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Few injuries change a life as completely as a serious blow to the brain. One moment your loved one is fine, and the next you are sitting in a hospital hallway trying to understand words like “intracranial” and “diffuse axonal injury” while no one tells you what happens to your family’s future. Take prompt steps to protect your rights during this time.
Put focused and experienced traumatic brain injury lawyers in your corner.
Our team at D&W Law Group stands ready to advocate for you and your family. Co-founders Lance C. Dale and Scott B. Wolfman have each practiced law in Illinois for more than three decades, giving the firm more than 75 years of combined experience with Illinois personal injury law.
We provide TBI victims in Chicago, Cook County and neighboring counties with representation and a deep understanding of the medical and legal issues these cases raise. Let us guide you on the path to justice and relief.
D&W Law Group is A+ rated by the Better Business Bureau, and the firm’s attorneys hold membership in the American Association for Justice and the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association. The firm also serves clients in English and Spanish, so language never has to stand between your family and answers.
A TBI occurs when an impact to the head causes harm to the brain. Many types of accidents can result in such brain trauma, including:
No matter the cause of your injury, our traumatic brain injury attorneys are here to answer your questions and explain your legal options.
In a city built around expressways, CTA trains and buses, and dense downtown traffic, head injuries connected to high-speed crashes and public transit incidents are a routine part of what we see in Cook County courtrooms. Some of these claims involve a private driver or company.
Others involve a government body such as the CTA, which carries its own shorter one-year filing deadline.
Doctors commonly grade a brain injury using the Glasgow Coma Scale, which scores a patient’s eye, verbal, and motor responses on a 3 to 15 point scale. A higher score generally points to a milder injury, while a lower score points to a more severe one.
| Severity | Typical GCS Score | What It Often Means |
|---|---|---|
| Mild | 13 to 15 | Often called a concussion; symptoms may resolve with rest and monitoring, though some victims develop lasting problems |
| Moderate | 9 to 12 | May involve a longer loss of consciousness and a longer recovery, with a real chance of lasting cognitive or physical effects |
| Severe | 3 to 8 | Often involves extended unconsciousness, intensive care, and a high likelihood of permanent disability |
A score on this scale is only a starting point. Two people with the same score can have very different outcomes, which is one reason a full medical record, not just an emergency room number, matters so much when we value a claim.
Time is of the essence when it comes to addressing TBIs. So, it is very important to watch for signs of such injuries after you or a family member suffers head trauma. Red flags include:
If you spot potential signs of a brain injury, it is important to seek medical attention promptly.
Nationally, traumatic brain injury is a leading cause of death and long-term disability. There were more than 69,000 TBI-related deaths in the United States, and that figure does not count the far larger number of people treated only in emergency rooms or urgent care and never formally logged as a brain injury case.
TBIs can vary quite a bit in severity. The more serious the injury, the more likely it is to have long-lasting consequences. Severe concussions and other major TBIs can:
How you respond legally in the weeks after diagnosis often shapes what you can recover months and years later. Our team helps clients document these impacts early, before an insurance adjuster has a chance to minimize them.
Speak with our team about your case.
D&W Law Group has secured seven-figure and eight-figure results for clients hurt by someone else’s carelessness in Illinois, including outcomes tied directly to brain injury and other catastrophic harm.
| Outcome | Case Type |
|---|---|
| $14.9 million | Worksite accident |
| $6.5 million | School bus accident (back, carpal tunnel, and rib injuries) |
| $5.5 million | Medical malpractice, infant permanent brain injury from a medication overdose |
| $3.6 million | CTA accident, fractured pelvis |
| $3 million | Construction injury, falling concrete |
| $1.25 million | Car accident, disc herniation |
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Not all TBI victims can sue for compensation. You have to have valid legal grounds to do so. One common basis for a TBI lawsuit is claiming that the injury happened because of someone else’s negligence. To succeed in a negligence claim, you generally have to demonstrate that:
Our experienced attorneys can help you determine if you have grounds for a negligence lawsuit or other legal claims related to your TBI.
Determining who is responsible for your TBI is an important aspect of gauging your legal options. Sometimes, this is a relatively straightforward question to answer. Other times, doing so can be rather challenging. When multiple parties were involved in the events surrounding a TBI, it can be difficult to isolate who caused what.
Depending on how your injury happened, the responsible party could be a driver, a property owner, a general contractor on a job site, a nursing home operator, a hospital or physician, or a government body that operates a bus, train, or roadway. Each of these defendants comes with its own insurance layers, deadlines, and defenses.
Our traumatic brain injury lawyers understand the complexities this question can raise and are ready to investigate your accident thoroughly to help you get answers.
Lance Dale earned his J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law with honors, and Scott Wolfman earned his J.D. from DePaul University College of Law. Between them they have handled personal injury, motor vehicle, construction, and medical malpractice claims across Cook County and the surrounding counties for more than three decades each.
When a case involves a brain injury, we typically:
Attorney Mark Curran III holds both a law degree and a finance degree, a combination the firm uses when valuing future medical costs and lost earning capacity in catastrophic injury claims. That financial lens matters most in brain injury cases, where the largest damages often sit decades in the future rather than in the first hospital bill.
Most Chicago-area TBI lawsuits are filed in the Law Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County, based at the Richard J. Daley Center, 50 West Washington Street. The Law Division’s presiding judge sits in Courtroom 2210 of that building.
Filing in the right division and county, with the right defendants named before a deadline runs, is a mechanical step that can quietly decide a case long before a jury ever hears the facts. We handle that groundwork so your family can focus on medical care.
The answer here varies based on the type of brain injury claim you are making.
We can advise you on what deadline your unique case would have.
The type of compensation available for TBIs also varies based on the type of legal claim. Often, medical treatment, lost wages and pain and suffering are among the damages that can be sought.
Because brain injury damages often stretch decades into the future, rather than resolving in a few months, our attorneys work with medical and financial professionals to project future surgeries, therapy, home care, and lost earning capacity rather than settling for a snapshot of costs at the time of filing.
Our traumatic brain injury lawyers can help you understand what kinds of financial relief may be options in the legal routes available to you.
The journey of recovering from a TBI can be a long one. Our firm has represented clients through worksite accidents, school bus crashes, CTA incidents, and medical malpractice claims tied to brain injury, and we bring that same preparation to each new case rather than treating any claim as routine. We’re here to help you every step of the way.
Speaking with an attorney early matters because some deadlines in Illinois, especially claims against a government body like the CTA, run shorter than the general two-year window. Early legal help also means someone is documenting your medical record and lost income from day one, before an insurance adjuster starts building its own file.
When a brain injury leaves someone unable to manage their own affairs, a family member or other qualified individual may need to be appointed to pursue the claim on their behalf. Our attorneys can walk you through what that process looks like in Cook County and what paperwork it typically requires.
Timelines vary with the severity of the injury, the number of parties involved, and whether the case settles or proceeds to trial in the Law Division at the Daley Center.
Complex brain injury cases that require testimony from multiple medical experts often take longer than a straightforward fender-bender claim, simply because there is more record to build.
It can. Claims against the CTA and other government bodies generally involve a shorter filing window than an ordinary car accident claim. A claim against the CTA typically must be filed within one year rather than the usual two, so if a CTA vehicle was involved in your accident, treat the timeline as urgent.
Yes, in many cases. Some brain injuries are not obvious in the emergency room and only become clear once cognitive, memory, or mood symptoms develop over the following days or weeks. Discuss the timing of your symptoms with your attorney so the filing deadline can be calculated correctly for your situation.
In most medical usage, a concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury; the terms describe the same category of injury under the Glasgow Coma Scale. A “mild” label refers to the initial presentation, not necessarily to how a person actually recovers, and some people with a mild TBI still experience lasting symptoms.
Most personal injury claims resolve through negotiation rather than a jury verdict, but that outcome depends on how clearly liability and damages can be shown and on how an insurance carrier responds.
Our attorneys prepare every brain injury case as though it may go to trial in the Law Division, because that preparation is often what drives a stronger settlement offer in the first place.
D&W Law Group offers free consultations to people evaluating a traumatic brain injury claim in the Chicago area.
You and your family do not have to sort through medical terms, insurance letters, and court deadlines on your own. Our Chicago traumatic brain injury attorneys can review what happened, explain your options in plain language, and take the legal work off your plate while you focus on recovery.
I was in a accident and D&W Law group took very grate care of me and I would recommend this law group to any one if you were in a car accident please call this law group there are great.
I come from the "Service" industry with a predominantly Hispanic customer base and I am very particular as too whom I refer my customers to when they need assistance. D&W has pulled thru every time taking care of my customers as I would. Thank you for all you do!
After what seemed like an impossible search, I was referred to D and W Law Group. I was met with a very knowledgeable staff who exceeded my expectations. All of my questions and concerns were answered in a timely manner.
I just have a question ik it's been a while since I had my accident. I just wanted to know if I'm still having complications do to my injury what do you suggest I do can you all give me a call or can I call to talk more details…
Pros 100% Font bother going anywhere else. They actually care about doing good and put the thier clients best interest 1st. I hope I never need help in this way again but if I did I wouldn’t go anywhere else.
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