UCLA-Trained Attorneys in Calabasas
Insurance adjusters love brain injury cases where the MRI looks normal. They point to the clean scan and say there is no objective evidence of injury, even though MRIs and CT scans were never designed to detect the kind of damage that causes most post-concussion symptoms. A spinal cord injury gets the opposite treatment: the imaging is unmistakable, so the insurer shifts to arguing that your early offer should cover a year or two of treatment, not the lifetime of care a real injury like this demands.
Curt represents Calabasas clients with either injury and files at Chatsworth Courthouse. For brain injury cases, he brings in neuropsychologists early, before the insurance company can argue that delayed testing is unreliable. For spinal cord injuries, he brings in life care planning experts who calculate costs over a lifetime, not a calendar year, and prepares every case for litigation, because insurers do not pay fair value on catastrophic claims without the credible threat of trial.
UCLA-Trained Attorneys, Not a Call Center
I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, graduated from El Camino Real High School and UCLA Law School, and I've spent my career representing people who were hurt because someone else wasn't paying attention. I take these cases personally because I've watched families in this community deal with the aftermath of serious crashes. If you were injured, I want to hear what happened.
The Local Details That Move Your Case Forward
The crash corridors, the hospitals that handle trauma, the legal deadlines, the insurance dynamics. These are the things we know about Calabasas cases on day one, before we even open your file.
Insurance companies routinely challenge mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) claims, citing the absence of visible structural damage on standard MRI. Functional MRI, neuropsychological testing, and expert testimony can document real cognitive and behavioral impairment even when conventional imaging appears normal.
The long-term economic impact of a brain or spinal cord injury, including reduced earning capacity, ongoing care, future surgeries, and lifetime disability, often dwarfs the initial medical costs. Building this record requires life care planners, vocational experts, and medical specialists working together.
The National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center estimates lifetime care for a high cervical, complete SCI at $5M or more, with lower cervical and lower-level injuries still regularly reaching into seven figures. Building the life care plan that documents these costs requires expert collaboration between your attorney, a physiatrist, a life care planner, and an economist.
Unlike some states, California does not cap pain and suffering damages in personal injury cases (the MICRA cap applies only to medical malpractice). Brain and spinal cord injury victims can recover the full value of their non-economic losses, including quality of life, loss of independence, and emotional distress.
What We Know About Calabasas
- Calabasas Commons: Corporate-owned outdoor retail with professional liability management. Slip & fall and parking incidents here are routinely contested, and prior incident history at the property is key evidence.
- Las Virgenes / Mulholland corridor: Mountain roads to Malibu with serious crash history. Road design and maintenance disputes can name Caltrans or LA County as defendants alongside individual drivers.
- Gated community HOAs: A large share of residential incidents occur inside HOA-governed developments. HOA liability, common area maintenance records, and insurance structures differ significantly from individual homeowners.
- LA County jurisdiction: Cases file at Chatsworth Courthouse, LA County Superior Court, not Ventura County. Different courthouse, different jury pool than the Conejo Valley.
- High umbrella coverage density: Individual defendants in Calabasas are more likely to carry substantial umbrella coverage beyond their primary auto or homeowner policy, a factor in how we structure demand.
Major Accidents in the Area
The US-101 corridor and Las Virgenes Road see significant commuter traffic, with congestion peaking during morning and evening rush hours. These conditions create dangerous merging zones and congested areas.
City surface streets like Las Virgenes Road, Calabasas Road, Lost Hills Road, Agoura Road are hotspots for T-bone collisions, rear-end crashes, and pedestrian strikes, especially during rush hours and school drop-off/pick-up times.
We've helped victims injured in:
- Rideshare (Uber/Lyft) accidents near Calabasas Commons.
- Delivery vehicle collisions in residential zones like The Oaks, The Highlands and Mulwood.
- School zone crashes near Calabasas High School and A.C. Stelle Middle School.
- Pedestrian accidents near Calabasas Commons.
- Dog Bites in the Mulwood and Park Moderne neighborhoods.
Compensation Available in Your Case
A catastrophic injury does not heal on a predictable timeline. Compensation has to reflect cognitive therapy or lifetime medical care, career limitations you did not choose, and changes to your life that no one warned you about.
Medical Expenses & Lifetime Care
Neurological care, advanced imaging like fMRI and DTI, spinal surgery, and decades of rehabilitation. Calabasas patients are often treated at regional trauma centers, and the costs start accumulating from the first day.
Lost Wages & Earning Capacity
A brain or spinal cord injury can force you out of work for weeks or end a career entirely. Many Calabasas residents hold professional roles where even cognitive or physical limitations end that career for good.
Pain & Suffering
A TBI brings relentless headaches and personality changes your family notices before you do. A spinal cord injury brings chronic neuropathic pain and the emotional toll of permanent physical limitation. Either way, this is real and compensable.
Home Modification & Caregiver Costs
Ramps, lifts, and accessible bathrooms for spinal cord injuries, or daily caregiving assistance for severe TBI. Many Calabasas homes are multi-level and require significant, costly modification.
Loss of Enjoyment & Independence
Hiking the Santa Monica Mountains, driving your kids to school, remembering a conversation, handling daily tasks independently. A catastrophic injury can take all of it away, and that loss has real value in a claim.
Punitive Damages
Available when a defendant's conduct is despicable enough to show willful, conscious disregard for your safety, such as drunk driving or a negligent trucking company's knowing safety violation, under California Civil Code §3294.
Call us Today. No fee until you win!
818-224-7940What to Do After a Brain or Spinal Cord Injury
Catastrophic injury claims are won or lost on the medical record and the expert team behind it. These steps protect your health and build the documentation your case requires.
Get emergency medical care immediately
After a crash on Las Virgenes, the 101, or anywhere in Calabasas, do not move if you feel numbness, tingling, or cannot move your extremities, and wait for paramedics. Get evaluated for any head impact too. Do not rely on feeling "fine" at the scene; both kinds of symptoms can be delayed.
Follow up with the right specialist
A normal CT at the ER does not rule out a brain injury, and the first imaging does not tell you everything about a spinal injury either. Neuropsychological testing and functional imaging detect cognitive damage standard scans miss; a full neurological workup determines the severity and level of a spinal cord injury.
Document the mechanism of injury
The speed, angle, and force of the crash directly affect your prognosis and your case. Photos, police reports, and vehicle data all preserve this critical information.
Keep a symptom journal
Record every headache, every moment of confusion, every change in mobility or pain, every time you lose your train of thought. This daily log turns subjective complaints into documented evidence.
Engage a life care planner early
If your injury will require ongoing care, the financial model for your lifetime needs must be established before settlement talks begin. We engage a life care planner within the first weeks to start projecting every future cost.
Contact Westwood Law
Curt represents Calabasas clients with brain and spinal cord injury cases and files at Chatsworth Courthouse. He brings in the right experts early and builds the medical case before the insurer sets a lowball reserve.