When a Brain Injury Takes the Life of Someone You Love

TBI Wrongful Death Lawyer: When a Brain Injury Takes a Loved One’s Life

There is no gentle way to lose someone to a brain injury. Some families sit in an ICU for weeks. They watch the monitors and wait for words that never come. Other families get a phone call and a set of impossible choices all at once. However it happened for you, you are reading this in grief. We are sorry.

This page is written for you. It is not for lawyers, and it is not here to sell you anything. Did your loved one die from a traumatic brain injury (TBI) that someone else caused? If so, your family may have a wrongful-death claim. In plain language, this page explains what that means. It covers how the process works, what it costs, and how long it can take. You do not need to know a single legal term to keep reading.

When a Traumatic Brain Injury Becomes Fatal

A brain injury can take a life at the scene of a crash. It can also take a life days, weeks, or months later. That can happen after surgeries, after time on a ventilator, and after a family was told to hope.

Both are catastrophic. Both can support a claim. A delayed death does not make your case weaker. Often it means there is a long medical record. That record connects the final outcome directly back to the original injury.

The Mayo Clinic explains that severe traumatic brain injuries can cause lasting or permanent problems. In the most serious cases, they can be fatal. When another person’s carelessness caused that injury, the law may let your family seek accountability. To understand the injury itself, see our Traumatic Brain Injury Guide and our page on the long-term effects of severe TBI.

Who This Page Is For

You may have a claim if your loved one died from a brain injury caused by someone else’s carelessness. For example:

• A serious crash. A fatal head injury from a commercial truck crash or another major collision. Federal data comes from NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). It shows that thousands of people die in large-truck crashes every year. Each one is a family like yours.
• An attack on someone else’s property. This is the situation most families don’t have a name for. Someone you love was assaulted, robbed, shot, or attacked. It may have happened at an apartment complex, a parking lot or garage, a hotel, a bar, a store, or a gas station. They died from a head injury. Did the property owner fail to provide reasonable security? That means things like working locks and gates, good lighting, cameras, or guards. If that failure let the attack happen, you may be able to bring a claim against the owner. Lawyers call this negligent security, a type of premises liability (a property owner’s legal duty to keep people safe). See our negligent security claims page.
• A preventable medical error. A loved one died from a TBI linked to careless medical care.

CHG Personal Injury Lawyers is Florida-based. Our attorneys are admitted to the Florida Bar, and we handle catastrophic cases nationwide.

What a Wrongful Death Claim Can Recover

A wrongful-death claim is a civil claim, not a criminal case. It is not about putting anyone in jail. It is about the financial and human losses your family carries now. Depending on the state and the facts, a claim may seek money for:

• Medical bills from the final injury and treatment
• Funeral and burial costs
• Lost income and financial support your loved one would have provided
• Loss of companionship, guidance, and protection
• The family’s mental pain and suffering

In Florida, some money goes to the estate. Some goes directly to eligible surviving family members. This is set out in the state’s Wrongful Death Act, Fla. Stat. §768.21. Who can recover, and for what, varies a lot from state to state. Florida’s full statutes are published by the Legislature through Online Sunshine.

We cannot promise any specific amount. No honest lawyer can. But we can sit down and explain what really drives a case’s value.

Who Can File the Claim

In Florida and most states, one person files the wrongful-death claim. That person is the personal representative of the estate. They file on behalf of the survivors, not each family member on their own. Under Fla. Stat. §768.20, that representative brings one action for everyone.

Eligible survivors often include the surviving spouse and children. In some cases they include parents and other dependents. Again, this varies by state.

Deadlines matter. In Florida, most negligence-based claims must generally be filed within two years. This applies to causes of action that arose on or after March 24, 2023, under Fla. Stat. §95.11. Deadlines differ by state and case type. Some are shorter than you’d expect. If you’re not sure whether time has run out, ask. Don’t assume.

How We Prove the Case

To win, we must show that another party’s carelessness caused the injury and the death. How we do that depends on what happened.

• Truck crashes. We move fast. We send spoliation letters (formal notices to preserve evidence). We secure the truck’s electronic control module (ECM) “black-box” data, the driver’s hours-of-service logs, and maintenance records. We do this before a company can get rid of them. See our truck accident lawyer page.
• Negligent security. We request surveillance footage before it’s erased. We pull the property’s past-crime history and police call logs for the address. We document what was missing, such as broken gates, dead lighting, disabled cameras, or absent guards.
• Medical negligence. We secure the complete medical record and arrange a qualified expert review.

We work with medical experts to connect the death back to the TBI. We also work with economists to calculate lifetime financial losses. For background on how doctors classify these injuries, see our pages on TBI severity levels and diffuse axonal injury.

Here is one more point families should understand. Florida follows a modified comparative-fault rule under Fla. Stat. §768.81. A person found more than 50% at fault for their own harm generally recovers nothing. This is why we build the evidence early and thoroughly. We don’t want blame unfairly shifted onto the person you lost.

What to Expect: The Process, Honestly

Grieving families deserve a realistic picture, not a sales pitch. Here is how these cases usually move.

1. Free, confidential case evaluation. You tell us what happened. We listen, and we explain your options in plain terms.
2. Investigation and evidence preservation. We send preservation letters and gather records, footage, and reports right away. This is often the most time-sensitive part.
3. Setting up the estate. Where required, we help appoint a personal representative so the claim can be brought.
4. Building the claim. We coordinate medical, financial, and liability experts.
5. Filing and negotiating. We file the claim and negotiate with insurers or defendants.
6. Settlement or trial. Many cases resolve through settlement. If no fair offer comes, we prepare the case for trial.

Timeline, realistically: these cases commonly take anywhere from several months to a few years. It depends on how complex the case is, how many parties are involved, and whether a lawsuit is filed. Anyone who guarantees a fast, specific result is not being straight with you.

What It Costs — and Why That Shouldn’t Stop You

The case evaluation is free, and there’s no obligation. We handle these cases on a contingency-fee basis. That means you generally pay no attorney’s fees up front. You pay attorney’s fees only if we recover money for your family. If there’s no recovery, you don’t owe us attorney’s fees. We’ll put the fee terms in writing so nothing is a surprise.

Grief should never be made worse by worrying you can’t afford answers. We encourage you to read them.

Why Families Come to CHG Personal Injury Lawyers

We focus only on catastrophic, life-altering injuries and wrongful death. That includes spinal cord injuries, paralysis, severe TBI, amputation, severe burns, and fatal outcomes. We are not a general-practice firm casting a wide net.

• Concentrated experience with the causes behind fatal TBIs, including truck crashes and negligent-security attacks
• Licensed attorneys admitted to the Florida Bar, handling catastrophic cases nationwide
• We carry the investigation and legal work so your family can grieve
• Bilingual support in English and Spanish, so no family has to navigate this in a second language

Learn more about our approach to catastrophic injury claims and wrongful death claims.

Frequently Asked Questions

Talk to a TBI Wrongful Death Lawyer

Nothing can undo your loss. But you don’t have to handle the legal side alone. You don’t have to figure out the deadlines and paperwork while you’re grieving.

Reach out for a free, confidential case evaluation. There’s no cost to talk and no obligation, and bilingual support is available. Evidence like footage and vehicle data can disappear. Reaching out sooner helps protect your family’s rights.

Request your free case evaluation now.