Families searching for TBI lawyers in Indiana, Pennsylvania, are usually dealing with two problems at once: a person who is not quite themselves anymore, and an insurance company that says the injury is not that serious.
Marcus & Mack has handled brain injury and catastrophic injury claims from our Indiana headquarters for decades, and we know how to close the distance between those two positions.
Call (724) 246-6807 for a free consultation. We are here to listen.
A traumatic brain injury claim in Pennsylvania is valued on three things: the medically documented severity of the injury, the cognitive and behavioral deficits it leaves behind, and the proof of future medical care and lost earning capacity.
Severe injuries requiring lifelong care support substantially larger claims than a concussion that resolves in a few weeks. Because Pennsylvania places no cap on damages in ordinary negligence cases, the strength of the medical and vocational evidence, rather than a statutory limit, sets the ceiling.
That is the short version. The rest of this page explains what drives each of those factors and where brain injury claims tend to get contested.
Because this is our home market and these are the cases we are built for. Indiana is where Marcus & Mack started, and our lawyers have been trying injury cases in this region for a long time.
What families tell us matters most is being believed. A person with a brain injury often looks fine, and being doubted by an adjuster on top of everything else is exhausting. We start from the position that you are describing your life accurately, then go build the record that proves it.
Call (724) 246-6807 and tell us what has changed since the injury.
Physicians classify brain injuries as mild, moderate, or severe, and the most common tool for that is the Glasgow Coma Scale. The scale scores eye-opening, verbal response, and motor response on a 15-point total.
In general terms, a score of 14 to 15 is graded mild, 9 to 12 moderate, and 3 to 8 severe. Duration of unconsciousness and post-traumatic amnesia factor in as well.
Here is the catch, and it is the single most important thing to understand about these claims. The grade reflects how a patient presented in the first hours after the injury. It does not predict how they will function a year later.
People graded mild in an emergency department at Indiana Regional Medical Center routinely go on to have lasting difficulty with memory, attention, mood, and fatigue. The label and the outcome are two different things.
Insurers dispute mild TBI claims because the evidence is often invisible on standard imaging, and that gives them an argument. Understanding the argument is the first step in answering it.
CT scans are built to find bleeding, skull fractures, and swelling that require emergency intervention. They are not designed to detect diffuse damage to nerve fibers at the cellular level.
Medical literature describes a secondary injury cascade that unfolds over hours and weeks after the initial trauma. Much of the harm from a brain injury develops after the moment of impact, which is precisely what an early scan cannot show.
When imaging is the issue, neuropsychological testing, advanced imaging, and careful documentation from treating providers carry the weight instead.
Headaches, dizziness, light and noise sensitivity, sleep disruption, irritability, and trouble holding a thought are the ordinary course of a brain injury. They are also entirely subjective, and adjusters lean on that.
The counterweight is consistency. Records from a primary care physician, a neurologist, a therapist, and an employer that all describe the same changes are difficult to dismiss.
Insurers frequently argue that symptoms come from stress, prior conditions, or age rather than the injury. Statements from coworkers, teachers, coaches, and family members about who a person was before the injury often prove more persuasive than any single medical record.
The leading causes here are motor vehicle collisions, falls, and being struck by incidents, which mirrors what we see across the region. Indiana County’s mix of rural highways, university traffic, and heavy commercial vehicles produces all three.
Common sources of the brain injury cases we handle include:
Severe cases frequently become catastrophic injury claims, which are handled differently from the start.
The largest component of a serious brain injury claim is usually what comes after the litigation ends. Medical bills already incurred are simple arithmetic. The next 30 years are not.
A life care planner works with treating physicians to project what a person will need over a lifetime, then prices each item. That can include ongoing neurological care, cognitive and occupational therapy, medication, in-home assistance, home modifications, and supported living arrangements.
Without that analysis, a claim tends to be valued on the medical bills sitting in the file today, which understates a lifelong injury considerably.
Earning capacity is about what a person could have earned, not only what they were earning at the time. A vocational specialist and an economist assess whether the injured person can return to their prior work, what alternative work is realistic, and the present value of the difference.
For younger clients, including students at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, this analysis often represents the largest single element of the claim. Our discussion of how TBI settlements are calculated walks through how these pieces fit together.
Pennsylvania also recognizes compensation for pain, suffering, disfigurement, and loss of life’s pleasures. For a brain injury, that last category carries real weight, because the losses show up in relationships, independence, and the ability to do the things that make a person who they are.
Brain injury cases are won on the quality of the record, and that record has to be assembled deliberately. Here is how we approach it.
We collect emergency records, imaging, specialist notes, therapy records, and pharmacy history. We also gather pre-injury records, school transcripts, and performance reviews, because proving change requires showing what the person was like beforehand.
Neurologists, neuropsychologists, physiatrists, life care planners, and vocational economists each address a different piece. Coordinating them early keeps their findings consistent rather than assembled in a rush before a deadline.
Statements from family, friends, coworkers, and teachers describe what medical records cannot. A supervisor explaining that a reliable employee now needs written instructions for a task they used to do from memory tells a jury something no scan will.
Surveillance footage is overwritten, vehicles are repaired or scrapped, and witness memories fade. Sending preservation letters and inspecting physical evidence early protects proof that cannot be recreated later.
None of this happens on its own, and it is the reason serious brain injury claims should not be handled the way a minor fender bender is handled.
Most Pennsylvania personal injury claims must be filed within two years under 42 Pa.C.S. § 5524. Claims against a government body generally require formal notice within six months, and claims on behalf of a minor follow different timing rules.
Cases arising in this county are typically filed in the Indiana County Court of Common Pleas, which sits in the 40th Judicial District at the courthouse on Philadelphia Street. The Courts of Common Pleas are Pennsylvania’s trial courts, and each judicial district operates under its own local rules.
Pennsylvania also applies modified comparative negligence under 42 Pa.C.S. § 7102, meaning an injured person can recover as long as their share of fault is not greater than the defendant’s, with the award reduced accordingly.
Working with our Indiana, PA personal injury lawyers means working with attorneys who appear in this courthouse regularly and know how these cases move.
These are questions families raise with us that are not covered above.
As soon as possible, and again if symptoms worsen. Worsening headache, repeated vomiting, confusion, unequal pupils, or unusual drowsiness are reasons to return to an emergency department immediately rather than wait for a scheduled appointment.
Yes. Many brain injuries occur without anyone blacking out, and the medical definition of a mild traumatic brain injury includes any alteration of mental state, not only unconsciousness.
It is a structured battery of tests measuring memory, attention, processing speed, language, and executive function. It converts symptoms a person describes into measurable findings, which is often the most persuasive evidence in a disputed claim.
Pennsylvania allows a guardian or a legal representative to pursue a claim on behalf of someone who lacks capacity. Establishing that authority is usually one of the first steps in a severe brain injury case.
Not necessarily. Pennsylvania law recognizes that a defendant takes an injured person as they find them, so a prior injury that made someone more vulnerable does not excuse the harm a new one caused.
A simple daily journal of symptoms, missed work, canceled plans, and changes in mood or ability is genuinely valuable. Memories fade, and contemporaneous notes made at the time carry weight that recollection alone does not.
Most resolve before trial, though preparing as if it will be tried is what creates leverage in settlement discussions. We make that decision with you, not for you.
A brain injury changes the person and the household around them, and the people who love that person are often the first to notice what the medical records have not yet captured. Your observations matter, and we want to hear them.
We will review the medical records, explain what we think the case looks like, and tell you honestly whether pursuing it makes sense. That conversation costs nothing.
Call Marcus & Mack at (724) 246-6807 or contact us for a free case evaluation. No fee unless you collect.
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