A traumatic brain injury, or TBI, is most often caused by a sudden impact that can change your life in an instant. A traumatic brain injury can effect everything from your ability to get out of bed in the morning to your personality and how you interact with others. A brain injury is vastly different from a broken leg or a punctured lung. It is an an injury that can potentially limit every element of your life. If you or someone you know has developed a traumatic brain injury, it is important to understand what it means and whether or not you have a personal injury case.

Unfortunately, brain injuries do not heal like other injuries. Recovery may be a functional recovery which means it is based on mechanisms and can remain uncertain. No two brain injuries are alike – consequences may be very different and healing process may be as well. Additionally, symptoms may appear right away or weeks after the injury. What is scarier is that the one who received the traumatic brain injury may not even realize that a brain injury has occurred.

Initial symptoms of a traumatic brain injury could include:

• Headache
• Dizziness
• Loss of consciousness
• Blurred vision
• Confusion
• Memory Loss
• Seizures
• Paralysis
• Coma

Types of Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic brain injures are divided into two categories: open head injury and closed head injury. Open head injuries occur when skull has been fractured or the membranes surrounding the brain have been distorted. These types of injuries are serious and may require surgery to extract pieces of the fractured skull and implant synthetic fragments.

Closed head injuries do not break the skill and are typically less severe. These types of injuries are often caused by blows to the head. Both of these types of injuries may cause mild to severe brain damage.

Do You Have a Personal Injury Case?

It’s tough to understand the intricacies and detail of personal injury law. If you or someone you know has suffered a traumatic brain injury, it’s time to contact the legal team at Bagen Law & Associates. We’ll listen to your story and provide you with honest feedback regarding your personal injury case.

ATVs (all-terrain vehicles) are very popular in Gainesville and throughout Florida. They are fun, exciting, and enjoyable for off-road adventures. It’s no surprise that with this great fun comes great dangers. In fact, according to a study released by ATVSafety.gov, there were 376 reported deaths and 131,900 reported accidents in 2009 in ATV-related incidents. So what is the best way to keep you and your family safe during your off-road excursions? Follow these rules for a safe ride:

1. Always wear a helmet, goggles, long sleeves, long pants, over-the-ankle boots, and gloves when you ride your ATV in Gainesville, Florida.
2. Never ride your ATV on paved roads except to cross streets or where permitted by law. Remember that an ATV is specifically designed for off-road terrain.
3. Never ride under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol as it can impair your judgment similarly to driving a car.
4. Never carry a passenger on a single-rider ATV and no more than passenger on an two-rider ATV.
5. Ride an ATV that’s right for your age. If you’re unsure which ATV is right for you, ensure to talk to a professional who sells or maintains ATVs.
6. Supervise riders age 16 and under. It is your responsibility to ensure an ATV is not treated as a toy.
7. Ride only on designated trails and at a safe speed to protect you and those around you.

For more information about ATV safety, visit the ATV Safety Institute website to browse their tips and safety guidelines. If you or someone you know has been in an ATV accident, contact the legal team at Bagen Law to discuss your case.

Technology has undoubtedly changed the world we live in. If you want to communicate with your friends as to your day or your plans that night, you more often than not use a social networking site as means of getting the word out. However, your social networking of choice could also be your biggest obstruction when you decide to pursue a personal injury claim.

Guard Your Privacy

When you are putting together a personal injury claim, it’s important to understand that anything private can be made public easily. The defense will stop at nothing to tear down your case. Oftentimes, you can expect to have different parts of your life presented in a court of law that you thought were behind you or were guarded by privacy settings. In recent years, courts have considered whether the information and photographs posted on websites like Facebook must be disclosed. In many situations, the injured party may be obligated to provide the contents of their Facebook account, including those sections that are categorized as private.

Keeping Your Case and Your Facebook Separate

Here are a few tips to ensure that your social media profile stays out of your personal injury case.

• Disable all social media accounts – When you go into your initial consultation, your personal injury lawyer will advise you to disable all social media accounts. Your blog, your social media accounts, and any other internet medium that allows you to publicly interact with others.
• Search for yourself – Use a search engine to perform a search on yourself. Type your name into a search engine to see what is available online in terms of your background and your past.
• Monitor your friends’ activities – Keep an eye on the posts and topics your friends are discussing online. View location check-ins, comments, and photos to ensure that your name remains private and you’re aware at all times of what is being said about you online.

Why It’s Important

From jury selection to settlements, social media is playing an intricate role in how cases all over the Nation are being developed.  Although some courts are attempting to ban social media from entering the courts, it is impossible at the rate that social networks are growing.

Rachel Wade vs. the State of Florida

Rachel Wade is serving a 27-year prison sentence for the murder of her romantic rival, Sarah Ludemann. The two were fighting over Joshua Camacho, a 19-year-old, who was dating both girls at the same time. Wade, who was 19 years old at the time, blames social media for her conviction.  Rachel Wade used the social networking website MySpace to threaten Ludemann. Her threats toward Ludemann may have inevitably resulted in her guilty conviction.

According to Rachel Wade’s attorney, Jay Herbert, “There was an incubation period in which the case percolated and verbal and malicious threats went back and forth both ways between the two girls,” Hebert told AOL News.  ”The entire relationship played out in either a MySpace forum or instant communication back and forth, and that just led to a [much] heightened, very volatile [situation].”

It took a jury less than three hours to convict Wade of murdering Ludemann.

Social Media in Other Trials

Here are some other documented examples of how social media usage has played a part in recent court proceedings:

• A juror posted details of a case on her Facebook page then polled her friends on how the case should be decided.
• A Maryland juror looked up the definition of a word on Wikipedia one night after deliberations.
• A New York juror requested a witness to be her Facebook friend after one day of deliberations.
• A California defendant’s girlfriend tampered with a juror through MySpace.

It is scary but true, anything you post online can be used against you in a court of law. If you’re a plaintiff in a personal injury case, speak to a lawyer today about what you need to do to protect your privacy and ensure you receive the most unbiased case possible.