongfully injured since 1998.

Hensley been named one of the Best Law Firms in the United States by Best Lawyers® in recognition of its history of success with major injury cases, including:

• A $25 million verdict for a collision with an ambulance.
• An $8 million settlement for a delivery truck crash.
• A $4.25 million resolution for a pedestrian accident claim.

Attorneys at the firm have also been honored with inclusion in the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, Super Lawyers, America’s Top 100 Attorneys, and the National Trial Lawyers’ lists of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers and the Top 40 Under 40, but they’d be just as honored to have the opportunity to represent you.

To learn how a knowledgeable Indiana traumatic brain injury attorney can make a difference for you and your loved ones at this difficult time, please call us at (317) 472-3333, chat with us online, or fill out our contact form for a free case review from our firm.

What Are the Most Common Traumatic Brain Injuries?

Traumatic brain injuries can take a wide variety of forms that can be ranked on a spectrum of intensity from mild to moderate to severe, and the most common TBIs by a huge margin are concussions.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a concussion is “caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head or by a hit to the body that causes the head and brain to move rapidly back and forth,” which could knock the brain against the skull and lead to symptoms like:

• Loss of consciousness
• Headaches
• Nausea and vomiting
• Dizziness
• Blurring or doubling of vision
• Sensitivity to light and noise
• Tinnitus
• Impaired memory
• Muddled thinking
• Changes in mood, behavior, or personality

Though concussions are usually classified as “mild” TBIs because they are seldom fatal and mostly heal on their own within a couple of weeks, some concussions are anything but mild. For example, patients with post-concussion syndrome may be forced to endure their symptoms for much longer, while recent research suggests that a severe concussion could increase the odds of eventually developing dementia by 100 to 300 percent.

Other kinds of TBIs are more likely to be categorized as moderate or severe, such as:

• Contusions or bleeding on the brain;
• Diffuse axonal injuries that tear vital brain connections; and
• Penetrations in which the brain is punctured.

As a rule of thumb, more serious traumatic brain injuries will generally call for more elaborate treatment methods. An appropriate plan of care might run the gamut from a brief trip to the ER and a little bedrest for a mild TBI to a host of medical interventions for a severe traumatic brain injury, including:

• Advanced diagnostic imaging
• Intracranial pressure monitoring
• Airway support
• Diuretic and anti-seizure medications
• Physical, occupational, psychological, neurological, speech, and rehabilitative therapies
• Surgery

The more prolonged a TBI patient’s treatment is, the more expensive it may be. Whereas the ER bill for a mild concussion might be as low as $800.10, inpatient rehabilitation for a severe cerebral penetration could have a price tag of approximately $46,000.00 per stay. Bills of this magnitude could break the bank for most Indiana families, to say nothing of how dire their economic prospects could be when TBIs prevent their primary breadwinners from going to work.

The economic costs associated with issues like these can be as profound as the issues themselves. Fortunately, compensation may be available when other parties are to blame for your TBI, and it will primarily come from their insurance companies, but they might not hand your check over without complaint.

Ways to Oppose a TBI Claim

Indeed, there are a distressing number of ways for an insurer to oppose a TBI claim, although they can be broadly grouped into attacks on one of two core elements: causation and damages.

An attack on causation disputes the degree to which the defendant caused the accident that caused the traumatic brain injury or the degree to which that accident actually caused the TBI, while an attack on damages disputes the scope or mere existence of a TBI and any costs that came out of it.

Whereas a causation-based attack could be deployed in practically any sort of personal injury case, traumatic brain injuries may be especially well suited to damages-based attacks, at least with regard to “invisible” TBIs like concussions (but much less so with regard to penetrations).

An insurer who can’t credibly argue that the defendant didn’t cause your accident or that the accident couldn’t have caused your traumatic brain injury may go with the other main line of attack: minimizing your damages.

This can be easier to do with milder TBIs like concussions that are “invisible” in the sense that they don’t show up on x-rays, CT scans, or MRIs (in contrast to a more extreme TBI like a brain penetration from a windshield fragment, whose origin would be too obvious to deny).

Because many traumatic brain injury diagnoses rely heavily on self-reported symptoms, an adjuster might assert that you’re embellishing or falsifying your own symptoms or that they’re indicative of other psychological problems rather than a TBI, especially if:

• You didn’t immediately seek medical attention;
• You didn’t mention your TBI symptoms when you were initially treated; or
• Your symptoms emerged or some complications developed only gradually over time.

If an adjuster does concede that you have a TBI, you may still be grilled on the extent of your injury and bombarded with questions like:

• Did your traumatic brain injury really require the amount of treatment you received for it?
• Were you really unable to return to work sooner than you did?
• Will your TBI really have the continued impact on your well-being or your projected earning capacity that you claim it will?

When this approach is taken, don’t be surprised if you get accused of “malingering,” defined by the Cleveland Clinic as “the intentional fabrication or exaggeration of physical or psychological symptoms for personal gain” – in plain English, playing sick for the sake of your wallet.

To bolster this line of attack, an insurance company may demand that you go in for an Independent Medical Examination (IME) conducted by its own doctor or psychologist. The “independence” of this process might be debatable, given that the company is footing the bill, but that doesn’t mean that an IME that concludes that your TBI is nonexistent or trivial or that your treatment wasn’t medically necessary won’t carry A LOT of water with a judge or jury.

Clearly, the deck can be stacked against you if you try to get fairly compensated for a traumatic brain injury, particularly if you’re a rookie claimant going up against a giant insurance carrier, but you can deal yourself a winning hand by inviting Hensley Legal Group, PC to the table.

Ways Our Indiana Traumatic Brain Injury Attorneys Can Push Back

Once retained, our Indiana traumatic brain injury attorneys will launch a comprehensive investigation into your TBI, identify its root causes and the defendants who may have contributed to it, and establish valid claims and/or file suit against them all within the time allotted by law.

We will then move swiftly to amass the materials needed to rebut every attempt to dispute your TBI claim, coordinating our efforts with experts in their fields if the situation warrants it. Depending upon the underlying accident and the specific lines of attack, this may include:

• Police or incident reports
• Photos and videos
• Witness statements
• Electronic data
• Accident reconstruction and forensic analysis
• Medical records and billing
• Employment documentation pertaining to attendance and pre- and post-TBI performance
• Neurological, psychological, cognitive, vestibular, hearing, and/or vision testing
• Long-term care prognoses and cost estimates
• Vocational assessments
• Testimony from:
  • Treating and consulting physicians and therapists
  • Neurological and cognitive behavioral specialists
  • Radiologists and diagnostic imaging professionals
  • Friends, family members, employers, and coworkers

After assembling an airtight case against each of the defendants, Hensley’s tenacious Indiana traumatic brain injury lawyers will enter into exhaustive negotiations with their insurance companies for a settlement that reflects everything that your TBI has taken from you.

Although TBI cases can be resolved amicably in a conference room, we aren’t afraid to bring your case to a courtroom if a stubborn insurer refuses to act in good faith. And if our seasoned Indiana traumatic brain injury attorneys can fully convey the enormous gulf between the life you had before your TBI and the life you’ve had ever since, you could potentially be awarded a verdict large enough to start becoming whole again.

Get in Touch with Our Indiana Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyers

Badly injured Hoosiers like you have been choosing to hire Hensley Legal Group for nearly three decades. If you have no idea what to do next after suffering a catastrophic TBI in Indiana, get in touch with our Indiana traumatic brain injury lawyers to explore your legal options.

You can schedule a complimentary consultation with an accomplished Indiana traumatic brain attorney by calling us at (317) 472-3333, chatting with us online, or filling out our contact form now.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I be compensated for my Indiana traumatic brain injury?

While traumatic brain injuries are incredibly common in Indiana, you can generally only be compensated for them when somebody else is at fault, as might be the case with TBIs arising from:

• Slip-and-falls
• Auto accidents
• Construction site disasters

Typically, your compensation will come from the insurance companies for the defendants who injured you, and the policies can be quite substantial when they cover commercial activity.

How do insurance companies oppose TBI claims?

There are a number of ways that insurance companies may try to oppose TBI claims in order to limit their financial exposure, and they can be broadly grouped into attacks on one of two core elements: causation and damages.

A causation-based attack disputes the degree to which a defendant caused an accident that caused a TBI or the degree to which the accident itself caused the TBI, while a damages-based attack will dispute the existence or extent of a traumatic brain injury and its associated costs.

Why are traumatic brain injuries disputed?

Traumatic brain injuries are often disputed by insurers because their diagnoses rely heavily on self-reported symptoms that tend to be subjective in nature, as opposed to fractures and other injuries that can be assessed in more objective terms.

Disputes can be even more difficult to overcome with regard to milder TBIs like concussions that are “invisible” in the sense that they don’t show up on x-rays, CT scans, or MRIs.

What is an Independent Medical Examination (IME)?

An Independent Medical Examination (IME) is a process through which a TBI or other personal injury plaintiff is examined by a medical practitioner of the insurance company’s own choosing.

IMEs are among the key methods deployed by insurance companies who are disputing traumatic injury claims, and their “independence” might be debatable given that the companies are paying for them, but an unfavorable IME could still influence the decision of a judge or jury.

What evidence can help my TBI claim?

There are various pieces of evidence that can help you push back against challenges to your TBI claim by highlighting how much your traumatic brain injury has negatively impacted your health, your personal and professional well-being, and your future economic prospects, such as:

• Police and incident reports
• Medical records and bills
• Photos and videos
• Neurological and vocational evaluations
• Diagnostic imaging
• Expert testimony
• Witness statements
• Employment documentation

Using these materials to their best advantage is rarely easy, however, which is why you might benefit from the assistance of a seasoned Indiana traumatic brain injury lawyer.