Miami and Tampa brain injury lawyer

The scan came back normal. You are not.

A traumatic brain injury is the claim most often undervalued, because the most common version of it does not appear on the imaging that gets taken in the emergency room. The insurer knows that, and builds its position on it.

Free case review Miami (305) 662-4323 Tampa (813) 930-5422

Standard CT: Often normalA normal scan does not exclude a brain injury
What documents it: NeuropsychFormal neuropsychological testing against baseline
Deadline to sue: 2 yearsFla. Stat. § 95.11, for injuries on or after 24 March 2023
Future cost: Life care planThe document that values care across a lifetime

01 The proof problem

Why a normal CT scan does not rule out a brain injury

A mild traumatic brain injury is defined by what happened at the moment of injury, not by how someone lives afterwards. People with that label lose their jobs. The emergency CT is designed to find bleeding that requires surgery, and it routinely shows nothing in exactly these cases.

What documents the injury instead: a contemporaneous account of confusion or memory loss at the scene, neuropsychological testing by a qualified neuropsychologist, and — critically — statements from the people who knew the person before. The spouse who says he cannot follow a recipe any more is better evidence than a scan.

Advanced imaging has a role, but testimony about function usually carries this case.

02 What it costs over a life

How a traumatic brain injury claim is valued in Florida

Where the injury is permanent, a life care planner sets out what the person will need for the rest of their life — therapy, supervision, assistive technology, lost earning capacity — and an economist reduces it to present value.

Without that document, a serious brain injury gets valued on the medical bills that have already been paid, which is a fraction of the actual loss. Settling before a plan exists is how these cases are underpaid.

03 Where these cases come from

Miami-Dade

Serious head injuries in Miami-Dade go to Ryder Trauma at Jackson Memorial, and those first-hour records are usually the backbone of the claim — including what the paramedics recorded about orientation at the scene.

The Miami office · Homestead

Hillsborough

Hillsborough injuries are routed to Tampa General, whose trauma records and neurology follow-up form the same spine for the case.

The Tampa office

04 What damages a claim

Accepting a normal CT as proof that nothing happened.
Settling before neuropsychological testing and a life care plan exist.
Not documenting the day-to-day changes family and colleagues can see.
Returning to work and masking the deficits, which the carrier then cites as recovery.

Frequently asked questions about Florida brain injury

I never lost consciousness. Can I still have a brain injury?

Yes. Loss of consciousness is not required for a traumatic brain injury and a majority of them occur without it.

Confusion, disorientation, memory gaps around the event and persistent symptoms afterwards all matter, which is why the paramedic and emergency notes get read closely.

How long before we know how bad it is?

Often a year or more. Recovery from a brain injury is not linear and the permanent deficits are not separable from the temporary ones early on.

That is the honest reason these cases should not be settled quickly, and it is the reason insurers try to.

05 Related matters

The full list is on the personal injury page.

Tell Jose what happened

A free review of your brain injury case, with no obligation, and no fee and no costs unless there is a recovery. English or Spanish, whichever you would rather use. You speak with Jose A. Dapena directly at every stage, not with an intake department — and if there is no claim worth bringing, he will tell you that.

Miami (305) 662-4323 Homestead (786) 900-0184 Tampa (813) 930-5422