UCLA-Trained Attorneys in Westwood
If you or a family member suffered a traumatic brain injury or spinal cord injury in Westwood, California, you are facing the most severe end of personal injury law, and insurers fight these claims the hardest. A normal MRI does not rule out a real brain injury, and a spinal cord injury's lifetime care costs can reach seven figures. Westwood Law engages neurologists, life care planners, and economists from day one to build the record insurers cannot dismiss.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.
Why Your Case Is Different
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 Westwood
- UCLA and its medical centers: A campus population in the tens of thousands plus two major hospitals means heavy pedestrian, cyclist and rideshare volume concentrated in a small area. Claims here frequently involve institutional defendants and commercial policies rather than individual drivers.
- The Wilshire high-rise corridor: One of the densest concentrations of residential towers in Los Angeles, with the parking structures, driveways and valet operations that come with them. Premises and backing-collision claims in this corridor usually involve professional property management and their insurers.
- Westwood Village: A 1920s planned commercial district built for the campus, with short blocks, heavy foot traffic and constant loading activity. Right-of-way and visibility are the recurring disputes in pedestrian claims here.
Compensation Available in Your Case
Medical Expenses & Lifetime Care
Emergency care, surgery, imaging, rehabilitation, and decades of ongoing specialist treatment, attendant care, and equipment.
Lost Wages & Earning Capacity
Income lost during recovery and significantly reduced future earnings from cognitive or physical limitations.
Pain & Suffering
Physical pain, emotional distress, and the psychological impact of permanent cognitive, physical, or personality changes.
Home Modification & Caregiver Costs
Wheelchair accessibility, adaptive devices, home modifications, and compensation for family or professional caregivers.
Loss of Enjoyment & Independence
The loss of mobility, independence, and the ability to participate in work, hobbies, and relationships that defined your life before the injury.
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 commercial carrier'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
If you suspect a spinal injury, do not move and do not let anyone move you until paramedics arrive. Movement can turn an incomplete injury into a complete one. Any head impact also warrants immediate evaluation, since symptoms of both can worsen hours or days later.
Follow up with the right specialist
Emergency rooms often discharge brain and spinal cord injury patients before the full injury is understood. A neurologist, physiatrist, or spine specialist evaluation documents what the ER missed.
Document the mechanism of injury
How the accident happened, including vehicle data, fall height, and impact point, directly affects both your medical diagnosis and your case's liability theory.
Keep a symptom journal
Daily records of headaches, memory problems, mobility changes, and pain document the real-world impact insurers try to minimize.
Engage a life care planner early
If your injury will require ongoing care, the financial model for your lifetime needs must be built before any settlement discussions begin.
Contact Westwood Law
Brain and spinal cord injury cases require the earliest possible expert engagement. We retain neurologists, life care planners, and economists to build your case before the insurer sets a reserve.