TBI Settlement Amounts in New York: Why the Numbers Online Mislead, and What Actually Counts

Why averages are worse than useless

The cases you hear about are not typical. Large verdicts and settlements are publicized because they are large. Thousands of modest settlements are confidential and never reported. A list of headline results tells you what is possible, not what is likely.

"TBI" covers an enormous range. The term includes a mild concussion that resolves in weeks and a catastrophic injury that leaves someone needing lifetime care. Averaging those together produces a figure that describes nobody.

The injury is only one variable. Insurance limits, the strength of the evidence on fault, the injured person's age and work, and the jurisdiction all affect value as much as the diagnosis does.

Gross figures hide what the injured person keeps. Liens, attorney fees and costs come out before the client's share. A reported figure says nothing about that.

For those reasons, we do not publish settlement amounts for brain injuries or any other injury. What we can do is explain what decides them.

Factor one: proving the injury exists

The single biggest problem in many brain injury cases, especially mild and moderate ones, is that the injury is invisible. A CT scan in the emergency room is often normal, because CT is designed to detect bleeding and fractures, not the microscopic damage to brain tissue that causes many lasting symptoms. Insurers lean heavily on that normal scan.

The evidence that answers it builds over time:

• The acute record. Any loss of consciousness, confusion, memory gap around the event, vomiting, or abnormal Glasgow Coma Scale score documented by EMS and the emergency room.
• MRI. More sensitive than CT. Specialized sequences can show small bleeds and other injury patterns that CT misses. Newer techniques such as diffusion tensor imaging are also used, and New York courts have evaluated their admissibility under the state's Frye standard for scientific evidence.
• Neuropsychological testing. A neuropsychologist administers hours of standardized tests of memory, attention, processing speed and executive function, with built-in checks for effort. This testing often provides the most persuasive objective evidence in a mild-to-moderate TBI case.
• Treating specialists. Neurologists, physiatrists, vestibular therapists, speech-language pathologists and psychologists documenting symptoms and treatment over months.
• The people around the injured person. Spouses, co-workers, and friends describing changes in memory, temper, focus, and personality. Brain injury often changes how someone behaves more visibly than how they feel to themselves.

The CDC's overview of mild TBI and concussion describes the symptoms doctors look for. Our article on concussion after a car accident covers the early weeks in more detail.

Factor two: the legal threshold in car cases

If the brain injury came from a car, truck or bus crash, New York's no-fault law requires a "serious injury" before the injured person can recover pain and suffering from the at-fault driver. Insurance Law § 5102(d) does not list brain injury by name. Most TBI claims qualify through "permanent consequential limitation" or "significant limitation of use of a body function or system" — the brain's cognitive functions being the system. Objective evidence, like neuropsychological test results, is what carries a case over that threshold. Cases arising from falls, assaults or construction accidents do not face this threshold.

Factor three: causation and the "it was already there" defense

Insurers commonly argue that cognitive or emotional symptoms come from something else: a prior concussion, depression, age, medications, stress, or a lawsuit-related motive. The answer is a clear before-and-after picture. School records, work evaluations, and testimony from people who knew the injured person before the accident are often decisive. A treating doctor who addresses alternative explanations directly, rather than ignoring them, matters as much here as in any orthopedic case.

Factor four: what the injury does to a life

Once the injury is proven, the value of a TBI claim depends mostly on its consequences:

• Work. Can the person return to their job? At the same level? A surgeon, accountant, teacher or engineer whose work depends on concentration and memory may lose a career even with a "mild" injury. Vocational experts and economists translate that into lost earning capacity.
• Daily function. Driving, managing money, parenting, living independently.
• Personality and relationships. Irritability, depression and impulsivity after brain injury are common and devastating for families. A spouse may have a separate loss of consortium claim.
• Associated problems. Headaches, dizziness, light and noise sensitivity, sleep disruption, seizures.
• Future care. For serious injuries, a life care planner estimates the cost of therapies, medications, supervision, home modifications and attendant care over a lifetime. That figure often dominates the value of a severe TBI case.

Factor five: liability and insurance

A brain injury does not change the need to prove someone else was at fault. In a motor-vehicle case, CPLR 1411 as amended in 2026 bars recovery if the injured person's share of fault is greater than the defendant's, and reduces it proportionally below that line. Premises, construction and assault cases use the ordinary proportional rule. See our comparative negligence guide.

Available insurance is often the practical ceiling. In a car case, the at-fault driver's limits and the injured person's own underinsured motorist coverage may be all there is. In a construction case, owners and contractors carry larger policies, and New York's Labor Law can create liability that ordinary negligence would not. In a drunk-driving case, a bar's liquor liability policy may be available. Identifying every source of coverage is part of valuing a TBI claim.

Factor six: timing

Brain injuries evolve. Some symptoms improve significantly over the first year or two; others become permanent. Settling a TBI claim too early risks undervaluing a permanent injury. At the same time, the statute of limitations does not wait: most New York injury claims must be filed within three years, and claims against a city or public authority require a notice of claim within 90 days. Filing a lawsuit protects the claim while the medical picture becomes clear. See New York's filing deadlines.

For severe injuries, a court may need to appoint a guardian to manage the injured person's affairs and approve a settlement on their behalf. Large recoveries are often structured to provide lifetime income; see structured settlement vs. lump sum. And because government benefits such as Medicaid may be needed for lifelong care, planning around those benefits is part of resolving a serious TBI case.

What families can do in the first weeks

Many brain injury cases are decided by what happened in the first few weeks, long before anyone thinks about a claim. A few practical steps make a real difference:

• Keep a symptom log. Headaches, dizziness, forgetfulness, irritability, sleep problems — written down daily with dates. Family members often notice more than the injured person does.
• Ask for a referral. If symptoms persist beyond a couple of weeks, ask the primary doctor for a neurologist and, if cognitive problems continue, for neuropsychological testing.
• Collect the "before." Work evaluations, school records, and anything else that shows how the person functioned before the injury.
• Do not push through. Returning to full work too quickly, against medical advice, can worsen symptoms and gives insurers an argument that the person was fine.
• Be careful online. Social media posts showing the injured person at an event can be used to argue they were unaffected, even if the post says nothing about how they felt.

So what is a TBI case worth?

The honest answer is that nobody can say without the medical records, the testing, the work history and the insurance information. What we can say is what tends to make the difference: early medical documentation, objective testing, consistent treatment, credible witnesses to the change in the person, and a clear plan for future needs. Our pain and suffering calculator explains how damages are assessed generally, and what a personal injury case is worth covers the broader picture.

Our brain injury practice handles TBI claims from car crashes, falls, construction accidents and assaults, on a contingency fee.

Common questions

What is the average TBI settlement in New York?

There is no meaningful average. Traumatic brain injuries range from concussions that resolve to catastrophic lifelong disability, and value depends on proof, consequences, liability and insurance. Published averages and headline verdicts are not reliable guides to any individual case.

Can I get a settlement for a brain injury if my CT scan was normal?

Yes. CT scans often miss the kind of damage that causes lasting symptoms. MRI, neuropsychological testing, and documented symptoms over time can prove a brain injury despite a normal CT.

Is a traumatic brain injury a serious injury under New York no-fault law?

It often is, usually as a permanent consequential or significant limitation of a body function or system. Objective evidence such as neuropsychological testing is typically needed.

How long does a TBI case take to settle?

Often longer than other injury cases, because the full effects of a brain injury may take a year or more to become clear. Filing a lawsuit protects the deadline while the medical picture develops.

What evidence helps a brain injury claim most?

Emergency records of any loss of consciousness or confusion, MRI findings, neuropsychological testing, consistent treatment records, and testimony from family and co-workers about how the person changed.

This page is general information about New York law. It is not legal or medical advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship with Davidov & Cohen Law. To talk about your own situation, tell us what happened.