Head & brain settlements
in California.
California applies pure comparative negligence and the MICRA cap on medical malpractice non-economic damages, restructured by AB 35 in 2023 onto a phased schedule. For head & brain claims specifically, the band is built from the state-by-state tort law · jury verdict reporters · statutory caps framework and then adjusted for California's pure comparative negligence and any applicable statutory cap.
California applies pure comparative negligence, which means a head & brain claimant who is partly responsible for their own injury still recovers — the award is reduced by the percentage of fault attributed to them, but never barred. This is materially more claimant-friendly than the modified or contributory rules in neighbouring jurisdictions, and it shows up in head & brain settlements where comparative fault is contested (the claimant who failed to mitigate, the unbelted occupant, the worker who departed from a safety protocol).
Head injury and traumatic brain injury claims sit at the upper end of the US band and are most affected by statutory caps. California's caps (micra non-economic cap (med-mal), proposition 213) can compress catastrophic head & brain verdicts even where the underlying damages — future care, lost earning capacity, life-care plan costs — clearly justify the higher figure.
The US band is the starting point. California's fault rule and any applicable cap then adjust the figure.