Tempe Brain Injury Lawyer

Were you injured in an accident that caused a brain injury in Tempe, AZ?

At SL Chapman Trial Lawyers, we help injured clients in Tempe, AZ pursue full recovery in brain injury matters.

If an accident left you with headaches, memory gaps, or difficulty holding a conversation, our Tempe, AZ brain injury lawyer can pursue compensation for the treatment and support you will need. Brain injuries are frequently missed in the first days after a collision or fall, and the record built during that period shapes the entire claim.

Our attorneys have spent over three decades litigating serious injury cases, including claims that were resolved in the seven and eight figures. Representation is on a contingency basis, with no attorney fee unless we recover compensation. Contact our office to arrange a free case review.

Brain Injury Lawyer Tempe, AZ

Tempe recorded 6,637 traffic crashes in 2024, including 2,049 injury crashes that left 3,007 people hurt and 32 dead, according to state crash records.

A brain injury case is a civil claim seeking compensation for damage to the brain caused by another party’s negligence. The category is broad. It covers concussions and mild traumatic brain injuries, which often produce no visible finding on an initial CT scan, along with contusions, diffuse axonal injury, hemorrhage, and anoxic injury from oxygen deprivation. What these claims share is a gap between how the injury looks on paper and how it affects the person living with it, and closing that gap is the work of the case.

Types of Brain Injury Cases We Handle in Tempe

The diagnosis drives the prognosis, the cost of care, and the proof needed to establish permanence. Our Tempe brain injury attorneys handle claims involving the following.

• Concussion and mild traumatic brain injury. The most common diagnosis and the most frequently disputed. Imaging typically reads normal while the person struggles for months with concentration, light sensitivity, and disrupted sleep after what looked like an ordinary car accident. Insurers treat the word mild as a synonym for minor, which it is not.
• Cerebral contusion. Bruising of the brain tissue itself, often appearing both at the point of impact and on the opposite side of the skull. Swelling can worsen across the first seventy-two hours. Contusions are common in pedestrian accidents, where the head strikes a hood and then the pavement.
• Diffuse axonal injury. Rotational force shears nerve fibers throughout the brain rather than damaging one region. It produces some of the worst functional outcomes, and it is largely invisible on standard imaging.
• Subdural hematoma. Bleeding between the brain and its outer covering, most often caused by a fall. Symptoms can take days or weeks to surface, particularly in older adults who suffered a fall, which is why a slip and fall that seemed minor at the time is worth documenting.
• Epidural hematoma. Arterial bleeding between the skull and the dura, usually accompanying a skull fracture at the temple. The classic pattern is a lucid interval followed by rapid decline, and how quickly surgery occurs often decides the outcome.
• Subarachnoid hemorrhage. Bleeding into the space surrounding the brain, producing sudden severe headache and neck stiffness. Long-term deficits depend on how fast intracranial pressure is controlled.
• Penetrating and open head injuries. An object breaches the skull and enters brain tissue. Failed machine guarding, fragmenting tools, and defective protective equipment cause these injuries.
• Anoxic and hypoxic brain injury. Damage from interrupted oxygen supply rather than impact, seen after near-drowning, cardiac arrest, and complications during labor. Many birth injuries originate here, including cerebral palsy and permanent motor function impairment.
• Second impact syndrome. A second head injury sustained before the first has healed causes catastrophic swelling. It appears in youth athletics and in workers returned to duty too early.

Why Choose SL Chapman Trial Lawyers as My Brain Injury Lawyer in Tempe, AZ?

Case Results

Our firm has obtained recoveries of over $1.5 billion for clients. Results involving head and brain trauma include:

• $3,200,000 for a child who suffered a brain injury
• $1,250,000 for a head injury
• $761,000 for head and shoulder injuries in a railroad case
• $487,000 for a brain injury

Attorneys Who Handle Catastrophic Injury Claims

Alan Starker has spent more than 35 years representing people with catastrophic injuries, including litigation over vehicle rollovers, airbag failures, and design flaws in pools and waterslides, work that has produced repeated seven and eight figure results. Robert W. Schmieder II completed his undergraduate degree at Northwestern University and now handles catastrophic personal injury, class action, and mass tort litigation. 

Bradley M. Lakin has practiced civil litigation since 1997, concentrates on complex litigation and personal injury, holds a law degree from Northern Illinois University College of Law earned in 1997, and has been repeatedly recognized by Super Lawyers, including selection as a Rising Star and, in 2006, as one of Forty Illinois Lawyers Under Forty to Watch. Our attorneys have tried catastrophic injury cases in both state and federal court, and the firm has handled brain injury matters arising from vehicle crashes, falls, defective products, and delivery room negligence. A family facing decades of care costs should expect that level of preparation from a personal injury lawyer in Tempe, AZ.

Understanding Brain Injury Cases

Damages, Liability, and Compensation for Brain Injury Cases

Liability follows ordinary negligence principles: the defendant owed a duty, breached it, and caused harm. Proving the harm is where brain injury cases become difficult, because the deficits are cognitive and behavioral rather than visible. Arizona reduces an award by the injured person’s share of fault rather than barring recovery outright, so partial responsibility does not end a claim.

Recoverable damages generally include:

• Acute hospitalization, neurosurgery, and inpatient rehabilitation
• Cognitive therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, and psychiatric treatment
• Long-term care, attendant services, and home modification
• Lost wages and the earning capacity a person can no longer use
• Loss of companionship claimed by a spouse or parent

Severe cases often involve spinal cord injuries sustained in the same event, and the most catastrophic result in a wrongful death claim brought by surviving family. Where the injury is permanent, a life care plan prepared by a rehabilitation specialist sets out projected costs year by year, and an economist reduces those figures to present value. Arizona places no statutory ceiling on compensatory damages in these cases, so the number a jury returns depends on how thoroughly the future is documented rather than on a formula.

What Are Important Aspects of a Brain Injury Case?

Nationally, there were more than 69,000 TBI-related deaths in 2021, roughly 190 each day, and CDC data records approximately 214,110 TBI-related hospitalizations in 2020. Severity varies enormously, and several factors determine how a claim develops.

• Documentation from day one. Emergency records rarely capture cognitive symptoms, so a mild traumatic brain injury is often described as a silent injury until weeks later.
• Appropriate imaging. Standard CT scans do not detect diffuse axonal injury, and imaging after a crash frequently has to be repeated with different protocols.
• Neuropsychological testing. Standardized batteries measure processing speed, attention, and memory against expected baselines, producing objective proof of a deficit that an insurer cannot easily dismiss as subjective complaint.
• Before-and-after witnesses. Coworkers, teachers, and family describe changes in personality and function that no scan captures. Their accounts frequently carry more weight with a jury than the medical charts do.
• Consistent treatment. Delaying medical treatment gives an insurer an argument that something else caused the symptoms.

What Is The Brain Injury Case Timeline?

Brain injury claims move slowly because the extent of the deficit cannot be measured until neurological recovery plateaus, which commonly takes twelve to twenty-four months. The sequence generally runs as follows:

• Investigation of the incident and preservation of physical evidence
• Acute treatment, rehabilitation, and neuropsychological evaluation
• Development of a life care plan and economic loss analysis
• Filing suit within Arizona’s two-year deadline, followed by discovery and witness disclosure
• Defense medical examination and depositions
• Mediation, and trial if the insurer disputes the extent of the injury

Rushing a settlement before the medical picture stabilizes is the most common way these claims are undervalued, and protecting your future depends on resisting that pressure.

What Should You Bring to Your Brain Injury Consultation?

Bringing the following records lets us evaluate both liability and the medical picture in a single meeting.

• Emergency department and hospital discharge records
• Imaging reports, including CT and MRI results
• Referrals to neurology, neuropsychology, or rehabilitation
• A written list of symptoms and the dates they began
• Employment records showing missed work or changed duties
• Any statements or correspondence from an insurance company

The consultation costs nothing and usually takes about an hour. Family members are welcome, and in many cases their observations are more useful than the injured person’s own account.

Reach Out to SL Chapman Trial Lawyers to Schedule a Consultation

A brain injury reshapes what a family can plan for, and the value of the claim depends on documenting that honestly. Contact us for a free consultation with a Tempe brain injury attorney. We work on contingency, so there is no fee unless we recover compensation. We meet in person, by phone, or by video, and will speak with a spouse or parent.