A traumatic brain injury lawyer helps people whose brains were damaged by someone else's negligence, and the families who now live with the results. At Rosenthal, Kooshoian & Lennon, LLP, our Buffalo traumatic brain injury attorneys prove who was responsible and build a claim that accounts for a lifetime of medical care, lost income, and a changed mind. A brain injury is often invisible on the outside, which is exactly why it takes a firm that knows how to make its effects seen.
No injury is harder to live with, or to prove, than one to the brain. It can change how a person thinks, feels, remembers, and relates to the people they love, all while they look perfectly fine to a stranger. That gap between how serious the injury is and how little it shows is where these cases are won or lost. Our Buffalo brain injury lawyers build them to close it. This is one focus of our broader Buffalo personal injury practice, so the full weight of the firm is behind your case.
Call us 24/7 at 716-854-1300 to speak with a personal injury lawyer near you, or contact us for a FREE consultation.
A traumatic brain injury, or TBI, is damage to the brain caused by an outside force, a blow, a jolt, or a penetrating injury to the head. It ranges from a concussion at the mild end to severe, life-altering damage that leaves a person permanently disabled. What sets it apart from most injuries is that it strikes the organ that controls everything else.
Because the brain governs movement, memory, mood, and reasoning, a TBI can touch every part of a person's life at once. A concussion that seems minor can leave someone with headaches and fog for months, and a severe injury can change who they are. Our Buffalo TBI attorneys handle the full range, because even a "mild" brain injury is never as minor as it sounds.
A sudden force to the head or body. Falls, car and truck crashes, motorcycle accidents, workplace and construction accidents, sports impacts, and assaults are the leading causes of traumatic brain injury. In many of these, someone else's negligence, a careless driver or an unsafe property, is what caused the blow in the first place.
Our Buffalo traumatic brain injury lawyers handle TBI cases arising from:
Whatever the cause, the question our brain injury attorneys ask is whether someone's negligence led to the injury, and that's what our team sets out to prove.
Brain injuries run from mild to severe, and the labels matter. A concussion is a mild TBI, though "mild" only describes the initial event, not the lasting effect. More severe injuries include contusions, or bruising of the brain, and diffuse axonal injury, a widespread tearing of the brain's connections that often causes the most lasting harm.
The severity is measured by how the injury presented at first, but the real story is what it leaves behind. Some people recover from a moderate injury while others are permanently changed by a "mild" one. That unpredictability is part of what our Buffalo brain injury lawyers account for, because the label on the emergency room chart rarely captures how a TBI actually plays out over years.
Yes. A concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury, but "mild" refers only to the initial injury, not to the consequences. Many people recover, but others develop lasting headaches, dizziness, memory and concentration problems, mood changes, and sleep trouble, a condition known as post-concussion syndrome, that can last months or years.
This is one of the most misunderstood points in these cases, and insurance companies exploit it constantly. They treat a concussion as if it's nothing, when for some people it's the start of a long and disabling struggle. Our TBI lawyers take concussions seriously, and our team documents the lingering symptoms that prove a "mild" injury was anything but.
Because they're often invisible. A TBI usually doesn't show up on a routine scan the way a broken bone shows on an x-ray, and the person may look completely normal while struggling with memory, focus, and mood. That gap between how they appear and how they actually function is what makes these cases challenging, and what makes experienced representation essential.
Insurance companies lean hard on that invisibility. If they can't see it on a scan, they argue it isn't there, or they blame the symptoms on stress or a preexisting condition. Our Buffalo traumatic brain injury attorneys counter that with the tools that actually reveal a brain injury, advanced imaging, neuropsychological testing, and the testimony of the people who knew the person before and after.
They fall into physical, cognitive, and emotional categories. Physical symptoms include headaches, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, and sensitivity to light and sound. Cognitive symptoms include memory loss, trouble concentrating, and slowed thinking. Emotional symptoms include irritability, depression, anxiety, and personality changes. Some appear right away, and others surface days later.
The delayed onset matters. Someone can walk away from a crash feeling shaken but fine, then develop serious symptoms over the following days as the injury declares itself. That's why prompt medical evaluation after any head injury is so important, both for the person's health and for the record. Our brain injury lawyers use that medical documentation to connect the symptoms to the accident that caused them.
They can reshape a person's entire life. A severe TBI can cause permanent cognitive disability, personality change, the loss of the ability to work, and a lifelong need for care and supervision. Even a moderate injury can leave lasting problems with memory, focus, and emotional control that never fully resolve.
These effects ripple outward. The person who can no longer hold their job, manage their finances, or regulate their temper is changed in ways that touch every relationship they have. Our Buffalo TBI attorneys build the case around these long-term realities, because the true cost of a brain injury is measured in decades, not in the weeks of the initial hospital stay.
Often profoundly, and it's one of the cruelest parts of a TBI. Damage to the brain can change a person's temperament, judgment, and emotional control, leaving families to grieve someone who is still alive but no longer quite the same. Marriages strain, roles shift, and loved ones become caregivers overnight.
This human toll is real, and the law recognizes it. A spouse may have a claim for the loss of the partnership they once had, and the family's changed life is part of the picture. Our brain injury lawyers make sure the claim reflects not just the medical bills but the loss of the person the family knew, because a personality changed by a brain injury is a genuine and compensable harm.
A life care plan is a detailed, expert-prepared projection of everything a brain-injured person will need for the rest of their life, and what it will cost. It maps out the future medical care, therapy, medications, cognitive rehabilitation, in-home care or supervision, and lost earning capacity, year by year, so the claim reflects the true lifetime cost of the injury.
It's one of the most important tools our Buffalo traumatic brain injury lawyers use, because it turns an invisible, uncertain future into concrete, documented numbers an insurer can't wave away. Our team works with life care planners, neurologists, neuropsychologists, and economists to build it, and it becomes the backbone of the demand. Without one, the enormous future costs of a TBI are left to guesswork.
Yes, and in a serious TBI case it's often the largest part of the claim. A brain injury that affects memory, concentration, or judgment can end a career or force a person into lower-paid work, and New York law lets you recover not just wages lost to date but the future earning power the injury took from you.
Proving that loss takes more than a pay stub. It takes vocational experts and economists who can show what the person could have earned over a career and what they can realistically earn now. Our brain injury attorneys build that proof carefully, because a TBI that quietly caps someone's earning potential for thirty years causes a loss that dwarfs the immediate medical bills.
Whoever's negligence caused the injury, and sometimes more than one party. Responsibility can reach a careless driver, a property owner who let a hazard exist, an employer or contractor, the maker of a defective product, or a party responsible for an unsafe condition. Because the lifetime costs are so high, identifying every responsible party and every source of insurance is essential.
When the losses run into the millions, a single insurance policy often can't cover them, and finding an additional responsible party or an additional layer of coverage can be the difference between a full recovery and a shortfall. Our Buffalo brain injury lawyers investigate the accident thoroughly, because a case that has to last a lifetime demands every available source of recovery.
By the full lifetime impact of the injury, weighed against every responsible party. The value includes past and future medical care, cognitive and physical rehabilitation, lost income and lost earning power, the cost of long-term care or supervision, and compensation for the pain, the changed life, and the losses the family bears.
A serious brain injury is among the highest-value cases in personal injury, not because of any single bill but because it can quietly disable a person for the rest of their life. Capturing that takes careful work with the right medical and economic experts. Our Buffalo TBI attorneys build the number thoroughly and prove who's responsible, so every party at fault answers for their share.
A traumatic brain injury claim can recover past and future medical expenses, rehabilitation and therapy, lost income and reduced earning power, the cost of long-term or in-home care, and compensation for pain, suffering, and the permanent change to your life. Where the conduct was truly reckless, punitive damages may also be possible.
The aim is a recovery that actually covers a lifetime of a brain injury's effects, not one that runs out in a few years and leaves the family to absorb the rest. Every category has to be documented and proven, especially the future costs that make up the bulk of a serious TBI claim. Our brain injury lawyers pursue all of it, against every responsible party and every available policy.
The family may have a wrongful death claim. Some traumatic brain injuries prove fatal, immediately or after a period of decline, and when that happens the family can pursue a claim through the estate, along with a survival action for what their loved one suffered before passing.
Our wrongful death lawyer page explains how these claims work in New York, who can bring them, and what a family can recover. Our Buffalo brain injury attorneys handle them with the care a grieving family deserves, while holding every responsible party accountable.
Generally three years from the date of injury for a negligence claim, though shorter deadlines can apply. A brain injury caused by medical malpractice carries a different, generally shorter deadline, and a claim involving a government entity usually requires a formal notice of claim within about 90 days. Missing a deadline can bar the claim entirely.
Because the deadline depends on how the injury happened and who's responsible, it's not something to assume or put off. The safest course is to talk to a lawyer early, both to protect the deadline and because these cases take time to build. Our Buffalo traumatic brain injury lawyers move quickly to preserve the evidence and the medical proof while everything is fresh.
Get medical attention right away, even if you feel fine. Brain injury symptoms can be delayed, so prompt evaluation protects both your health and your claim. Follow through on every appointment and test, keep records of your symptoms as they develop, and be careful about talking to any insurance company before you have a lawyer.
Documenting the symptoms over time matters enormously in a TBI case, because the injury often reveals itself gradually. A journal of the headaches, the memory lapses, the mood changes, kept from the start, can become powerful evidence. Our brain injury lawyers use that record, along with the medical proof, to show an insurer exactly what the injury has done, and getting our team involved early helps preserve all of it.
Our Buffalo traumatic brain injury lawyers build them to make an invisible injury undeniable. From the start, our attorneys preserve the evidence, investigate what caused the injury, and bring in the neurologists, neuropsychologists, and life-care experts who can document both the damage and its lifelong cost.
Our brain injury attorneys use advanced imaging and neuropsychological testing to prove the injury, and the testimony of family, coworkers, and friends to show the before-and-after that a scan can't. Our team identifies every responsible party and every available policy, documents the full lifetime impact, and prepares each case as if it's going to trial, because that's what commands a serious offer. Most cases resolve through negotiation or mediation, but our Buffalo TBI lawyers build every one for trial, and our firm keeps these matters in house from start to finish.
Our Buffalo brain injury lawyers represent seriously injured people and their families across Western New York, and our firm handles traumatic brain injury cases the same way it handles every case, in house, start to finish, through settlement, trial, and appeal. Our attorneys understand how to prove an invisible injury and how to hold every responsible party accountable for a lifetime of its effects.
These cases reward a firm that takes a brain injury as seriously as the person living with it, invests in the right experts, and refuses to let an insurer dismiss what it can't see on a scan. That's what our traumatic brain injury attorneys bring, along with straight answers in plain language, so you always know where your case stands. You focus on your recovery and your family. Our team will handle the investigation and the fight.
If you or someone you love suffered a traumatic brain injury because of someone else's negligence in Buffalo or Western New York, the attorneys at Rosenthal, Kooshoian & Lennon, LLP are ready to help. Contact us for a free consultation, and a Buffalo traumatic brain injury lawyer will review what happened, explain your options, and lay out the path forward, with no fee unless we recover for you.
Time matters, both for the deadlines and for the evidence. The sooner our brain injury lawyers start, the more our team can do to prove the injury, document its lifetime cost, and protect the full recovery you and your family are going to need. A traumatic brain injury is a form of catastrophic injury, and our attorneys treat it with the seriousness that demands.
Call us 24/7 at 716-854-1300 to speak with a personal injury lawyer near you, or contact us for a FREE consultation.
Disclaimer: This page is for general information only and isn't legal advice. Reading it doesn't create an attorney client relationship. Laws and deadlines can change, and the rules described reflect New York law as of 2026. Every case is different, and prior results don't guarantee a similar outcome. For advice about a specific injury, please consult a licensed New York attorney.
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