Florida Car Accident Lawyer

Florida is a modified comparative negligence state. This means that if you are found to be no more than 50% at fault for the accident, your recovery is reduced by the same proportion as your percentage of fault. As an example, if you are found to be 20% at fault in an accident, you may still recover 80% of your damages in a lawsuit. If, however, your percentage of fault is found to be more than 50%, you are barred from any recovery under the law.

After an accident, you only have a certain amount of time to file a lawsuit. This is called the statute of limitations, and your Florida car accident attorney must abide by this law. The statute of limitations varies depending on the reason behind your lawsuit and the state law.

Lawmakers create statutes of limitations because they don’t want victims to sue years after an accident. Judicial efficiency requires lawsuits to proceed soon after the accident. Also, witnesses and medical exams are likely to be more accurate and persuasive soon after your accident. For these reasons, statutes of limitations make sense, even if they don’t seem fair to victims.

In Florida, a statute of limitations applies to car accident injuries. This means you can’t wait too long to file your lawsuit, or a judge may toss your lawsuit out. To avoid the Florida statute of limitations, contact a Florida car accident attorney soon after your accident.

Get a Free, No Obligation Case Review

The truth is, speaking with a Florida car accident attorney about your case is a no-risk, all-reward proposition. If you’ve been injured in an accident, it’s well worth your time to consult with an attorney so that you can learn your best path forward, even if that doesn’t mean hiring a lawyer.

You’ll want to consider where your accident took place when choosing a law firm. That’s because tort law differs from state to state. In the United States, we have federal law and state law. Federal law governs things like civil rights, tax fraud, and copyright violations. However, state law governs most aspects of personal injury cases, like the statute of limitations or non-economic damages caps.

Also, you must file a lawsuit in the proper jurisdiction, which means the court allowed to hear the case. In general, you should file your lawsuit in the state where your accident took place. Other options include filing your lawsuit in the defendant’s home state or in your state if certain exceptions apply. You can sue in federal court if you have at least $75,000 in damages, and you and the other driver are from different states.

Our Florida car accident attorneys are experts in Florida law, where we have decades of experience. If your accident took place in Florida, we can explain the Florida laws that apply to your accident injury.

Whether you were injured in Florida or another state, give us a call, and we can discuss your out-of-state car accident case.

Car accidents are terrible, and if you walked away from one without serious injuries, consider yourself lucky. However, that good fortune means that you might not have substantial damages for a lawsuit.

Lawsuits take time and money to negotiate or bring to court. So, a Florida car accident attorney evaluates your case to make sure you can get enough money for your effort. This requires an attorney to calculate all possible damages from your car accident.

In Florida, personal injury damages come in three different categories.

Economic Damages

Economic damages reimburse you for actual expenses resulting from your lawsuit. This includes things like medical bills, car repairs, and lost wages. A Florida car accident attorney adds up your receipts (or estimates) and presents them to the defendant’s attorneys. These damages are usually simple and straightforward.

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages can be a little more challenging to calculate. These damages cover your emotional injuries, such as the pain and suffering that you experienced because of your accident. Pain and suffering can show up in forms like anxiety, depression, or insomnia. Loss of companionship or loss of consortium also fits into this category. This means that people in your life can’t enjoy activities with you like they did before your accident.

Punitive Damages

Punitive damages aren’t awarded as often as the other forms of damages. Punitive damages exist for times when the defendant deserves punishment for bad behavior. For instance, if you were hit by a drunk driver, the court might award punitive damages. 

As you can see, your injuries alone don’t form the total basis for your claim. We can help you calculate other damages and determine if you have enough damages to pursue a lawsuit.

If you were seriously injured in a car accident, you might need long-term medical care. For instance, your injuries might require extensive physical therapy or a live-in nurse. It also takes time to diagnose some injuries like post-concussion syndrome or chronic thyroid disorders after a car accident.

Long-term medical care can mean enormous medical bills. These medical bills significantly impact a settlement. Your personal injury attorney should request full compensation for all medical costs that result from your accident.

Because our attorneys value transparent relationships with our clients, we only take cases that we think we can win. If long term medical care issues concern you, we will discuss our expertise in settling those expenses before you hire us.

Long term medical care is stressful enough without adding financial burden. You need a Florida car accident lawyer who will make sure you don’t have financial worries on top of your long-term injuries

Our Florida car accident attorneys have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for our clients. However, we value honesty and integrity, and these values prevent us from deceiving clients.

After hearing your story, we conduct a free case evaluation. We calculate possible damages and let you know if you have a strong case. We don’t want to overpromise and underdeliver.

For that reason, you may find other Florida car accident attorneys who promise you more money. These lawyers may or may not be able to deliver on that big figure. We can’t guarantee victory in every case, either. However, we only take your case if we think we can win it. We don’t charge you anything until we successfully settle your case.

We work promptly as we aggressively negotiate with insurance companies to get the most money possible in the shortest time. With ten attorneys and 40 legal staff, we have the resources needed to move your case quickly to settlement.

However, we won’t promise inflated settlement amounts to get your business. If you want honest, experienced legal representation, call our Florida car accident lawyers for a free consultation.

You need a car accident lawyer you can trust. After all, you’re hiring someone for professional advice, and you have a lot of money on the line. If you can’t trust your lawyer’s advice, then you probably need a new attorney.

Here are a few things you should know about our Florida car accident attorneys’ advice:

• We offer a free consultation. We’ll review your case and let you know if it’s something we can handle.
• All our communications are confidential. Our discussions are protected by attorney-client privilege, which means the court cannot force your attorney to disclose your confidential communications.
• Attorney “work product” is protected from discovery as well. This means your attorney doesn’t have to hand over documents that detail thoughts or legal theories about your case.
• We may not always tell you what you want to hear, but we’ll tell you the truth. We base our legal strategies on decades of experience with cases like yours.
• You have the final say. You hire us, and we serve you. This means that you have the final say on any settlement agreement.

When you’ve experienced an injury due to someone’s negligence, it becomes harder to trust others. We understand that and welcome the chance to show you we have your best interest in mind. We’ll listen with compassion and respond with expert legal advice.

You probably feel pain and outrage over your injury. We aim to get you a maximum dollar amount to compensate for that pain.

However, we know that the sky is not the limit. Our 30 years of personal injury experience show us how much money you’re likely to receive for a particular injury. Holding out for an unreasonable amount may hurt your chances of receiving a fair Florida car accident settlement.

So, we are honest with you from the beginning of your case. We give you recommendations for a reasonable damages calculation. It’s up to you to approve that amount. As always, you have the final say.

If you shop around, you might find an attorney who will promise you inflated damages amounts. That kind of talk seems exciting at the beginning of a case but ultimately leads to disappointment. We keep things realistic from the first time we meet you.

Sometimes the risk of a case is not worth the reward. If you don’t have a strong case, we may not want to risk our legal resources on it.

We take this position because we work on contingency. This means that you pay nothing unless we win you money. You also pay us nothing while we work on your case, no matter how long it takes. If we lose, we absorb all the legal costs of preparing for trial. This financial commitment means we only take cases that we think we can win.

To be clear, we have 30 years of experience handling almost every type of personal injury you can name. We’re not intimidated by any type of case. We have the resources to fight big insurance companies in headline-grabbing cases.

However, we’re practical. Our Florida car accident lawyers tell you right away if we think your case is unwinnable. That’s only fair to you and us.