A traumatic brain injury can change everything in a matter of seconds. The way you think, the way you communicate, the way you move through your daily life. These are not injuries that show up clearly on the outside, and that is part of what makes them so difficult to navigate, both medically and legally.
At Keller, Woods & Thompson, P.A., we represent people in Minneapolis and across the Twin Cities metro who have suffered traumatic brain injuries due to someone else’s negligence. Negligence, in plain terms, means that another person or party failed to act with reasonable care and that failure caused harm. If you or someone you love is dealing with the aftermath of a TBI, our attorneys and lawyers are here to help you understand your options and pursue the compensation you may be entitled to.
A traumatic brain injury, commonly called a TBI, is physical damage to the brain caused by a sudden external force. That force might be a blow to the head, a violent jolt, or an object that penetrates the skull. The brain does not have to be visibly injured for serious damage to occur. In many cases, the skull remains intact while the brain itself suffers bruising, swelling, or bleeding from the impact.
TBIs are generally classified in a few ways:
Common causes of TBIs seen in personal injury cases in the Minneapolis area include:
The Minneapolis Police Department and Hennepin County law enforcement respond to many of these incidents daily. Police reports from those responses can become important evidence in a civil claim.
This is often the first question people have, and it is a fair one. Medical bills pile up quickly, and many TBI survivors face months or years of treatment and rehabilitation.
The value of a TBI claim depends on the specific facts of the case. There is no standard number. That said, courts in Minnesota generally allow injury victims to seek compensation, also called damages, for both economic and non-economic losses.
Economic damages are the financial costs you can document:
Non-economic damages are harder to put a number on but are equally real:
In rare cases, Minnesota law may also allow for punitive damages. These are awarded when the at-fault party acted with extreme recklessness or a deliberate disregard for the safety of others. They are not common, but they are a possibility in the right circumstances.
One thing worth understanding: insurance companies do not calculate your losses the way a personal injury attorney would. They tend to start low, and initial settlement offers may not account for future medical needs or long-term income losses. A TBI that seems manageable in the first few weeks can turn into a years-long recovery process. Getting a thorough evaluation of your damages before accepting any offer matters a great deal.
The statute of limitations is the legal deadline for filing a lawsuit. Miss it, and you may lose your right to take legal action entirely, regardless of how strong your case might otherwise be.
For most personal injury cases in Minnesota, the filing deadline is generally six years from the date of the injury. There are some exceptions that may apply. Cases involving government entities, minors, certain wrongful death claims, or injuries that were not immediately discoverable may be subject to different deadlines and notice requirements.
Cases involving government entities, such as a TBI caused by a pothole on a Minneapolis city street or an incident at a public facility, may have shorter notice requirements and different procedural rules. Those timelines can be tighter than the standard filing window.
Waiting to speak with an attorney is one of the most common and costly mistakes TBI victims make. Evidence fades. Witnesses become harder to locate. Video surveillance footage gets overwritten. Medical records become more difficult to connect to the accident the longer time passes. Starting the process early gives your legal team more to work with.
TBIs are among the most complex injuries in personal injury law. Part of what makes them challenging is that many of the most significant symptoms are invisible to the outside world.
A broken arm shows up on an X-ray. A TBI may not. Memory problems, mood changes, difficulty concentrating, chronic headaches, and fatigue are real and disabling, but they do not always appear on standard imaging. Insurance adjusters and defense attorneys sometimes use that invisibility to argue that the injury is exaggerated or unrelated to the accident.
Actually, this is one of the most important strategic issues that non-lawyers often overlook. The gap between when the accident happened and when symptoms became obvious can be used against you. If you did not see a doctor immediately after the accident, or if your initial evaluation did not document neurological symptoms, the defense may argue the injury came from somewhere else.
That is why medical documentation from the right providers matters so much. In Minneapolis, Hennepin Healthcare operates a dedicated Traumatic Brain Injury Center that provides a full range of medical and rehabilitative services to TBI patients. Being evaluated and treated at a facility with this level of specialization can strengthen both your medical recovery and your legal claim. The University of Minnesota Medical Center and HCMC’s Level 1 Trauma Center are also resources that TBI patients in the metro area may utilize.
Strong TBI cases typically involve:
Minnesota follows a modified comparative fault rule. In plain terms, this means that if you were partially responsible for the accident that caused your TBI, you may still be able to recover compensation. However, your total recovery may be reduced by the percentage of fault assigned to you.
For example, if a court determines you were 20 percent at fault for an accident, and your total damages are calculated at $500,000, your recovery could be reduced to $400,000. If your share of fault reaches 50 percent or more, you may be barred from recovering anything at all.
This is why how an accident is investigated and documented matters. Fault is not always obvious, and it is not always fixed. A thorough investigation by an experienced legal team can sometimes shift the picture significantly. In multi-vehicle accidents on busy corridors like I-35W through downtown Minneapolis or Highway 62 near the Crosstown Commons, fault can involve more than one driver, a vehicle manufacturer, a road maintenance contractor, or even a government entity.
The personal injury cases we handle at Keller, Woods & Thompson, P.A. that involve traumatic brain injuries tend to fall into a few recurring categories. Each one has its own set of legal issues and evidentiary challenges.
Car accidents remain among the most common causes of TBIs. The sudden force of a collision, even at moderate speeds, can cause the brain to strike the inside of the skull. This is especially true in rear-end collisions where the head snaps forward and back.
Truck accidents involving commercial vehicles on I-94 or I-35 can produce catastrophic forces. The size and weight difference between a semi-truck and a passenger car often results in more severe injuries, including TBIs.
Slip and fall accidents are another significant source of TBI claims. Icy conditions in Minneapolis winters create serious fall hazards on sidewalks, parking lots, and building entrances. Property owners have a legal duty to maintain reasonably safe conditions for visitors. When they fail to do so, and someone suffers a head injury as a result, a premises liability claim may be possible.
Pedestrian and bicycle accidents in neighborhoods like Uptown, the North Loop, or near the University of Minnesota campus can involve serious head trauma, particularly when a cyclist is struck without adequate helmet protection or a pedestrian is hit at speed.
Workplace accidents involving falls from scaffolding or ladders, or being struck by falling objects at construction sites throughout the metro, can also produce severe TBIs.
If your TBI arose from a situation involving medical malpractice or a defective product, those claims involve different legal standards and may require different types of expert testimony. Our law firm can help evaluate which legal theory applies to your situation.
Serious accidents can also cause back and spinal cord injuries, especially when a collision, fall, or workplace incident involves violent force. In many cases, a person may be dealing with multiple catastrophic injuries arising from the same event.
A few patterns come up repeatedly in TBI cases that can complicate or weaken a claim.
Delaying medical treatment. Some people feel fine immediately after an accident and do not seek care right away. TBI symptoms can be delayed by hours or even days. If you do not see a doctor promptly, the defense will argue that your injury was not caused by the accident.
Accepting an early settlement. Insurance companies sometimes move quickly after an accident with a settlement offer. Accepting that offer may release all future claims, even if your TBI turns out to be more serious than initially understood. The full extent of a brain injury is not always clear in the first days or weeks.
Posting on social media. Photographs, check-ins, or posts suggesting you are feeling well or engaging in physical activity can be used to contradict your injury claims. It is generally wise to limit what you share publicly during an active claim.
Giving recorded statements to the opposing insurer. Insurance adjusters may ask for a recorded statement shortly after the accident, often before you have had time to understand the full extent of your injuries. What you say in those statements can be used against you later.
Missing follow-up appointments. Gaps in treatment give the defense room to argue that your injury was not serious enough to require consistent care. Keeping all scheduled appointments and following your treatment plan creates a cleaner medical record.
Most personal injury cases, including TBI claims, do not go to trial. Many are resolved through negotiation and settlement before a lawsuit is ever filed. That said, having attorneys who are prepared to take a case to court can affect how seriously the opposing side treats settlement discussions.
In Hennepin County, civil cases are filed in the Hennepin County District Court, located in downtown Minneapolis. Cases that proceed to litigation go through a process that includes discovery, where both sides exchange evidence and take depositions, and potentially mediation before any trial.
The general path of a TBI claim tends to look something like this:
The timeline varies considerably depending on the severity of the injury, the number of parties involved, and how quickly the insurance company responds. Cases involving severe or permanent TBIs tend to take longer because the full scope of future damages needs to be properly established before any resolution.
Many personal injury law firms, including ours, handle TBI cases on a contingency fee basis. This means you do not pay attorney fees upfront. Our fees are paid as a percentage of the compensation recovered if your case is successful. If there is no recovery, there is no attorney fee.
This arrangement allows people who are already dealing with the financial stress of a serious injury to pursue a claim without worrying about hourly legal bills. It also aligns the interests of the law firm with those of the client. We want your case to succeed.
Any contingency arrangement will be explained clearly before you agree to anything. The percentage, what costs are covered, and how expenses are handled should all be part of that conversation.
TBI cases require more than a general understanding of personal injury law. They involve complex medical evidence, disputes about causation, long-term damages projections, and often a fight against well-resourced insurance companies that are motivated to pay as little as possible.
At Keller, Woods & Thompson, P.A., we take the time to understand the full picture of how a traumatic brain injury has affected your life. That means working with medical experts, rehabilitation specialists, and vocational consultants when needed. It means building a case that reflects not just your current medical bills, but the long road that may lie ahead.
We serve clients throughout Minneapolis and the surrounding communities, including those who were injured in Hennepin County, Ramsey County, and the broader Twin Cities metro area.
If you or a family member has suffered a traumatic brain injury and you believe another party may be responsible, we encourage you to reach out to our law office. The sooner you connect with an attorney, the better positioned you will be to protect your rights and preserve the evidence your case may depend on. Contact Keller, Woods & Thompson, P.A. today to schedule a consultation.
