Florida Lawyer Blog

Archive for the ‘Injury’ Category

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.

Accidents involving heavy vehicles like trucks, tractor-trailers and 18-wheelers may have serious consequences. If you are a victim of a similar incident, you may face grievous injuries that affect your daily life. In such a circumstance, it becomes quite difficult to tackle the financial burden. Get in touch with a personal injury attorney if the accident was no fault of yours and file a lawsuit.

Initiation of the legal procedure at the right time is essential to get a fair and adequate compensation for your injuries. Truck accident cases are complex in nature. Along with the federal laws, the rules and regulations of Florida are also applicable on your case. A competent attorney is capable of accumulating evidence and expert testimonials to support your claim and prove your case.

The requirement of evidence varies from one truck accident case to another. To prove fault you need the following:

• Driver’s personnel details
• Driver’s qualifications and training
• Driver’s driving record and details of any breach of safety standards
• Trucking logbooks
• Trucking company’s past safety records
• Communication records of the trucking company and the driver
• Witness testimonials

Florida laws take into account the question of comparative negligence. This implies that there would be an assessment of liability with the help of expert witnesses.  General accident re-constructionists, forensic experts, computer graphics technicians, truck safety specialists, metallurgists, truck part experts, and other such knowledgeable people provide witness regarding the liability of the parties involved in the accident.

Discuss every detail of the incident with the personal injury attorney Orlando Florida. This would help him/her assess and evaluate the case points. Legal expertise is necessary to understand which points require highlighting. The presentation of the evidence in the proper way increases the chance of obtaining a fair compensation for the injury.

Once you have suffered an accident or injury or developed a painful disease through the exposure of hazardous substances, you are eligible for compensation. There can be plenty of necessary queries that may originate in your mind about the compensation claim process. But there are few questions that need immediate attention. Explaining those with fruitful guidance can be worthy for you.

Eligibility for claim compensation:

When you set out of your home for office or daily activities you must have seen many types of avoidable accidents. If you counteract accident injury with none of you fault in a case, you are can apply for a claim for the pain and suffering caused to you, along with any monetary losses and expenses such as medical costs or loss of earnings. In any case if you are capable to prove that your injury, illness or disease has been caused by negligence of a different party like an employer, driver or a local council, your accident solicitor would compile all the evidences and submit it to the third party insurer for insurance benefits. If it is an accident at work due to lack of safety equipment provided by employer or illness caused from potential harmful substances in the workplace, then your compensation claim is valid in all way.

There can be other types of personal injury as well like: car accidents, sports injuries, accidents at home, travel accidents, health issues like food poisoning and transport mishaps.

Timing of claims:

It is always suggested to initiate the claim as soon as possible to the appropriate authority like local council, employer or an owner of a property where the accident occurred. If you submit the claim quickly, you can submit all the complete details of the circumstances in a fresh mind. Next to this your injury lawyer would start collecting evidences and negotiate for the settlements with the insurance company or the organization or the person who has harmed you.

Claim period:

There is a three year limitation period for all legal proceedings of accident and personal injury claims. The date will start from the date of incidence identified. If any body during dealing period with compensation claim suddenly dies then, three years of deadline would start once again from the date of the death. In any situation always consider a personal Injury attorney for such complicated cases. There are many legal formalities and rewards also, which you may not comprehend properly and end up counting severe losses to both property and life.

More Queries:

For other questions you may have to South Florida Injury Lawyer, please visit Reifkind & Thompson, P.L.