Florida Personal Injury Lawyer
Personal injury may strike when you least expect it. No matter what you do to take care of yourself and minimize your own risks, you can never fully control what someone else does. They may have their own motivations. From a nursing home that puts profits ahead of caring for your loved one to a driver who values getting there quicker over your own safety, others may cause you harm.
Under personal injury law, you have legal rights. The law states that one who causes harm to another from their carelessness or reckless actions must pay in full for the damages that they have caused. You have a legal right to financial compensation when you have suffered a personal injury at the hands of another.
Before you reach the point of potentially receiving a check for your injuries, there are many steps that you must go through first. There is an entire legal process to navigate, and you should do it with the help of an experienced attorney.
Different Types of Personal Injuries
A personal injury is one that is inflicted on your body, emotions, or reputation. For our purposes, we will treat it as a physical injury (even though you can also be paid for personal injuries such as libel or slander). Personal injuries can arise in a number of settings, including:
- Car accidents
- Nursing home injuries
- Slip and falls
- Pedestrian accidents
- Rideshare accidents
- Medical malpractice
- Pharmacy malpractice
- Dog Bite Injuries
The above list represents a wide variety of injuries. You may think that a lawsuit about a surgical error has little to do with a claim that arises when a driver runs a red light and hits you, but they actually rely on the same legal concept.
Winning a Personal Injury Case
Every single personal injury case, regardless of its complexity, focuses largely on one thing. Someone who owed you a duty of care has acted unreasonably and caused you an injury. That is another way of saying that someone acted with negligence.
In every case, your focus is going to be on two things:
- What did the defendant do in the circumstances that caused your injury?
- What would a reasonable person have done under the same circumstances?
Then, assuming that the defendant actually was the cause of your injuries, you may be entitled to recover financial compensation.
To illustrate how this process works, we can use the example of a car crash. The accident may have been caused by the fact that the defendant was traveling too fast for the circumstances. It may have been during one of the frequent Florida rainstorms.
In this case, a reasonable driver would slow down, even below the speed limit because roads can be slippery during the rain. Here, if the driver caused an accident, in part because they did not slow down, they could be considered to have been negligent. The same thing goes for a doctor who failed to monitor your loved one’s condition properly before surgery, and they suffered severe complications. In both cases, the defendant fell below the standard of care and the duty that they owed.
Proving Someone Else at Fault for Your Injuries
In any personal injury case, the question is how you prove whatever you are contending. In the medical malpractice case, you are trying to prove that the doctor acted in a way that a reasonable physician would not have under the circumstances. Then, you must compare what the doctor did to what an average physician would have done using the opinion of an expert witness.
In the motor vehicle case, you would need evidence that showed what another driver did that caused the accident. Proof of their actions could be established by:
- Eyewitness testimony from people who witnessed the crash
- Traffic camera footage
- Pictures of the scene of the accident
- Testimony from an accident reconstruction expert
In a personal injury case, it all comes down to the facts. Your first hurdle is showing that someone else was to blame for your injuries. Here, you need an experienced lawyer who can quickly gather the evidence before it is lost to you forever.
Securing Financial Compensation for Your Injuries
Proving liability is only the opening part of your personal injury claim. Being eligible for financial compensation is the first step towards potentially receiving a check in your account. Once you determine that you are eligible for financial compensation, you must also look at the amount of coverage available.
In many cases, the amount of recovery may be limited to the policy limits. While there are ways to exceed the policy limits in certain cases, the policy limits often dictate the amount you may be able to recover.
The insurance company does not want to pay you what you deserve. If their policyholder caused your damages, they are the ones on the hook for damages up to the full amount of the policy. Insurance companies are the most profitable when they can keep as much of the policy premiums as possible. Therefore, paying you is an expense for them.
How a Personal Injury Lawyer Helps
Here is one of the many ways that having an attorney helps you. One of the main advantages that an insurance company has over the average claimant is that they know what your claim is worth, often right down to the dollar. In fact, many insurance companies have actually automated this process and have computer systems that assign a value to your claim. They try to take advantage of the fact that you may not know the value of your claim to try to get you to take less than you deserve.
An experienced attorney also knows what your claim is worth because they see claims like yours often. While each claim has a different value based on the damages that an individual person has suffered, there is a skill to valuing personal injury cases.
Before you even file a claim, there is plenty of work to be done, such as:
- Investigating the accident and establishing the cause
- Deciding whether to deal with an insurance company or file a lawsuit
- Valuing the claim and preparing the documentation
Each of these tasks will benefit from the experience of a personal injury lawyer.
Call a Florida Personal Injury Lawyer
If you have been injured in any type of accident, you should JustCallMoe to get the legal help that you need to help you obtain financial compensation. If you can prove that someone else is to blame, you may be able to be paid for your injuries.
Once you hire us, we will roll up our sleeves and get right to work on our mission of fighting to get you top dollar for your injuries. Call us today at 866-225-5662 or message us online to schedule your free initial consultation.
Personal Injury Case FAQs
Do I have to deal with an insurance company?
Typically, your attorney will deal with the insurance company directly on your behalf. Once you have hired an attorney, the insurance company is typically not allowed to contact you directly or speak to you without your attorney present.
What happens if my insurance claim is denied?
It is common for the insurance company to deny your claim in order to delay and frustrate the recovery process. However, you still have the right to file a lawsuit and present your case to a jury to make a determination as to whether you are entitled to financial compensation.
What if I was partially to blame for my injuries?
In Florida, you can still recover money when you were partly at fault, but your damages will be reduced.
Florida Auto Accident Lawyer
You Don't Pay, Unless We Win.
When you've been injured in an accident, you're likely dealing with much more than just your injuries and property damage. Dealing with your insurance claim can be an added stressor that you shouldn't have to worry about. When you call us, we'll take the burden of dealing with the insurance companies off your shoulders. We'll deal with the insurance company, so you can focus on getting better.
About Us Play Video