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A brain injury does not always show up on the first scan, and the insurance company knows it. Concussions from a rear-end crash on the 10 at Monte Vista, a big rig on the 60 at Central, a fall in a Chino warehouse or a motorcycle on the 71 can change memory, mood, sleep and work for months or for good. Morales Law Firm is fifteen to twenty-five minutes from Montclair and Chino, and Francisco Morales is an Inland Empire brain injury lawyer who handles these cases himself, in English or Spanish, with the neurologists, neuropsychologists and life-care planners the case needs. No fee unless we win.
Abogado de lesiones en Inland Empire. Información en español ↓
The brain is hurt by sudden stops, not just by hitting something. The Centers for Disease Control describes a concussion as a bump, blow or jolt to the head, or a hit to the body that makes the head and brain move quickly back and forth. That is what happens in a rear-end crash at freeway speed, a fall from a warehouse ladder, or a motorcycle going down at an intersection. These are the places in the west end of San Bernardino County where we see it most.
The San Bernardino Freeway runs across the north side of Montclair past the mall and the Transcenter, with about 14,000 trucks a day at Central Avenue on top of more than 200,000 cars. The westbound backup in the afternoon and the short ramps at Monte Vista produce rear-end crashes where the head whips forward and back without ever touching the windshield. Those are the concussions that get sent home from the ER with a normal CT and turn into months of headaches and memory problems.
The Pomona Freeway along Chino’s north edge is one of the heaviest truck roads in the state. Caltrans counts close to 27,000 trucks a day at Central Avenue and at Euclid, more than one vehicle in eight, and the warehouse traffic runs all night. On September 21, 2026, a semi went up the embankment near the Central Avenue on-ramp and struck a passenger car whose driver later died at the hospital; a motorcyclist had been killed a mile away forty minutes earlier. When an 80,000-pound rig hits a car, the brain injury is often the injury that decides the case.
The Chino Valley Freeway carries more than 86,000 vehicles a day past Pine Avenue, and Euclid Avenue, Highway 83, runs south through Chino’s old dairy land with thirteen to nineteen percent of its traffic in trucks. Both are fast roads with at-grade crossings, farm and construction trucks, and long stretches without a median. Broadside crashes at Euclid and Kimball, Merrill or Schaefer, and rollovers on the 71, are the high-energy collisions that cause bleeding inside the skull and diffuse injury across the brain.
Ontario airport moved 835,000 tons of air cargo in 2025, and the distribution centers in Ontario, Chino and Fontana send their trucks west through Montclair and Chino. A car hit by a tractor-trailer takes a blow a passenger car cannot deliver. Underride crashes, where a car goes beneath the trailer, cause the most severe head injuries we see. A trucking company carries at least $750,000 in liability coverage under federal rules, usually far more, which is why the insurer fights hardest over whether the brain injury is real.
Falls are the leading cause of brain injury hospitalization in the country, according to the CDC. In the west Inland Empire that means warehouse workers hurt on ladders, lifts and loading docks, shoppers who slip on a wet floor at Montclair Place or the Chino Spectrum, and people who trip on broken pavement in a parking lot. When the property owner or a contractor other than your employer is responsible, the case goes beyond workers’ compensation. The company that controls the floor, the dock or the lot owes you what the injury cost.
A helmet lowers the risk of a skull fracture; it does not stop the brain from moving inside the skull when a rider is thrown at forty miles an hour on Holt Boulevard or the 60. Pedestrians hit on Mission Boulevard, Central Avenue or Riverside Drive strike the hood, then the pavement, and take two impacts to the head. In both cases the driver’s insurer starts with the claim that the rider or the walker was at fault, and the medical record has to speak before the argument does.
Doctors score a brain injury on the Glasgow Coma Scale by how a patient opens the eyes, speaks and moves, from 3 to 15. A score of 13 to 15 is mild, with a loss of consciousness under thirty minutes; 9 to 12 is moderate; 8 or below is severe. Mild is a medical grade, not a description of how the injury affects a life. A mild TBI can take months to heal and some people never fully recover.
Two events in 2026 show how these injuries happen here. On September 21, 2026, before the morning commute, two fatal crashes happened less than two miles apart on the westbound 60 in Chino: a motorcyclist near Mountain Avenue, and a semi that climbed the embankment near Central Avenue and struck a passenger car whose driver died at the hospital. On July 15, 2026, a four-vehicle crash at Monte Vista Avenue and Moreno Street in Montclair killed one person and brought out the Montclair Police Department’s Major Accident Investigation Team.
The insurer’s defense in a brain injury case is that nothing is wrong with you. The record has to answer that before the adjuster ever asks. This is what we build.
The first note from Montclair Hospital, Chino Valley, San Antonio Regional or Pomona Valley: the GCS score, whether you lost consciousness, what you remembered, what you vomited, what the nurses saw. That page anchors the whole case.
The ER CT, and when symptoms persist, an MRI and newer sequences that show what a CT cannot. A normal first scan next to an abnormal later one is a common and powerful pair.
A day of standardized tests of memory, attention, processing speed and executive function, scored against what you should be able to do. It is how a mild TBI is measured, and it is the evidence a jury believes.
A spouse, a co-worker, a supervisor, a coach. People who can say the person after the crash is not the person before it. Their accounts are gathered early, while the contrast is fresh.
Performance reviews, attendance, pay stubs and transcripts before and after. Lost earning capacity is proven by the drop, not by a guess.
A daily note of headaches, sleep, mood, missed work and what you could not do. Started in the first week, it becomes the timeline the doctors and the jury follow.
The injury is invisible on the outside, the proof of it is medical, and the insurer’s whole defense is that you are fine. Each of those changes how the case has to be built.
A CT scan in the emergency room looks for bleeding, bruising and fractures, and it does that well. It does not show a concussion. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke says plainly that available imaging and blood tests cannot always detect damage from mild, concussive injuries. A normal CT at Montclair Hospital or Chino Valley Medical Center means you are not bleeding into your skull that night. It does not mean the brain is uninjured, and the adjuster who says otherwise is not a doctor.
Headache, dizziness and confusion come first. Trouble with memory, concentration, sleep and light often follow over days. NINDS notes that emotional symptoms such as frustration and irritability tend to develop during recovery, not on the day of the crash. A person who was fine at the scene and cannot do their job three weeks later has a brain injury case, and the gap between the crash and the complaint is exactly what the insurer will use against them unless it is documented.
When the head snaps forward and back, the long fibers that connect nerve cells stretch and tear across the white matter of the brain. NINDS describes diffuse axonal injury as one of the most common types of TBI, usually from car crashes, falls and sports, and says it can disrupt and break down communication among nerve cells. It does not show as a single spot on a scan. It shows as a person who is slower, angrier and more tired than they were, and proving it takes a neurologist and a neuropsychologist, not an X-ray.
A moderate or severe brain injury can mean rehabilitation at Casa Colina, then attendant care, therapy, medication, home modification and lost earning capacity for decades. A life-care planner projects those costs year by year, and an economist reduces them to a present value. Without that work the insurer settles the case for the bills so far. With it, the case is valued for what the injury will cost, and California does not cap those damages in an injury case against a driver, a trucking company or a property owner.
For speeding, following too closely, an unsafe lane change, running a signal on Central or Euclid, distraction, fatigue or impairment. The driver’s own liability policy is the starting point, and when it is a $30,000 California minimum, your own underinsured motorist coverage is often the next source.
When the vehicle was a semi, a box truck or a delivery van, the carrier answers for its driver and for its own hiring, dispatching, hours and maintenance under the federal safety rules. Its liability coverage starts at $750,000 for an interstate carrier and usually runs higher, and its insurer sends investigators to the 60 the same day.
The mall, the grocery store, the apartment complex or the parking lot operator that let a hazard sit where people walk. Premises cases turn on notice: what the owner knew, when, and what its cameras and sweep logs show.
Workers’ compensation covers a fall at your own employer’s warehouse, but it pays no damages for pain or the loss of a normal life. When a property owner, a staffing company, a contractor or an equipment company other than your employer caused the injury, a separate civil case recovers what workers’ compensation does not.
A helmet that failed, a seat belt or airbag that did not perform, a ladder or lift that collapsed. Product liability claims reach the companies that designed, built and sold the thing that failed, and they carry their own insurance.
A missing guardrail, a bad signal, an unmarked lane shift or a dangerous intersection can make a public entity partly responsible. A government claim must be filed within six months under Government Code 911.2, and we calendar that deadline the day we open the file.
The person or company responsible owes the full cost of the injury, for as long as it lasts. In a brain injury case that usually includes:
Under California’s pure comparative negligence rule, a share of fault reduces the recovery by that share; it does not bar the claim. Immigration status has no bearing on any of it.
Una lesión cerebral no siempre se ve en la primera tomografía, y la aseguradora lo sabe. Si después de un choque en la autopista 10 en Montclair, en la 60 o la 71 en Chino, de una caída en una bodega o en una tienda, o de un accidente de moto, usted o un familiar tiene dolores de cabeza, problemas de memoria, mareos, cambios de humor o no puede trabajar como antes, eso es una lesión y tiene derecho a compensación. El abogado Francisco Morales atiende casos de conmoción cerebral y de lesiones cerebrales severas personalmente, en español, con los neurólogos y neuropsicólogos que el caso necesita. La consulta es gratis y no paga honorarios si no recuperamos dinero para usted. Su estatus migratorio no cambia sus derechos. No dé una declaración grabada a la aseguradora. Llámenos primero.
Search for a brain injury lawyer in Montclair or Chino and the results are Riverside, Orange County and downtown Los Angeles firms with a page for every city in the Inland Empire and no address near it. Morales Law Firm is on Bonita Avenue in San Dimas, fifteen minutes from Montclair on the 10 and about twenty-five minutes from Chino on the 57 and the 71. Francisco Morales grew up in West Covina, graduated from UCLA and Loyola Law School, and worked as a certified automotive service consultant before he became a lawyer. He is fully bilingual in English and Spanish, he answers his own phone, and he meets brain injury clients at home or at the hospital, because the person with the injury should not be the one driving to a law office. More about Francisco.
We handle brain injuries from car accidents, truck and big rig crashes, motorcycle collisions, pedestrian injuries and falls throughout the west Inland Empire and the Pomona Valley, along with wrongful death and uninsured and underinsured motorist claims when the driver’s policy is not enough, and we come to you in Montclair or Chino.
Send a few details and an attorney, not a screener, will call you back in English or Spanish. A family member can fill this out for you. No cost, no obligation, and no fee unless we recover money for you. Phones are answered 24 hours a day.
Cuéntenos qué pasó. Sin costo, sin obligación. Su información es privada.
Very possibly. A CT scan finds bleeding, swelling and fractures; it does not find a concussion. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke says that available imaging and blood tests cannot always detect damage from mild, concussive injuries. If you lost consciousness, cannot remember the crash, or have had headaches, dizziness, trouble concentrating, sleep problems or mood changes since, you have a brain injury regardless of what the first scan showed. The case is proven with follow-up care, an MRI when it is warranted, and neuropsychological testing, not with the ER scan.
It often is. Physical symptoms come first; memory, concentration and mood problems frequently develop over the following days and weeks as a person tries to go back to work and cannot. NINDS notes that emotional symptoms such as frustration and irritability tend to develop during recovery. Post-concussion symptoms lasting weeks or longer are a recognized condition. Go back to a doctor now, tell them about the crash, and start writing down what has changed. The gap in treatment is what the insurer will point to, so close it.
Two years from the date of the injury to file a lawsuit under Code of Civil Procedure 335.1, and two years from the death for a wrongful death case. If a public entity is involved, such as Caltrans for a freeway defect or a city for a dangerous intersection, a government claim is due within six months under Government Code 911.2. Do not wait for the deadline. A brain injury case is built on records made in the first weeks, and a trucking company only has to keep its driver logs for six months.
First, treatment: making sure you are seen by a neurologist and, when needed, get an MRI and neuropsychological testing, on a lien if you have no insurance. Second, the record: ER notes, the Glasgow score, imaging, work records, and statements from the people who knew you before. Third, the future: a life-care planner and an economist for a moderate or severe injury. Fourth, the claim itself, against every responsible party and every policy, including your own underinsured motorist coverage. Most cases settle; the ones that do not are filed at the Rancho Cucamonga courthouse.
For most cases beyond a brief concussion, yes. A neuropsychologist gives a full day of standardized tests of memory, attention, processing speed, language and executive function, then compares your results with what someone of your age and education should score. It is the accepted way to measure a mild traumatic brain injury and to separate it from stress, pain or depression, and it is the evidence an adjuster and a jury take seriously. We arrange the testing and the insurer does not pick the examiner.
Yes, in two ways. A spouse or registered domestic partner has a separate loss of consortium claim for the loss of companionship, support and the relationship you had, which in brain injury cases is often a real and large loss. If the injury is fatal, the spouse, children and in some cases parents can bring a wrongful death claim under Code of Civil Procedure 377.60. Family members are also usually the most important witnesses, because they are the ones who see the change.
Sí. El abogado Francisco Morales es completamente bilingüe y maneja su caso de lesión cerebral en español de principio a fin: la consulta, las citas con los médicos, las negociaciones con la aseguradora, los documentos y el acuerdo final. Si el lesionado es un familiar y usted está llamando por él o por ella, también podemos hablar con usted.
Nothing up front. We work on a contingency fee, a percentage of the recovery that is paid only when the case resolves. If there is no recovery there is no attorney’s fee. We advance the cost of neurologists, neuropsychological testing, life-care planners, economists, records and depositions while the case is open, and the first consultation is free, at our office, your home or the hospital.
Not always. Workers’ compensation covers your medical care and part of your wages when you are hurt working for your employer, but it pays nothing for pain, the loss of your normal life or your full lost earnings. If someone other than your employer caused the injury, such as the property owner, a staffing agency, a contractor, a trucking company at the dock or the maker of a lift or ladder that failed, you can bring a civil case against them in addition to the workers’ compensation claim. We look for that third party in every warehouse injury.
Both cities are in San Bernardino County, so an injury case is filed in the San Bernardino Superior Court, and civil cases from Montclair, Chino, Upland and Ontario go to the Rancho Cucamonga District courthouse at 8303 Haven Ave. Pomona and Claremont cases go to the Los Angeles Superior Court in Pomona instead. If the defendant is an out-of-state trucking company, it may move the case to federal court in Riverside, and we plan for that from the start.
About eight miles and fifteen minutes from Montclair on the 10 or Arrow Highway, and about twelve miles and twenty to twenty-five minutes from Chino on the 57 and the 71. We are at 151 W. Bonita Ave. in downtown San Dimas with free parking. For brain injury clients we usually come to you, at home, at the hospital or at Casa Colina, so that nobody with a head injury is driving to see a lawyer.
Morales Law Firm
151 W. Bonita Ave., San Dimas, CA 91773
(626) 521-5402
Free consultation, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at our office, your home or the hospital. No fee unless we win. The symptoms are real even when the scan is normal, and the record that proves them starts now.