Florida Lawyer Blog

Archive for August, 2010

Auto-accidents rates in Florida have become extensive because of high-traffic roadways pointing to and from Tampa, Florida.  St. Petersburg is the fourth largest city in Florida and second largest city in the Tampa bay area. It is having roughly 2.7 million residents making it vulnerable for road accident numbers.

As the city’s ever increasing population and construction demands are growing manifold there is an increasing chance of auto accident cases resulting in injuries. The Florida department of Transportation is much aware of the current traffic trends and patterns. They have also identified the solutions by extending miles of roads and connecting the city of Tampa by causeways and bridges across Tampa Bay.

Increased constructions have led to raise improvement of the overall safety of existing roadways apart from developing new roads that will hopefully decrease congestion. These all are the future endeavors planned to reduce traffic accident rates as St Pete Personal Injury Lawyer thinks so.

Hence most of the responsible lawyers with a view to social responsibility are making people aware of  certain traffic rules and regulations as well as how to avoid traffic congestion. Though auto accidents are unpreventable but as a motorist it is the responsibility of the common people to learn of the current traffic patterns and trends of your residing areas. They also make people aware of current resources available in the event they do experience an accident and causes injury.

Every motorist should know how to search the legal resources to gain compensation for injuries or any accident related to death. Call one of such good and responsible lawyers if you have been struggling with an accident in St .Pete.

When an injury occurs, the first question that comes up is the liability for it. This applies to dog bite cases as well. Similar to all US States, Florida has certain statutes in place regarding this specific kind of personal injury. Before you sue the owner, be sure to talk to one of the personal injury lawyers of your area to know the legal position of the case.

Florida Statute 767.04 outlines the responsibility of the dog owner. If his/her dog causes serious injuries to an individual without provocation, the owner is liable for the incident. He/she has to pay for the damages including medical expenses, loss of wages, physical and psychological suffering, plastic surgery, if necessary, and such others. However, if there was provocation on the victim’s part, the recovery of damages may diminish.

There is one exception in this regard. A resident of South Florida is not liable if there was a prominent sign warning about the ‘Bad Dog’. However, this won’t hold ground if the victim was under the age of 6 years. This is applicable when the dog bit the individual victim on the owner’s property.

Florida does not provide owners with the ‘one free bite’ rule. This means that you may sue the owner even if it is the dog’s first attack. Several details guide the legal proceeding. This is why you need proper aid and assistance from South Florida personal injury lawyers to know whether you can sue the dog owner. If yes, you also need their help to ascertain the amount of damage recovery.

Drunk driving cases are on the rise. To stop this nuisance, the state of Florida has adopted stringent drunk driving laws. As per these directives, an individual charged with driving under the influence of alcohol faces severe penalties. These aggravate if others face injury because of him/her. However, this is part of the domain of criminal law.

If the drunk driver causes damage to life and property while operating the vehicle, a separate civil lawsuit comes up. As a victim, you have the right to file a lawsuit against the individual. This is necessary if you wish to claim compensation for the damages caused by his/her thoughtless actions.

When an individual gets his/her driving privileges, there comes with it a duty to care. He/she requires understanding that there are certain responsibilities as a driver. Drinking and driving is a gross negligence of this duty. Consult with a capable injury lawyer to understand the intricacies of the law applicable on your case.

The victim’s compensation includes economic damages like medical costs, lost wages, pays and benefits, property damages, and so on. Non-economic damages like pain and suffering, alterations in lifestyle, mental trauma, and such others are also within the scope of the claim.

In certain cases, Florida dram shop law gives the victim the right to pursue the restaurant/bar/shop that provided the driver with the alcohol for compensation. Your Florida personal injury lawyer is the best guide to help you ascertain the entity responsible and sue accordingly.

A competent personal injury lawyer can get witnesses to testify regarding the accident and accumulate expert opinions about the amount of compensation. There are no limits to the amount of compensation for the injury. However, the amount of compensation decreases if the victim was partially responsible for the accident as well, as per the ‘comparative negligence’ rule applicable in Florida.