Updated 2026-07-09
Short answer
Brain injury claims live and die on documentation more than any other category this site covers. A mild concussion with a full recovery often settles between $20,000 and $80,000. Symptoms that persist as post-concussion syndrome typically fall in the $50,000 to $300,000 range. Moderate to severe TBI with documented functional loss can clear $500,000, and the most severe permanent cases regularly reach into the millions.
The scan can look clean while the injury is real
A herniated disc shows up plainly on MRI, which gives an attorney something concrete to point at. A concussion rarely offers that courtesy. Standard imaging routinely looks normal even in someone who is genuinely struggling to concentrate, remember things, or regulate mood, and that gap between a clean scan and real impairment is where these claims are decided.
Insurers are trained to meet invisible symptoms with skepticism by default. The defense line is predictable: headaches, memory lapses, and mood changes are subjective and cannot be independently verified. Closing that gap means building objective evidence somewhere else, chiefly neuropsychological testing, records from a neurologist or physiatrist, and corroboration from the people who see the injured person every day.
Ranges by severity
| Presentation | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Mild concussion, full recovery within weeks | $20,000 to $80,000 |
| Post-concussion syndrome, symptoms lasting months | $50,000 to $150,000 |
| Moderate TBI with documented cognitive deficits | $100,000 to $500,000 |
| Severe TBI with permanent impairment or personality change | $500,000 and above |
| TBI requiring long-term care or inability to return to work | $1 million and above |
Things to know
- Attorneys typically apply a multiplier of 3.5x to 5.0x medical bills for concussion and TBI claims, weighted toward the top when neuropsychological testing confirms a deficit.
- Most concussions resolve within a few weeks; symptoms lasting beyond that window get the separate label of post-concussion syndrome.
- Emergency room records from the day of the incident, noting confusion, loss of consciousness, or early neurological symptoms, anchor the entire timeline.
- A gap between the incident and when symptoms first get mentioned in a medical record is the defense's easiest opening.
- Employment or school records showing a documented performance decline carry real weight, more than a self-reported sense of struggling.
- For the most severe cases, some attorneys skip the multiplier entirely and use a per-diem method to capture the scope of daily impact instead.
Run the pain and suffering portion of a moderate case through the calculator elsewhere on this site once bills are known.
Related brain injury reading
Head trauma frequently arrives alongside neck injuries in the same accident; see how a whiplash claim from the same crash gets valued separately. For general public information on traumatic brain injury, the CDC's TBI resources and the Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center's TBI library are solid public references.