Atlanta brain injury lawyer

You can have a traumatic brain injury without blacking out, without bleeding and without a single abnormal scan. Gary Huggins is an Atlanta brain injury lawyer whose firm, Huggins Accident Injury Lawyer, is based in Perimeter Center. He represents people across metro Atlanta who were hurt in car wrecks, truck crashes and falls.

Insurance companies find concussions easy to wave away. This page covers the warning signs, the doctors who diagnose concussion and TBI, how Georgia law treats your claim, and the deadlines for adults and children.

What are the danger signs after a head injury?

Some head injuries are emergencies. Call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room if any of these danger signs listed by the CDC appear after a bump, blow or jolt to the head:

• A headache that gets worse and does not go away
• Repeated vomiting or nausea
• Slurred speech, weakness, numbness or poor coordination
• Seizures or convulsions
• One pupil larger than the other
• Growing confusion, restlessness, agitation or unusual behavior
• Drowsiness, trouble waking up, or not recognizing people or places

For babies and toddlers, the CDC adds two more: crying that won't stop and can't be soothed, and refusing to nurse or eat.

If you take a blood thinner, don't wait for symptoms. CDC guidance says people on blood thinners should be seen right away after a bump or blow to the head, even if they feel fine.

Can brain injury symptoms show up days later?

Yes. The CDC notes that some concussion symptoms may take hours or days to appear or be noticed. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) adds that emotional symptoms, such as frustration and irritability, tend to develop during recovery.

The CDC groups concussion symptoms into four types:

• Physical: headaches, dizziness or balance problems, sensitivity to light or noise, vision problems, fatigue, and nausea early on
• Thinking and memory: trouble concentrating, feeling slowed down or foggy, and memory gaps
• Mood: irritability, anxiety, sadness, or feeling more emotional than usual
• Sleep: sleeping much more or less than usual, or trouble falling asleep

Often a spouse, parent or coworker notices first. You repeat questions, snap over small things or can't follow a conversation in a noisy room.

Write those changes down with dates. A simple symptom journal can become powerful evidence.

NINDS describes post-concussion syndrome as symptoms that last for weeks or longer. If you're still struggling a few weeks after the crash, tell your doctor in plain words and ask for a referral.

Not sure your headaches and fog are connected to the wreck? Call (240) 421-5511 any time, day or night, and tell us what you're noticing.

Why a normal CT scan doesn't rule out a brain injury

A normal CT scan does not mean you don't have a brain injury. According to NINDS, CT imaging can show a skull fracture and bruising, bleeding or swelling in the brain, and MRI can pick up subtler changes that CT may miss. But NINDS also says imaging, blood tests and other measures can't always detect damage from mild, concussive injuries.

The ER's job is to rule out emergencies like a brain bleed. Diagnosing and treating a concussion usually takes follow-up care:

• A neurologist, who examines the brain and nervous system and treats headaches, dizziness and seizures
• A neuropsychologist, who gives standardized tests of memory, attention, processing speed and problem-solving (NINDS notes these tests are often used along with imaging after a mild TBI)
• A physiatrist, a rehabilitation physician who coordinates therapy and tracks how you function over time
• Therapists for balance and dizziness, vision, speech, thinking skills and mood

Tell every provider exactly how you were hurt, including whether your head hit anything and whether you remember the impact. Memory gaps around a crash matter, both medically and legally.

Where are brain injuries treated in metro Atlanta?

Many of the region's most serious head injuries go to Grady Memorial Hospital downtown, a Level I trauma center. Other trauma centers, including Wellstar Kennestone in Marietta, Northside Hospital Gwinnett in Lawrenceville and Wellstar North Fulton in Roswell, serve the suburbs along I-75, I-85 and GA-400. Children's Healthcare of Atlanta treats pediatric trauma at its Arthur M. Blank Hospital off North Druid Hills Road.

Near our office, Northside Hospital Atlanta and Emory Saint Joseph's sit on “Pill Hill” along Peachtree-Dunwoody Road, minutes from the I-285 Top End.

After the hospital, many people with moderate or severe brain injuries move to inpatient rehabilitation. Shepherd Center, on Peachtree Road in Buckhead, is a rehabilitation hospital that treats people with brain and spinal cord injuries. Outpatient therapy may continue for months.

If you or a family member is still in the hospital or in rehab, Gary can come to the bedside. Home visits, phone calls and video meetings work too.

Call (240) 421-5511 to set up a visit at the hospital, at home or on video, whichever is easiest for your family this week.

How an Atlanta brain injury lawyer proves a “mild” TBI

“Mild” is a medical label for how an injury looked at first. It doesn't describe how much the injury changes your life. Insurers often treat a concussion with a normal scan as a minor claim, and their arguments are predictable:

• You never lost consciousness.
• Your CT scan was normal.
• You had headaches, anxiety or attention problems before.
• You waited to see a doctor or skipped appointments.
• You went back to work, so you must be fine.

Each argument has an answer, but only if the evidence is gathered early. Gary looks for:

• The first records: EMS and ER notes often describe confusion, a dazed look, repeated questions or memory gaps at the scene.
• Before-and-after witnesses: family, friends, coworkers, teachers or coaches who can describe specific changes.
• Testing: neuropsychological testing with built-in checks of effort, so the results can hold up under cross-examination.
• Treating doctors: a neurologist or physiatrist who has followed you over time.
• Work and school records: performance reviews, missed deadlines, lower grades or a job you could no longer do.
• Consistent care: following the treatment plan and keeping appointments.

Some newer MRI methods may show changes that standard scans miss. The science is still developing and the defense will challenge it, so it should be one piece of the case, not the whole case.

One more thing: don't give a recorded statement to the other driver's insurer while you're still foggy. Georgia law doesn't require one. Here's why a recorded statement can hurt your claim.

If an adjuster is already calling your concussion “minor,” call (240) 421-5511 before you agree to anything.

Who pays for a brain injury after a crash?

Georgia is an at-fault state, so the at-fault driver's liability insurance pays your injury claim. But Georgia only requires $25,000 per person in bodily injury coverage (minimums of $25,000/$50,000/$25,000). A brain injury can use that up in the first months of care.

That's where your own uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM) coverage comes in. Georgia has two kinds:

• Added-on (excess) UM pays on top of the at-fault driver's limits.
• Reduced-by UM is reduced by the at-fault driver's limits.

Say the at-fault driver has $25,000 in liability coverage and you have $100,000 in UM (a hypothetical). With added-on UM, up to $125,000 may be available. With reduced-by UM, the total is up to $100,000.

Since January 1, 2009, Georgia UM coverage is added-on by default unless the policyholder rejected it in writing. Here's more on added-on vs. reduced-by UM coverage. There are also technical steps to keep a UM claim alive, including serving your own insurer with a copy of the lawsuit.

Other possible sources:

• Med-pay on your own auto policy, which pays medical bills regardless of fault
• The employer's commercial policy, if the driver was working
• A property owner's liability coverage, if a hazard caused your fall (see our page on premises liability claims)

If you were assaulted at an apartment complex, hotel or parking deck, a 2025 Georgia law narrows property owners' liability for crimes by third parties in claims arising on or after April 21, 2025. Those cases need careful early investigation.

Can seat-belt evidence hurt my brain injury claim?

It can now be raised. Georgia uses modified comparative negligence: if you're 50% or more at fault, you recover nothing, and below that your award is reduced by your share (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33). Juries can also assign fault to people who aren't part of the lawsuit.

Under SB 68, signed April 21, 2025, evidence that you weren't wearing a seat belt can be admitted in pending and future cases on negligence, comparative fault, causation and apportionment. Insurers may argue a belt would have kept your head from striking the window or steering wheel.

A judge can still exclude the evidence if it's unfairly prejudicial. Whether a belt would have changed the injury is a question for medicine and crash science, not the adjuster.

Motorcycle riders face a similar fight over helmets, which Georgia requires for all riders (O.C.G.A. § 40-6-315).

Worried that something you did will be used against you? Call (240) 421-5511 for a straight answer about how fault works in your case.

Future damages and life-care plans

Georgia law lets you recover economic losses, such as medical bills, lost wages and lost earning capacity, and non-economic losses, such as pain, emotional distress and loss of enjoyment of life. There is no cap on non-economic damages in ordinary Georgia injury cases.

You get one recovery for the whole injury. So the claim has to account for the future, not just today's bills. For a lasting brain injury, that often means:

• A life-care plan, built with your treating doctors, listing the care you'll likely need: visits, therapy, medication, testing, supervision or attendant care, and help at home
• A vocational evaluation of the work you can still do and what you could have earned without the injury
• An economist who converts future costs and lost earnings into today's dollars

Brain injuries can matter years later. NINDS notes that older adults are more likely than younger adults to have lasting symptoms from a TBI of the same severity. It also says a moderate or severe TBI in early or mid-life may be associated with a higher risk of dementia later in life.

Those questions belong in the conversation with your doctors before any settlement. For the most severe injuries, see our page on catastrophic injury claims.

How does SB 68 affect proving medical bills?

SB 68 changed how medical bills are proven for claims arising on or after April 21, 2025 (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-1.1). Juries may now hear what your health insurer actually paid, and recoverable medical expenses are limited to the reasonable value of necessary care.

If you treated under a letter of protection, where a provider waits to be paid from your settlement, that arrangement can be examined in discovery.

If your crash or fall happened before April 21, 2025, this part of the law doesn't apply to your claim. If it happened later, a few habits help:

• If you have health insurance, ask Gary how to use it for crash-related care, and keep every explanation of benefits.
• Ask your doctors to note why each test or therapy is needed.
• Talk to Gary before signing a letter of protection, so you know how it may be used.

Our guide to SB 68 and what it means for injured people covers the other changes.

Have a stack of bills and insurance statements and no idea what counts? Call (240) 421-5511 and Gary will go through them with you.

How long do I have to file a brain injury claim in Georgia?

Most injury claims must be filed within two years of the injury under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33. A spouse's separate claim for loss of consortium has four years under the same law. Brain injuries make deadlines easy to miss, because symptoms surface slowly and the injured person may struggle with paperwork.

Government claims move faster. Written ante litem notice must reach a city within six months (O.C.G.A. § 36-33-5), and a county or the State of Georgia within 12 months (O.C.G.A. § 36-11-1; § 50-21-26).

That matters if you were hit by a city bus or county truck, or hurt by a dangerous road. MARTA and other public transit systems can involve special notice rules and shorter deadlines, so call right away.

For children, the two-year clock on the child's own claim generally doesn't start until age 18 (O.C.G.A. § 9-3-90). But parents' claims for the child's medical bills follow different rules, and evidence fades, so call early. A child's brain injury can show up as trouble at school years later, one more reason to document changes now.

If a brain injury leaves an adult unable to manage their own affairs, the family may need a guardian or conservator. Don't assume the deadline pauses. If a crime caused the injury, O.C.G.A. § 9-3-99 may extend the deadline while a prosecution is pending, but no one should rely on it.

Talk to an Atlanta brain injury lawyer today

A brain injury can change how you think, work and connect with the people you love. Gary Huggins has practiced law for 20 years, speaks Spanish, and takes the time to learn what changed for you and your family.

You'll find Gary's office at 1050 Crown Pointe Parkway, Suite 500, Atlanta, GA 30338, next to Perimeter Mall and minutes from the I-285 and GA-400 interchange. He also meets clients by phone, by video, at home or at a hospital bedside. Your first conversation with Gary is a free consultation, and there is no attorney's fee unless we recover compensation for you.

Call (240) 421-5511 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and start with a conversation about what happened and what has changed since.