| August 19, 2026 | Maryland Law, Personal Injury

Hunter Duke, Attorney and Chief Operating Officer at WGK Personal Injury Lawyers

By Hunter Duke, Attorney | Chief Operating Officer

You walked away from the crash. Days later the headaches won’t quit, you can’t hold a thought, and you’re snapping at people you love. Meanwhile the bills are arriving and the other driver’s adjuster already wants a recorded statement.

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an injury that affects how the brain works.1 You can get one in a car crash without ever hitting your head or blacking out. The symptoms often surface days or weeks later, long after the adrenaline wears off.

That delay costs people money. A Maryland brain injury claim can cover your medical care, your lost wages, your future earning capacity, and the daily limits the injury leaves behind. This guide covers the warning signs, why they get missed, and what your claim is worth.

What a Brain Injury From a Car Crash Actually Is

Illustration of a traumatic brain injury showing the point of impact inside the skull

A concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury. It’s caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head. It can also come from a hit to the body that makes the head and brain move quickly back and forth.1

That last part matters. Whiplash forces in a car accident can injure your brain even when nothing strikes your skull.

Crash-related brain injury is common, not rare. Motor vehicle crashes are the second-leading cause of TBI-related hospitalizations in the United States, at 24.5%, behind falls at 49.1%.2 In one recent surveillance year, the Maryland Department of Health counted 3,088 non-fatal brain injury hospital admissions statewide, plus 10,419 emergency room visits.3

Here’s the mechanism in plain terms. Your body stops when it hits the seat belt or airbag. Your brain keeps moving inside the skull, then snaps back. The CDC describes this as the brain bouncing around or twisting, which stretches and damages brain cells.1

More than 70% of all traumatic brain injuries are classified as mild.4 That’s the category that includes concussions. “Mild” describes severity at diagnosis. It doesn’t measure how the injury affects your life weeks or months later.

Concussion Symptoms After a Crash, by Category

The CDC groups concussion symptoms into four categories.5 If something on this list started after your crash, take it seriously, even if it seems minor.

  • Physical: headaches, dizziness or balance problems, nausea, blurred vision, sensitivity to light or noise, and low energy.
  • Thinking and remembering: trouble concentrating, feeling foggy or slowed down, and short-term memory problems.
  • Social or emotional: anxiety, irritability, sadness, or feeling more emotional than usual.
  • Sleep: sleeping more or less than normal, or trouble falling asleep.

One myth causes the most harm. Many people assume a concussion means passing out. That isn’t true.

According to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, many people with a concussion never lose consciousness.6 No blackout doesn’t mean no brain injury.

Call 911 right away if you notice one pupil larger than the other, repeated vomiting, slurred speech, seizures, weakness or numbness, a headache that keeps getting worse, or you can’t wake someone up.7 These are emergency danger signs, not wait-and-see symptoms.

Why Brain Injury Symptoms Can Show Up Days or Weeks Later

Brain injury symptoms often don’t appear right away. The CDC states plainly that concussion signs may take hours or days to appear or be noticed.5 Headache and nausea tend to come first. Mood changes and trouble sleeping may not show up for a week or two.5

The reason is biology. Adrenaline and other stress hormones surge during a crash. They can mask pain and thinking problems in the moment.8 You feel fine at the scene, you turn down the ambulance, and the real symptoms arrive days later.

Most people recover. Roughly 90% of concussion symptoms clear up within 10 to 14 days.9 But about 1 in 10 people with a mild brain injury still has symptoms a year or more later. Doctors call that post-concussion syndrome.9

Those longer cases are exactly the ones an insurance company tries to downplay.

A Clean CT Scan Doesn’t Rule Out a Brain Injury

A normal scan doesn’t mean your brain is fine. Mild brain injuries and concussions often don’t show up on a CT scan or MRI. Imaging is used mainly to rule out bleeding, fractures, and more severe brain trauma.6

Concussion diagnosis relies on your history, a physical exam, and tracking your symptoms over time.6 It’s not based on a picture.

That gap is why adjusters love a clean scan. They’ll argue the imaging was normal, so there’s no injury. That’s medically wrong.

High-speed crashes can also cause diffuse axonal injury. Diffuse axonal injury is brain damage from rapid rotational forces that stretch and tear the brain’s nerve fibers, and road crashes cause most adult cases.10 It can be devastating even when the skull stays intact.

How WGK Builds a Brain Injury Claim

What the insurance company does first

The adjuster’s first move is usually a friendly call and a request for a recorded statement. Early on, you often feel better than you actually are, because the injury hasn’t fully surfaced yet. So you say you’re fine. That sentence sits in the file when the headaches and memory problems show up weeks later.

The next move is a quick offer. It covers the ER visit and maybe a few days of missed work. It doesn’t cover months of cognitive therapy or a job you can no longer do.

What we do

  • Investigate the crash and preserve evidence that disappears fast, including vehicle data, camera footage, and witness accounts.
  • Gather your medical records, imaging, and treatment notes, including the follow-up visits people forget to mention.
  • Document how the injury changed your days: work, driving, sleep, focus, and relationships.
  • Build the demand around your full loss, not just the bills you’ve already paid.
  • Negotiate with the insurance company, and file suit and try the case when the offer doesn’t match the injury.

The point of that work is your recovery and getting you compensated for your losses. What you’re owed is the cost of getting your life back, and nobody else in the process is measuring that for you.

What a Brain Injury Claim Is Worth in Maryland

Compensation in a Maryland brain injury claim falls into two buckets.

Economic damages are the losses you can document on paper. That’s medical bills, future medical care, lost wages, and lost earning capacity if the injury affects your ability to work long-term.

Non-economic damages cover the human cost. Pain and suffering includes the physical pain plus the limits and restrictions the injury puts on daily life.11 For a brain injury, that often means memory problems, mood changes, and lost focus that never show up on an X-ray.

What moves the number

No two brain injury claims are worth the same amount. These factors do most of the work:

  • Medical bills, both what you’ve spent and the care you’ll still need.
  • Length of recovery, and whether symptoms are still there a year out.
  • Lost wages and earning capacity, including whether you can go back to the job you had.
  • Permanent limits or disability that permanently change what you can do.
  • Your age and life expectancy, since a permanent injury at 30 affects you longer than the same injury at 70.
  • Whether you followed medical advice. Treatment gaps and skipped referrals let the insurer argue you failed to mitigate your own losses.

This is why an early lowball offer rarely fits a serious brain injury. The CDC notes that moderate to severe brain injury can lead to a lifetime of physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral changes.12 A check that covers this month’s bills won’t cover that future. A Baltimore car accident lawyer can put a number on the long-term picture before you sign anything.

What to Do If You Think You Have a Brain Injury After a Crash

  1. Get checked out fast. In our experience, insurers start discounting a case when treatment is delayed, and a long gap can put the claim itself at risk. Early records tie your injury to the crash. They aren’t the whole story, since a concussion may take a day or two to show up.
  2. Write down your symptoms by date. A simple log of headaches, sleep changes, and memory slips builds a timeline. It’s hard to blame a pre-existing condition when the dates line up with the crash.
  3. Don’t give the other driver’s insurer a recorded statement. Adjusters use those calls to lock you into “I felt fine.” That’s the worst thing to have on record once a delayed brain injury surfaces.
  4. Keep treating until your doctor releases you. Stopping treatment early reads as “all better” to an insurer, even when you’re not.
  5. Talk to a lawyer before you accept any offer. The consultation is free, and it protects the value of your claim.

This is marketing material and is not legal advice. Every case is unique and laws change frequently. Please contact our office to speak with an attorney about your specific situation before making any legal decisions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you have a brain injury from a car accident without hitting your head or losing consciousness?

Yes. The CDC says a concussion can come from a hit to the body that makes the head and brain move quickly back and forth.1 No head impact is required.

The American Association of Neurological Surgeons adds that many people with a concussion never lose consciousness.6 Whiplash forces alone can injure your brain.

How long after a car accident can brain injury symptoms appear?

Symptoms can appear right away, or take hours, days, or even weeks. The CDC notes that headache and nausea often come first, while mood and sleep problems may not be noticed for a week or two.5 About 1 in 10 people develop longer-lasting post-concussion symptoms.9 See a doctor even if you felt fine at the scene.

How long do I have to file a brain injury claim in Maryland?

You have 3 years from the date of the accident under Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-101.13

The clock doesn’t restart when the brain injury is finally diagnosed. If a local-government driver caused your crash, written notice is due within 1 year under the Local Government Tort Claims Act.14 Miss either deadline and the claim is usually gone.

Is there a cap on what I can recover for a brain injury in Maryland?

Yes, Maryland caps non-economic damages in every personal injury case, including catastrophic brain injury. For accidents on or after October 1, 2025, the cap is $965,000 per injured person, and about $1,447,500 in wrongful death cases with 2 or more beneficiaries.15 The cap rises $15,000 each October 1, and your accident date sets which cap applies. Economic damages like medical bills and lost wages are not capped in Maryland.

How much does a brain injury lawyer cost in Maryland?

WGK works on contingency, so the fee comes out of the recovery. It’s 33.3% of the gross recovery before a lawsuit is filed. It increases to 40% once a lawsuit is filed, whether or not the case goes to trial. There are no upfront costs, and the consultation is free.

The firm advances case expenses, like medical records and investigation costs. Those are deducted from the recovery separately.

Talk to a Baltimore Car Accident Lawyer About Your Brain Injury

If your head still isn’t right after a crash, don’t let an adjuster decide what that’s worth.

WGK Personal Injury Lawyers has recovered over $100 million for our clients. Hundreds of injured Marylanders turn to us every year, and our results include numerous six- and seven-figure settlements.

Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Every case is different. These figures represent aggregated data from cases handled by our firm and are provided for informational purposes only.

WGK has represented injured people in Maryland for nearly 50 years. The firm’s attorneys bring nearly 100 years of combined attorney experience.

Call WGK Personal Injury Lawyers at (410) 837-2144 for a free brain injury case review. You pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you.

Sources

  1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2025. About Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI definition, concussion definition, brain-movement mechanism). https://www.cdc.gov/traumatic-brain-injury/about/index.html
  2. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2022. "The Scope and Burden of Traumatic Brain Injury" (NCBI Bookshelf NBK580076), citing 2017 CDC surveillance figures – motor vehicle crashes 24.5 percent, falls 49.1 percent of TBI hospitalizations. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK580076/
  3. Maryland Department of Health, 2020. Traumatic Brain Injury (non-fatal hospital admissions and emergency room visits in Maryland). https://health.maryland.gov/phpa/OEHFP/Injury/Pages/TBI.aspx
  4. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2022. "The Scope and Burden of Traumatic Brain Injury" (NCBI Bookshelf NBK580076) – more than 70 percent of TBIs are mild. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK580076/
  5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2025. Symptoms of Mild TBI and Concussion (four symptom categories; delayed onset). https://www.cdc.gov/traumatic-brain-injury/signs-symptoms/index.html
  6. American Association of Neurological Surgeons, 2024. Concussion (loss of consciousness not required; imaging used to rule out severe injury). https://www.aans.org/patients/conditions-treatments/concussion/
  7. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2025. Symptoms of Mild TBI and Concussion (four symptom categories; delayed onset). https://www.cdc.gov/traumatic-brain-injury/signs-symptoms/index.html
  8. Mayo Clinic, 2021. Traumatic Brain Injury Symptoms and Causes (symptoms may appear days or weeks later; adrenaline masking). https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/traumatic-brain-injury/symptoms-causes/syc-20378557
  9. StatPearls / NCBI Bookshelf, 2023. Postconcussive Syndrome (NBK534786) – about 90 percent resolve in 10 to 14 days; 10 to 15 percent persist one year or more. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK534786/
  10. StatPearls / NCBI Bookshelf, 2024. Diffuse Axonal Injury (NBK448102) – definition; road crashes cause the majority of adult DAI cases. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK448102/
  11. WGK Personal Injury Lawyers, first-party legal research files, 2026. Maryland pain-and-suffering damages include daily-life limitations.
  12. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024. Moderate to Severe TBI: A Lifelong Condition (lifelong physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral changes). https://www.cdc.gov/traumatic-brain-injury/about/moderate-severe-tbi.html
  13. Maryland General Assembly, 2026. Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-101 (three-year personal injury statute of limitations). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/laws/StatuteText?article=gcj&section=5-101
  14. WGK Personal Injury Lawyers, first-party legal research files, 2026. Local Government Tort Claims Act one-year notice and discovery-rule scope, maintained against Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. 5-304. Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-304.
  15. Maryland General Assembly, 2025. Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 11-108 (non-economic damages cap; accident-date basis; October 1 annual increase). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/laws/StatuteText?article=gcj&section=11-108