A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is damage to the brain caused by an external force — a blow, jolt, bump, or penetrating object — that disrupts normal brain function. In a Texas personal injury claim, a TBI is treated as a serious bodily injury that may entitle the victim to economic damages, non-economic damages, and in cases of gross negligence, exemplary damages.

TBIs are classified clinically using the Glasgow Coma Scale and grouped into three severity levels:

• Mild TBI (concussion): Glasgow Coma Scale score of 13–15, brief or no loss of consciousness, often invisible on standard CT scans.
• Moderate TBI: Glasgow Coma Scale 9–12, loss of consciousness from minutes to hours, prolonged confusion, often visible imaging findings.
• Severe TBI: Glasgow Coma Scale 3–8, extended loss of consciousness or coma, significant structural brain damage.

Texas law does not require a particular severity level to qualify for a personal injury claim. Even a “mild” concussion can produce permanent cognitive deficits, mood changes, and reduced earning capacity — and Texas courts have long recognized these injuries as compensable when caused by another party’s negligence.

How Common Are Brain Injuries in Texas?

Brain injuries are not rare. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, approximately 144,000 Texans sustain a traumatic brain injury each year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates more than 2.8 million Americans experience a TBI annually, with falls and motor vehicle crashes accounting for the largest share. In Austin, the I-35 corridor, MoPac, US 183, and the urban core’s congested intersections produce a steady stream of crash-related brain injuries that we see in our practice every month.

Types of Traumatic Brain Injuries We Handle

Brain injuries take many forms, and the medical diagnosis often determines the value of the case, the experts required, and the defense the insurer will mount. Our firm handles the full spectrum:

Concussion (Mild TBI)

The most common form of TBI. Concussions cause headaches, dizziness, confusion, and memory problems. Most resolve in weeks — but a meaningful percentage of patients develop post-concussion syndrome with symptoms lasting months or years.

Cerebral Contusion (Brain Bruise)

Bruising of brain tissue from direct impact. Contusions can cause focal neurological deficits and may require surgical intervention when bleeding expands.

Diffuse Axonal Injury (DAI)

Caused by rapid rotation or shearing of the brain inside the skull, common in high-speed crashes. DAI damages the white-matter pathways that connect brain regions and is a leading cause of severe disability and persistent vegetative state.

Hematomas: Epidural, Subdural, Intracerebral

Bleeding inside the skull. Hematomas are medical emergencies. Subdural hematomas in particular can present slowly, sometimes days or weeks after the initial impact, making early legal action critical to preserve evidence.

Penetrating Brain Injury

Open head wounds from bullets, sharp objects, or shrapnel. These injuries typically cause focal damage but carry high risk of infection, seizures, and lasting cognitive impairment.

Coup-Contrecoup Injury

Damage at both the site of impact (coup) and the opposite side of the brain (contrecoup) as the brain rebounds inside the skull. Common in rear-end and rollover crashes.

Hypoxic and Anoxic Brain Injury

Brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation rather than direct impact — for example, near-drowning, choking, anesthesia errors, or delayed CPR. While not traumatic in the strict sense, these acquired brain injuries are litigated under the same negligence principles.

Second Impact Syndrome

A potentially fatal condition that occurs when a second concussion happens before the first has healed. This is a particular risk in school sports and youth athletics, and coaches or schools that allow premature return-to-play can be held liable.

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)

A degenerative brain disease caused by repeated head trauma, often diagnosed only at autopsy. CTE has driven major litigation in contact sports and military-service contexts.

Post-Concussion Syndrome (PCS)

A persistent constellation of symptoms — headaches, fatigue, brain fog, light sensitivity, irritability — that continues weeks or months after the initial concussion. PCS is often the centerpiece of mild-TBI claims and where strong medical-expert support matters most.

Traumatic Brain Injury Symptoms — Including the Ones People Miss

Brain injury symptoms can appear immediately, hours later, or weeks after the initial impact. Many TBI victims do not realize the connection between their symptoms and an earlier accident, which is why documentation matters so much. Symptoms cluster into physical, cognitive, and emotional categories.

Mild TBI / Concussion Symptoms

• Headache that worsens or won’t resolve
• Dizziness, balance problems, or unsteady gait
• Nausea or vomiting
• Sensitivity to light or sound
• Brain fog, slowed thinking, or trouble concentrating
• Short-term memory loss
• Mood changes, irritability, depression, or anxiety
• Sleep disturbance — too much or too little
• Ringing in the ears (tinnitus)

Moderate to Severe TBI Symptoms

• Loss of consciousness lasting minutes to hours or more
• Persistent or severe headache
• Repeated vomiting
• Seizures or convulsions
• Inability to wake from sleep
• Dilated pupils, one or both
• Clear fluid draining from nose or ears
• Slurred speech, weakness, numbness, or loss of coordination
• Profound confusion, agitation, or unusual behavior
• Coma or unresponsiveness

The “Lucid Interval” Warning

After a head impact, some TBI victims feel normal for minutes or hours before symptoms suddenly worsen. This “lucid interval” can mask serious internal bleeding such as an epidural hematoma. Anyone who has hit their head should be evaluated by a medical professional even if they feel fine afterward — and family members should monitor for delayed deterioration in the 24–48 hours that follow.

Common Causes of Austin Traumatic Brain Injury Cases

TBIs result from a wide range of accidents, almost all of them preventable when others act with reasonable care. The most frequent causes we see in Austin include:

• Car accidents — sudden deceleration, airbag impact, and head strikes against the steering wheel or window
• Motorcycle crashes — even helmeted riders sustain TBIs at high rates
• 18-wheeler and commercial truck collisions — mass and force differentials produce catastrophic head injuries
• Pedestrian accidents — vehicle-versus-pedestrian impacts almost always involve head trauma
• Bicycle accidents — falls and collisions are a leading cause of TBI in cyclists
• Slip and fall accidents — older adults are especially vulnerable to severe TBI from falls
• Construction and workplace accidents — falling objects, scaffold collapses, and falls from height
• Sports and recreational injuries — football, soccer, cycling, climbing, and youth athletics
• Assaults and acts of violence on poorly secured properties
• Medical malpractice — anesthesia errors, surgical complications, delayed stroke diagnosis, birth-related brain injury
• Defective products — faulty helmets, defective vehicle restraint systems, dangerous machinery

The Long-Term Costs of a Traumatic Brain Injury

The lifetime cost of a severe TBI in the United States can exceed $3 million per patient, according to data published by the CDC and the Brain Injury Association of America. Even “mild” TBI cases routinely cost six figures when you account for missed work, ongoing therapy, and the cascading effects on family income. Cost categories we document for every client include:

• Emergency response, ICU, and inpatient hospital care
• Neurosurgery and follow-up imaging
• Inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation — physical, occupational, and speech therapy
• Neuropsychological evaluation and ongoing cognitive rehabilitation
• Mental health treatment for depression, anxiety, and PTSD
• Long-term assistive care and supervision
• Home modifications — ramps, grab bars, accessible bathrooms
• Adaptive vehicles and durable medical equipment
• Vocational retraining or permanent loss of earning capacity
• Prescription medications, often for life

We work with life-care planners, vocational economists, and treating physicians to project these costs decades into the future and present them to insurers and juries in a defensible, evidence-backed way.

How Traumatic Brain Injury Is Proven in a Texas Case

Mild and moderate TBI cases are won or lost on medical evidence. Insurance defense lawyers love to argue that a normal CT scan means there was no brain injury — but the science says otherwise. We use multiple categories of proof to establish the existence, cause, and severity of brain damage:

Advanced Neuroimaging

Standard CT and MRI scans miss many mild and moderate TBIs. We pursue more sensitive imaging when warranted — diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), functional MRI (fMRI), magnetoencephalography (MEG), and positron emission tomography (PET) — to reveal damage that conventional scans cannot.

Neuropsychological Testing

A formal battery of cognitive tests administered by a neuropsychologist quantifies memory deficits, attention problems, processing speed reductions, and executive-function impairment. This testing produces objective evidence that translates well to juries.

Treating Physician Testimony

Your neurologist, neuropsychologist, and primary care physician are critical witnesses. We coordinate with them to ensure the medical record accurately reflects the cause, severity, and prognosis of your injury.

Day-in-the-Life Evidence

Photos, videos, journals, and family member testimony showing how the injury has changed daily life — at work, at home, and with friends — are some of the most powerful tools in TBI litigation.

Biomechanical and Accident Reconstruction Experts

Crash forces, head accelerations, and impact mechanics establish that the accident could (and did) cause the diagnosed brain injury. This is the cornerstone of defeating the defense’s “this couldn’t have caused that” argument.

How Insurance Companies Attack TBI Claims

Brain injury claims are the most aggressively fought claims in personal injury law because the dollars at stake are high and the injuries are often invisible to the naked eye. Defense lawyers and adjusters routinely deploy:

• The “you look fine” defense — exploiting the fact that many TBI victims appear normal in brief interactions.
• Negative imaging arguments — claiming that an unremarkable CT scan rules out brain injury (it does not).
• Pre-existing condition attacks — attributing symptoms to old concussions, anxiety, ADHD, or a prior accident.
• Symptom magnification claims — accusing the victim of exaggerating cognitive complaints for financial gain.
• Social media surveillance — combing through posts for any photo that suggests the victim is “living their life” despite reported symptoms.
• Independent medical examinations (IMEs) conducted by defense-friendly physicians who minimize findings.
• Recorded statement traps designed to elicit inconsistencies about symptom onset and severity.

We counter every one of these with documented medical timelines, the right expert witnesses, careful client preparation, and a trial-ready posture that signals to insurers we are not afraid to take the case to a Travis County jury.

Compensation Available for Austin TBI Victims

Texas law allows recovery for both the financial losses caused by a brain injury and the human costs that no spreadsheet can fully capture. Full-value TBI claims include:

Economic Damages

• Past and future medical bills (often the largest category)
• Rehabilitation and long-term care costs
• Lost wages and benefits during recovery
• Diminished earning capacity for permanent impairments
• Home and vehicle modifications
• Assistive technology and in-home care

Non-Economic Damages

• Pain and suffering
• Mental anguish, anxiety, depression, and PTSD
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Disfigurement and scarring
• Loss of consortium for spouses and family members

Exemplary (Punitive) Damages

Under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 41, punitive damages may be awarded when the defendant’s conduct involved gross negligence, malice, or fraud — for example, a drunk driver who caused a brain injury or a corporate defendant that knowingly ignored a safety hazard.

Texas Statute of Limitations for Brain Injury Claims

In most cases, you have two years from the date of the injury to file a Texas TBI lawsuit under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code §16.003. Several exceptions can extend, shorten, or alter this deadline:

• Discovery rule: If the brain injury was not immediately apparent — as is often the case with mild TBI and post-concussion syndrome — the clock may not start until you reasonably should have discovered the injury.
• Minor victims: If the injured person is under 18, the two-year limit generally does not begin until they turn 18.
• Medical malpractice: Claims involving healthcare providers must usually be filed within two years of the negligent act, with a maximum 10-year repose period under Chapter 74.
• Government claims: Claims against state or local government entities under the Texas Tort Claims Act require formal written notice within 180 days or less — the City of Austin’s notice deadline is particularly short.
• Wrongful death: If a brain injury results in death, the two-year clock runs from the date of death, not the date of the original injury.

Texas Damage Caps on Some TBI Claims

Most Texas TBI claims have no cap on damages. There are two important exceptions every brain injury victim should know:

• Medical malpractice: Under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code §74.301, non-economic damages are capped at $250,000 per claimant against any single physician or institution, with an overall cap of $500,000. Economic damages — medical bills, lost income, future care — are not capped.
• Government defendants: The Texas Tort Claims Act caps damages against most government entities at $250,000 per person and $500,000 per occurrence.

Standard cases against private individuals, businesses, drivers, and property owners have no statutory cap on either economic or non-economic damages.

How Texas Comparative Fault Affects TBI Cases

Texas applies a modified comparative fault rule with a 51% bar under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code §33.001. You can recover compensation as long as your share of fault is 50% or less. Your award is reduced by your assigned percentage of fault, and recovery is barred entirely if you are 51% or more responsible. This is one of the most aggressively litigated issues in TBI cases — insurers routinely try to assign fault to injured victims for not wearing a helmet, being distracted, or failing to anticipate a hazard.

What to Do If You Suspect a Traumatic Brain Injury

The actions you take in the days and weeks after a head impact directly affect both your medical recovery and your legal case:

• Get medical attention immediately, even if you feel fine. Brain bleeds can present hours later.
• Tell every provider about the head impact — ER doctor, primary care, specialists. The medical record is your legal record.
• Track symptoms in writing — headaches, sleep changes, mood shifts, memory problems, light sensitivity.
• Have a family member or friend monitor you for at least 24–48 hours after the impact.
• Follow all medical advice — missing appointments or therapy gives insurers ammunition.
• Avoid recorded statements with the at-fault party’s insurance company.
• Stay off social media regarding the accident and your physical activities.
• Call an Austin TBI attorney before evidence disappears and witnesses move.

Why Choose Kelley Wolff Injury Attorneys for Your TBI Case

Brain injury litigation requires more than legal skill — it requires the right team, the right experts, and the resources to outlast a defense designed to wear plaintiffs down. Learn more about our firm and the families we have served across Texas.

• Catastrophic-injury experience. TBI cases are not handled by a junior associate. Our senior attorneys lead every brain injury claim.
• Trial-ready preparation. Insurers move on cases they fear will go to verdict. Every Kelley Wolff TBI case is built for trial.
• Top medical and economic experts. Neurologists, neuropsychologists, neuroradiologists, biomechanical engineers, life-care planners, and vocational economists.
• Local Austin presence. We know Travis, Williamson, and Hays County courts, the major defense firms, and the local insurance adjusters.
• Full-service injury firm. TBIs often arise from crashes, falls, and workplace incidents — we handle the full range of Texas injury claims so all related issues are managed under one roof.
• Contingency-fee guarantee. You pay nothing unless we win. No retainer, no hourly bills, no surprises.
• Direct attorney access. You speak with your lawyer, not a screener or paralegal, throughout the case.

Schedule Your Free Brain Injury Consultation

Brain injury cases require fast action. Surveillance footage gets overwritten, accident scenes change, witnesses move, and government-claim notice deadlines pass in as little as 30 to 180 days. The sooner an experienced TBI attorney is involved, the stronger your case becomes.