Personal Injury

Traumatic Brain Injury Attorney, Montana

A brain injury can change how you think, work, and relate to the people you love, long after the scans come back clean. We make sure that harm is seen and valued.

Written by

Ashley Hurlbert, Partner, A&M Law

Licensed Montana attorney and co-founder of A&M Law. 18 years of experience as lead counsel in 50+ jury and bench trials. A Certified Mediator and Certified Guardian ad Litem focusing on family law, criminal defense, and DUI defense.

18 yearsReviewed by Misty GaubatzLast reviewed: August 12, 2026

Traumatic brain injuries are the injuries people around you notice before you do. You went back to work. You told everyone you were fine. Then you started losing words in the middle of sentences, sleeping badly, snapping at your kids over nothing. Meanwhile the emergency room discharged you the same night with a clean scan and a pamphlet, and the insurance adjuster has that discharge paperwork in front of them.

That gap, between what the paperwork says and what your life actually looks like now, is the whole fight in a brain injury case.

A Clean Scan Does Not Mean an Uninjured Brain

This is the single most common misunderstanding we see, and insurers rely on it. A CT scan in the emergency room is looking for bleeding, swelling, and fractures, the things that could kill you that night. It is very good at that job. It is not designed to detect the microscopic, diffuse damage that produces most concussions and mild traumatic brain injuries.

So a normal scan is genuinely good news. It is not a finding that your brain is undamaged, and it should never be the reason you talk yourself out of getting evaluated properly.

“Mild” Is a Medical Word, Not a Description of Your Life

A mild traumatic brain injury is a clinical classification based on things like how long you lost consciousness. It says almost nothing about how the injury will affect you. People with a mild TBI lose careers over it. The word does real damage in these cases, because an adjuster will quote it back to you as though it settles the question.

How Insurers Undervalue These Claims

There is a familiar playbook, and it is worth knowing before it is used on you:

The invisible-injury argument. No cast, no scar, no abnormal imaging, therefore no real harm.
Gaps in treatment. If you waited two weeks to see anyone, that delay gets reframed as proof you were not really hurt, rather than as a symptom of an injury that affects judgment and follow-through.
Pre-existing everything. Any prior headache, anxiety, or bad week in your medical history becomes the supposed real cause.
The early offer. A quick settlement arrives while you still believe you are fine, and before anyone has measured what changed.

Proving What Changed

Because the injury is invisible on film, these cases are built on a comparison: who you were before, and who you are now. That evidence comes from a few places.

A consistent medical record. Report every symptom, including the embarrassing ones. What is not written down is treated as though it did not happen.
Neuropsychological testing where it is appropriate, which can measure deficits an ordinary exam will miss.
The people who knew you. A spouse, a supervisor, a longtime friend describing specific changes is often the most persuasive evidence in the entire file, precisely because they have nothing to prove.
Work and school records showing performance before and after.

Deadlines and Shared Fault

Montana's injury-claim deadline is generally three years from the date of injury (MCA § 27-2-204). If the insurer argues you were partly responsible, Montana's modified comparative negligence rule (§ 27-1-702) allows recovery as long as you were 50% or less at fault, with the award reduced by your share.

Talk to Someone Before You Sign Anything

If you took a blow to the head in a Montana crash, fall, or workplace incident and something has felt off since, that is worth a conversation, even if you are not sure it rises to the level of a case. We handle personal injury matters on a contingency basis, so there is no upfront cost and no fee unless we recover for you. Call 406-830-3060.

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FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

My CT scan was normal. Do I still have a brain injury?

Possibly, yes. Standard CT and MRI scans are very good at finding bleeding, swelling, and skull fractures, which is exactly what an emergency room is screening for. They are far less useful for detecting the diffuse damage that causes most concussions and mild traumatic brain injuries. A normal scan means you are not in immediate danger. It does not mean your brain was not injured, and it is not a reason to accept an insurer's position that nothing happened.

Why do insurance companies fight brain injury claims so hard?

Because the injury is usually invisible. There is no cast, no scar, and often no abnormal scan to point at. Adjusters know that a jury can see a broken leg and may struggle to see a memory problem, so they treat these claims as an opportunity to argue that the symptoms are exaggerated, pre-existing, or caused by stress. Overcoming that takes documentation: consistent medical records, neuropsychological testing where appropriate, and the accounts of the people who knew you before.

What symptoms should I be watching for after a head injury?

Headaches, dizziness, sensitivity to light or noise, trouble sleeping, difficulty concentrating or finding words, irritability, anxiety, and unusual fatigue are all common. Symptoms sometimes appear or worsen days after the event, which is one reason people delay care. If any of this is happening to you, get evaluated and be specific with your provider, because what you report becomes the record.

How long do I have to bring a Montana brain injury claim?

Generally three years from the date of the injury under Montana's personal-injury statute of limitations (MCA § 27-2-204). Brain injury cases benefit enormously from an early start, because the evidence that matters most is a clear medical trail and an accurate picture of how you were functioning before and after.

What if the crash was partly my fault?

Under Montana's modified comparative negligence rule (MCA § 27-1-702), you can still recover as long as you were 50% or less at fault, with your award reduced by your share. Expect the insurer to push your percentage as high as it can. That argument deserves a real investigation, not an assumption.

What is a brain injury claim actually worth?

It depends on how the injury affects the rest of your life, which is why these cases are so often undervalued. A fair valuation accounts for future medical and cognitive care, lost earning capacity if you cannot return to the work you did before, and the day-to-day toll on your relationships and independence, not just the bills already in hand. We will give you an honest assessment rather than a number designed to sign you up.

Head Injury After a Montana Crash?

If something feels different since the accident, that matters. Call 406-830-3060 for a consultation, no fee unless we win.

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