Why is a brain injury hard to value with a calculator?

Because the method ties non-economic damages to medical spending, and brain injuries break that link. Someone with permanent cognitive deficits may have relatively modest bills, so a multiplier applied to those bills produces a figure unrelated to the actual loss.

Can I have a brain injury if my CT scan was normal?

Yes. CT detects bleeding and skull fracture, not diffuse axonal injury or the microstructural damage typical of a concussion. Normal imaging is expected in mild traumatic brain injury, which is why neuropsychological testing and documented symptoms matter so much.

What documents a brain injury best?

Emergency records noting loss of consciousness or confusion, a neurologist or neuropsychologist’s evaluation, formal cognitive testing, and specific accounts from people who knew you before. Together they establish both that an injury occurred and what it cost you.

How does lost earning capacity differ from lost wages?

Lost wages are pay you already missed and can prove with records. Lost earning capacity is the reduction in what you are able to earn going forward — a projection built by a vocational expert and an economist, and typically the largest single element of a serious brain injury claim.

Should I handle a brain injury claim myself?

This tool exists to help you understand the terrain, and it is not our place to tell you what to do. But brain injury claims turn on expert evidence, invisible harm, and coverage that is usually inadequate, and those are the conditions where self-representation goes worst.

Does surgery increase settlement value?

Surgery or a surgery recommendation is often a high-impact severity signal, but value still depends on liability, causation, coverage, prior history, and recovery outcome.

Why do settlement ranges vary so widely?

Two claims with the same diagnosis can settle very differently depending on liability, available policy limits, treatment continuity, wage loss, and how well the file is documented.

Do medical bills set the value of a claim?

Bills are one input, not the answer. Insurers weigh causation, necessity, the treatment timeline, and what a jury in that venue is likely to do.

Can ClearCaseIQ tell me exactly what my case is worth?

No tool can guarantee a result. ClearCaseIQ provides a preliminary intelligence report based on available facts, documents, and underwriting signals.

Is this legal advice?

No. ClearCaseIQ is not a law firm. The report is educational and can help organize information for possible attorney review.

Brain injury claims

Traumatic brain injury settlement calculator

Brain injury claims are the case where treatment cost tells you least about the harm. This produces a range from your documented losses, but read the warning below before giving that range much weight.

Nothing you enter leaves your browser. ClearCaseIQ is not a law firm, this is not legal advice, and no calculator can predict what a specific claim will settle for.

The multiplier method understates brain injuries more than any other category. It derives non-economic damages from treatment cost, and a mild traumatic brain injury can involve modest medical bills while permanently changing someone’s memory, temperament, and ability to work. Treat the figure below as a floor for orientation, not a valuation.

Documented losses

Medical bills to date$Total billed, before insurance adjustments.Estimated future medical care$Optional. Surgery, injections, or ongoing therapy.Lost income and diminished earning capacity$Often the largest component of a brain injury claim. Usually requires a vocational assessment rather than a pay stub.Other out-of-pocket costs$Optional. Mileage, devices, household help.

Injury and faultInjury severitySurgery completed, with documented permanent impairment or work restrictions. Multiplier 4× to 7×.Who was at faultRear-end collision, citation issued, or a liability admission.Your own share of fault0%California reduces recovery by your share of fault but never eliminates it, even above 50%.Claim type

Insurance (optional)Known insurance policy limit$Brain injury claims routinely exceed available coverage. Identify every applicable policy — the at-fault driver, any employer or commercial policy, umbrella coverage, and your own underinsured motorist coverage.

How this is calculated

Economic loss is the sum of medical bills, future care, lost wages, and out-of-pocket costs.
A non-economic component is medical costs multiplied by a severity multiplier between 1.5× and 10×. This stands in for pain and disruption, which have no invoice.
If fault is disputed, the total is discounted, because carriers pay less when liability is contested.
The result is reduced by your share of fault under California’s pure comparative negligence rule.
If you entered a policy limit, the range is capped at it.

The method has real limitations. Tying non-economic damages to treatment cost undervalues a serious injury treated cheaply and overvalues a minor injury treated expensively. It ignores venue, the specific adjuster, your credibility as a witness, and liens that reduce what you actually keep. Treat the output as a starting point for a conversation, not a target.

What actually drives value in these claims

Neuropsychological testing: CT and MRI are frequently normal after a mild traumatic brain injury, which carriers present as evidence nothing happened. Formal neuropsychological evaluation measures memory, processing speed, and executive function against population norms, and is often the only objective evidence available.
Lost earning capacity, not just lost wages: The dominant economic loss is usually the gap between what you could have earned and what you can earn now. Establishing it takes a vocational expert and often an economist, and it can exceed medical bills by an order of magnitude.
Before-and-after witnesses: Family members, coworkers, and supervisors describing concrete changes — missed deadlines, lost routines, uncharacteristic anger — carry real weight precisely because the injury is invisible on imaging. Specific incidents persuade; general statements do not.
The earliest records: Loss of consciousness, disorientation, amnesia surrounding the event, and Glasgow Coma Scale scores recorded by paramedics and emergency staff are the contemporaneous evidence of a brain injury. They are difficult to reconstruct later.
What "mild" actually classifies: Mild describes the severity of the initial injury event, not the outcome. A substantial share of mild traumatic brain injuries produce persistent symptoms, and the terminology is regularly used against claimants who do not know this.

Common questions

Why is a brain injury hard to value with a calculator?: Because the method ties non-economic damages to medical spending, and brain injuries break that link. Someone with permanent cognitive deficits may have relatively modest bills, so a multiplier applied to those bills produces a figure unrelated to the actual loss.
Can I have a brain injury if my CT scan was normal?: Yes. CT detects bleeding and skull fracture, not diffuse axonal injury or the microstructural damage typical of a concussion. Normal imaging is expected in mild traumatic brain injury, which is why neuropsychological testing and documented symptoms matter so much.
What documents a brain injury best?: Emergency records noting loss of consciousness or confusion, a neurologist or neuropsychologist’s evaluation, formal cognitive testing, and specific accounts from people who knew you before. Together they establish both that an injury occurred and what it cost you.
How does lost earning capacity differ from lost wages?: Lost wages are pay you already missed and can prove with records. Lost earning capacity is the reduction in what you are able to earn going forward — a projection built by a vocational expert and an economist, and typically the largest single element of a serious brain injury claim.
Should I handle a brain injury claim myself?: This tool exists to help you understand the terrain, and it is not our place to tell you what to do. But brain injury claims turn on expert evidence, invisible harm, and coverage that is usually inadequate, and those are the conditions where self-representation goes worst.

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