In 2019, there were nearly 223,135 traumatic brain injury-related hospitalizations – more than 611 TBIs a day. Sean Breen of Howry Breen & Herman, LLP, an Austin-based attorney specializing in these injuries, shared his case strategy in obtaining a combined $50,000,000 in settlements for five TBI cases spanning only two years. This article covers two of those cases.
The first case involved a man who was ejected from a vehicle during a crash, resulting in extensive brain hemorrhaging. Neuroradiologists found temporal and frontal lobe damage – the areas regulating memory recall, impulse control, and executive functioning. Still, like many TBI cases, the full severity of his brain damage emerged over the subsequent year. Doctors diagnosed him with encephalomalacia – the softening of brain tissue – causing decreased functional neural connectivity.
Another Plaintiff was gravely injured after he experienced a 12-foot fall on a construction site. The impact caused a multitude of orthopedic fractures, collapsed lungs, and brain hemorrhaging. For months, he required round-the-clock medical care. MRIs taken after the incident also found frontal and temporal lobe damage, resulting in personality and behavioral issues, motor difficulties, dysarthria or inability to speak, and tremors.
Both families contacted Sean Breen to help obtain justice and coordinate the best medical care for their loved ones. Sean approached both case strategies by preparing to take them to trial, maximizing the value of his clients' cases. However, with no witnesses to the incidents and both men unable to communicate, Sean needed a way to explain the depth of their damages and how they occurred. He worked with DK Global to visualize the mechanism of his clients’ TBIs along with overviews of their injuries. Sean determined the solution was animations showing their coup-contrecoup injuries as their heads hit the ground.
The two animations began by explaining the Plaintiffs’ coup-contrecoup injuries – when the brain hits one side of the skull and rebounds, damaging both ends. Next, a molecular look at their brains illustrated how a diffuse axonal injury occurred. The rotational forces stretched and sheared their nerve cells, damaging the axons and synaptic transmissions. Then, the medical imagery of their brains was labeled, enhanced, and overlaid onto their 3D models to locate their damages. The afflicted lobes were highlighted to show their subsequent deficits: agitation, depression, and memory difficulties. Finally, to justify Sean’s demands, the Plaintiffs’ lifecare plans to minimize complications and improve their functional capacity were calculated and displayed.
Sean shared the animations with his neurology experts, who authenticated their validity. Then, he disclosed the visuals in his demand packages and prepared for mediation. In each lawsuit, Sean played the demonstratives while deposing the Defenses’ medical experts. Remarkably, even the defense experts confirmed their accuracy. As a result, Sean repeated this process on all five brain injury cases and secured a combined $50,000,000 in settlements.
Sean Breen is a record-setting trial attorney who has won numerous Hall of Fame verdicts and recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for his clients. Sean has been recognized as one of the “Best Lawyers in America” for personal injury, product liability, and commercial litigation. Additionally, Sean was selected to be part of the prestigious Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, National Top 100 Trial Lawyers, and Super Lawyers. Howry, Breen & Herman, LLP represents clients nationwide with offices in Texas, Colorado, and California.
