Purvis Brain Injury Workers Comp Lawyer

Ever wonder why a Purvis brain injury lawyer’s commercial never once mentions the word verdict?

Warning: a traumatic brain injury case is exactly the kind of file where the difference between a lawyer who has actually tried a case to verdict and one who hasn’t shows up loudest.

So. Here’s why that matters more here than almost anywhere else in this practice area. A brain injury claim frequently ends up contested all the way through a hearing, because the injury is invisible on the outside and the insurance company knows a jury never has to see it, only an Administrative Judge does, and that judge has to be convinced by someone who actually knows how to try the case.

Ray is a maintenance technician at a Lamar County School District building, standing below a suspended ceiling grid inspecting ductwork before the next school year starts. A loosened access panel drops without warning and strikes him in the head. He finishes filling out his own incident report before anyone realizes his words aren’t making sense.

Why A Brain Injury Claim Almost Always Ends Up Contested

Under Miss. Code Ann. Section 71-3-7(1), Ray’s injury is compensable because it arose out of and in the course of his employment. A brain injury severe enough to prevent Ray from returning to any gainful employment falls under the permanent total disability framework in Section 71-3-17(a), 66-2/3% of his average weekly wage for up to 450 weeks, or the 450-week multiple of 66-2/3% of the state average weekly wage. A closed head injury is harder for an insurance company to see than a broken bone, and that invisibility is exactly why the carrier fights the classification instead of accepting it at face value.

A settlement mill’s secretary treats a mild concussion diagnosis on an ER discharge sheet as the whole story, when a follow-up neuropsychological evaluation weeks later is often what actually reveals the real cognitive damage. Reading only the first page of the medical file is how a genuine brain injury claim gets undervalued before anyone even schedules the right specialist.

The Insurance Company’s Favorite Weapon On A Brain Injury Claim

Here’s the part nobody explains to Ray’s family in the emergency room. Within days, an adjuster calls asking for a recorded statement, and Ray, still foggy from the injury itself, is exactly the worst possible person to be answering detailed questions on the record. Surveillance is the second trap, since a carrier fighting a brain injury claim will film Ray doing something ordinary, like mowing his own yard, and present it as proof he’s fully recovered, ignoring that cognitive deficits don’t show up on video the way a limp does. The Independent Medical Exam is the third trap, since the company’s chosen doctor gets paid to minimize findings that Ray’s own treating neurologist takes seriously. This isn’t rare. This is what happens on nearly every closed head injury file that comes through a volume shop that has never once cross examined a neuropsychologist under oath.

If The Insurance Company Points To An Old Concussion

Say Ray had a minor concussion playing sports in high school, decades earlier, fully resolved with no lasting symptoms. Under Section 71-3-7(2), the insurance company can try to argue that old history was a material contributing factor, but under Section 71-3-7(3)(b), only an Administrative Judge decides that percentage, never the adjuster’s own file note. A family that accepts the adjuster’s apportionment number on a brain injury claim without a fight can lose a genuinely large share of a lifetime benefit, unchallenged, because nobody told them a decades-old, fully resolved concussion isn’t the same thing as a real contributing cause.

What A Permanent Brain Injury Claim Is Actually Worth

That 66-2/3% figure under Section 71-3-17(a) isn’t a starting number the adjuster gets to talk down before Ray’s family even understands what’s on the table. It’s the number the legislature wrote into the statute for a permanent, disabling injury, for up to 450 weeks. Walk into the Lamar County Circuit Court at 203 Main Street in Purvis on a contested hearing day, and you will not find most billboard lawyers there, because most have never actually tried a workers comp case to a final ruling inside that building. Ask any TV lawyer directly when the last time was he stood before an Administrative Judge and got a ruling, not a settlement, an actual ruling. Listen to how long the pause is before he answers.

Other Real Purvis Scenarios Behind A Brain Injury Claim

A direct-care worker at South Mississippi State Hospital is struck in the head during a sudden violent episode with a patient she was trained to de-escalate but couldn’t reach in time. A warehouse worker on the Hattiesburg/I-59 logistics corridor is struck by a falling section of pallet racking that clips his skull on the way down. A delivery driver is rear-ended hard enough on US Highway 11 to slam his head against the driver’s side window. Different mechanisms, the same closed head injury classification fight under Section 71-3-17(a), and the same insurance company resistance every time the diagnosis is invisible from the outside.

I guarantee Ray’s family gets more money than me. In writing, before we start. And on the TTD check paid while this claim is being fought, I take $0.00. Read the full Foster Fair Fee Guarantee and then ask your TV lawyer to match it in writing.

For the official state agency that administers this claim, see the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission.

The TV Lawyer’s Fee Betrayal On A Brain Injury Claim

Ask yourself does it matter if the neurologist reading Ray’s scans has actually treated a closed head injury before, not just skimmed a radiology report. Ask yourself does it matter if the pilot flying the medical transport that got him to Hattiesburg has actually flown before, not just trained in a simulator. Ask yourself does it matter if the trial lawyer standing up for Ray’s family has actually tried a case before an Administrative Judge to an actual ruling, not just settled every file that ever crossed his desk. Now ask yourself which of those three questions your TV lawyer can honestly answer yes to.

Has he actually stood at counsel table in the Lamar County Circuit Court and tried a contested workers comp case to a ruling. Has he actually cross examined a neuropsychologist under oath about cognitive deficits a video can’t show. Has he actually taken a permanent total disability dispute all the way through a hearing rather than folding at the first offer. For most TV lawyers, the honest answer to all three is no, and the carrier’s own defense counsel already knows exactly which local lawyers have ever tried a case and which ones have only ever settled.

Now watch what happens to Ray’s settlement anyway. There’s the intake fee. Then a “medical coordination fee,” for someone to schedule the appointments Ray’s own family could have scheduled themselves. Then a fee for reviewing the fee, stacked on top of a check meant to support a man who may never work again. That’s not two hundred dollars quietly disappearing. That’s not two thousand. On a permanent brain injury claim, that’s real money that was supposed to last Ray the rest of his life, gone before his family ever understood what got subtracted. Try getting a TV lawyer to put a fee waiver on a brain injury settlement in writing. Go ahead. Call and ask. Listen to the silence. This isn’t one bad office having a bad day. It’s the same play, different name on the folder, on nearly every catastrophic file that comes through a volume shop that has never tried a case in its life.

Frequently Asked Questions About Purvis Brain Injury Claims

P.S. Before the adjuster calls again asking Ray’s family for a recorded statement, get the free book first. It names the notice deadline, the filing deadline, and exactly who is not protecting your family from either one. Or reach the office at 1-833-J-Foster (1-833-536-7837).