San Antonio Brain Injury Lawyer

What Is a Brain Injury?

The brain controls everything. Memory, movement, speech, emotion, personality, and basic bodily function all run through it. When the brain is damaged, whether by a violent impact, a lack of oxygen, or a penetrating injury, the effects can reach into every corner of a person's life.

Some victims struggle to work. Others lose the ability to care for themselves. Many are never the same person they were before the injury.

Brain injuries are not always visible. There is no cast, no scar, no outward sign of what a victim is living with. That invisibility makes these cases harder to fight, and it makes having the right legal team even more important. At San Antonio Personal Injury Lawyers™, we know how to build the case that proves what you are going through and fights for what you deserve.

Common Types of Brain Injuries

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

A traumatic brain injury involves a sudden external force hitting the brain hard enough to disrupt how it functions. Car crashes, falls, and workplace accidents are among the most common causes. TBIs range from concussions that linger for months to severe injuries that permanently change how a person thinks, speaks, and moves through the world. Do not let the word "mild" fool you. Even a mild TBI can strip away a person's ability to concentrate, hold a job, or show up for their family the way they did before the accident.

Concussions

A concussion is a form of traumatic brain injury, and it is one that gets minimized far too often. Headaches, dizziness, confusion, and memory problems are real symptoms with real consequences. When a concussion is caused by someone else's negligence, the victim deserves compensation for every day of disruption it creates, whether that is a week or a year.

Contusions (Brain Bruises)

A brain contusion is a bruise on the brain caused by direct impact. Unlike a bruise on your arm, a brain contusion can cause localized bleeding that builds pressure inside the skull and may require surgical intervention. The outward signs are not always obvious, but the damage is real, and the costs of treatment are significant.

Coup-Contrecoup Injury

In a high-impact crash, the brain does not just absorb one hit. It strikes the inside of the skull at the point of impact, then rebounds and strikes the opposite side. Two impact sites. Two areas of damage. The cumulative effect on cognitive function, behavior, and quality of life can be far greater than either injury alone, and someone else's decision put you in that position.

Penetrating Brain Injury

When debris, glass, or metal fragments penetrate the skull and enter brain tissue, the results are often severe and life-threatening. Penetrating brain injuries can produce permanent neurological damage, and the circumstances that cause them, high-speed crashes, dangerous job sites, and violent incidents, almost always involve a party whose negligence can be established and pursued.

Hemorrhages and Hematomas

Bleeding in the brain is a medical emergency. A subdural hematoma involves bleeding between the brain and skull. An epidural hematoma involves bleeding between the skull and the dura mater. Both can cause a rapid increase in pressure on the brain and require immediate surgery to intervene. These injuries are common in serious vehicle accidents and falls, and the long-term consequences can be permanent.

Anoxic and Hypoxic Brain Injury

An anoxic brain injury occurs when the brain is completely cut off from oxygen. A hypoxic brain injury involves partial oxygen deprivation. In both cases, brain cells begin to die within minutes. These injuries are seen in drowning incidents, cardiac events following a crash, and surgical complications caused by medical negligence. When someone else's failure caused the oxygen deprivation, a serious legal claim may follow.

Common Causes of Brain Injuries

Brain injuries do not discriminate. They happen on highways, job sites, operating tables, and neighborhood sidewalks. What they have in common is this: in most cases, someone else is responsible. Here is how these injuries typically happen and who can be held accountable.

• Motor vehicle accidents: The brain is not built to absorb the forces of a high-speed collision. When a vehicle stops suddenly or is struck from the side, the brain continues moving inside the skull, slamming into bone. The result can range from a concussion that lingers for months to a traumatic brain injury that permanently alters cognitive function. Distracted drivers, drunk drivers, and speeding drivers cause these crashes every day in San Antonio.
• Commercial truck and 18-wheeler accidents: A fully loaded commercial truck can weigh 80,000 pounds. When that kind of mass hits a passenger vehicle, the occupants absorb catastrophic force. Brain injuries from trucking accidents tend to be severe, and the cases that follow are complicated. Trucking companies have legal teams on retainer. You need one too.
• Motorcycle accidents: A helmet reduces the risk of a fatal brain injury, but it does not eliminate it. Riders who are struck by inattentive or reckless drivers can suffer serious traumatic brain injuries even at relatively low speeds. These cases often involve drivers who never saw the rider at all.
• Slip and fall accidents: Hard floors, concrete sidewalks, and unpadded surfaces do not give way when a person falls. A single fall in a poorly maintained parking lot, grocery store, or apartment complex can produce a traumatic brain injury serious enough to change a victim's life permanently. Property owners have a legal responsibility to maintain safe conditions.
• Workplace accidents: Construction sites, warehouses, and industrial facilities are environments where falls from height, falling objects, and equipment failures can strike a worker on the head with tremendous force. When an employer or contractor cuts corners on safety, workers pay the price.
• Medical negligence: Not all brain injuries come from physical trauma. When a surgical team fails to maintain adequate oxygen levels, when an anesthesia error goes uncorrected, or when a birth complication is mismanaged, the brain can be starved of oxygen with devastating results. Anoxic and hypoxic brain injuries caused by medical error can be the basis of a serious personal injury claim. We know how to investigate what happened and build the case that holds the responsible parties accountable.

How We Handle Your Brain Injury Case

Brain injury cases are different from other personal injury claims. The injury is not always visible on a scan. Symptoms can emerge days or weeks after the accident. Insurance companies use that uncertainty against you, and they are good at it. Attorney Steven Nunez and our team know how these cases are fought, and we are ready to fight yours.

• We start working before evidence has a chance to disappear. Accident reports, surveillance footage, witness accounts, black box data — all of it needs to be locked down immediately. In brain injury cases, what happened in the moments before impact is often everything. We do not wait to find out.
• We bring in the right experts. Neurologists, neuropsychologists, and life care planners do not just support your case — they build it. We work with professionals who can document what your injury has done to your cognitive function, your personality, your ability to work, and your daily life in terms that hold up in a courtroom and that an insurance adjuster cannot wave away.
• We fight the invisibility problem. Broken bones show up on an X-ray. A traumatic brain injury does not always show up on a scan, and insurance companies count on that. We know how to present the full picture of a brain injury, from neurological testing to the testimony of people who knew you before and after, so that what you are living with becomes impossible to minimize.
• We calculate what your case is actually worth. The emergency room bill is just the beginning. Neurology appointments, cognitive therapy, the job you could not keep, the promotion you never got, the relationships that shifted after the accident. We account for all of it, put a real number on it, and fight for every dollar.
• We go to trial. Steven Nunez has first-chair and second-chair trial experience. If the insurance company will not make a fair offer, we take the case to court. Brain injury cases require attorneys who are willing to stand in front of a jury and explain exactly what happened to your brain and what it has cost you. We do that.

Compensation You May Be Able to Recover

Brain injury victims face a lifetime of costs that go far beyond the emergency room. When we take your case, we fight to recover compensation across every category of loss, present and future.

Economic Damages

• Emergency and Acute Medical Care: The bills start before you leave the accident scene: ambulance, emergency room, ICU, and surgery costs are part of your claim, and we fight to recover every dollar.
• Ongoing and Future Medical Expenses: A brain injury does not come with a finish line for medical care. Neurology appointments, medication, follow-up imaging, and long-term monitoring can stretch for years, possibly for the rest of your life. We make sure those future costs are accounted for in what we pursue on your behalf.
• Cognitive and Neurological Rehabilitation: Speech therapy, occupational therapy, cognitive rehabilitation programs, and neuropsychological treatment are often essential after a brain injury. We fight to make sure every one of those costs is part of what you recover.
• Assistive Devices and Home Modifications: Depending on the severity of your brain injury, you may need adaptive equipment, modified living spaces, or specialized transportation. We make sure those costs are part of what you recover.
• In-Home and Long-Term Care: Severe brain injuries often require around-the-clock care or personal care attendants. Those costs are real, ongoing, and fully recoverable.
• Lost Wages: If your brain injury has kept you out of work for weeks, months, or permanently, you may be entitled to recover the income you have lost during that time.
• Loss of Earning Capacity: Brain injuries can permanently affect cognitive function, concentration, and the ability to perform job duties. If your injury has limited your earning potential, you may be entitled to compensation for that difference.

Non-Economic Damages

• Pain and Suffering: Living with a brain injury is painful, physically and in every other way. You may be entitled to compensation for the ongoing suffering your injury causes day after day.
• Loss of Enjoyment of Life: When an injury permanently takes away activities, relationships, and experiences that were once part of your life, the law recognizes that loss. We fight to make sure it is reflected in your recovery.
• Emotional Distress: A brain injury does not just change how your body works. It can change who you are. Depression, anxiety, PTSD, and personality shifts are real and documented consequences. You may be entitled to compensation for the psychological weight of what you have been living with since the accident.
• Traumatic Brain Injury and Mental Disability: When a brain injury produces lasting cognitive impairment or mental disability, those consequences must be reflected in your compensation. We work to make sure the full scope of your neurological losses is on the record.
• Loss of Consortium: A devastating brain injury affects your closest relationships. Spouses and family members may be able to pursue compensation for the loss of companionship, support, and partnership that results from your injury.

Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. The value of any case depends on its specific facts and circumstances.

Why Choose San Antonio Personal Injury Lawyers™

We Are a Brain Injury Law Firm

Steven Nunez built this firm around the cases a lot of attorneys avoid. Brain injuries are complicated and insurance companies know most lawyers will not go the distance. But, we will. San Antonio Personal Injury Lawyers™ understand the reports, we work with cognitive specialists, and we have stood in front of juries and explained exactly what it means when someone loses the ability to work, to remember, to be who they were before someone else's negligence changed everything. That is not a coincidence. It is what we built this firm to do.

Insurance Companies Cannot Dismiss Our Cases

Claims involving brain injuries are some of the most litigious cases in personal injury law, since their symptoms are hard to detect and the damages involved are huge. The insurance companies assume that the victims will settle for less money instead of pushing the case further. We prepare your case in a way that makes those less-than-fair settlements indefensible.

We Have Stood in Front of Juries

A lot of firms negotiate. Fewer actually go to trial. Attorney Steven Nunez has first-chair and second-chair trial experience and has secured a $1.5 million arbitration award for a client. When the other side knows your attorney has actually tried cases and won, settlement conversations go differently. That courtroom experience is something we carry into every brain injury case from the first phone call.

Our Results Are Recognized

Membership in the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum is not self-reported. It is earned by attorneys who have secured million-dollar and multi-million-dollar results for real clients. Steven Nunez holds both memberships.

You Pay Nothing Unless We Win

We handle brain injury cases on a contingency fee basis. You owe nothing upfront and do not pay us unless we successfully secure compensation on your behalf.