Arizona Personal Injury Laws

Succeeding in a Malpractice Case in Orlando

To succeed in a medical malpractice case in Florida, there are three things you have to prove. You have to prove that the doctor was negligent and deviated or fell below the standard of care, then you have to prove that that negligence caused your harm, and then we have to prove what your damages are. So there are three things you have to prove to be successful in a malpractice case. Until we get your records and have them reviewed by experts, we don’t really know if the doctor has fallen below the standard of care. So if you have a question about that and would like us to review your records for free, call me. Nathan Carter at Colling Gilbert Wright & Carter, 1-800-49-LEGAL.

By: Nathan Carter

Cyclist Personal Injury Litigation

One of the great things about being from Arizona of course, is our weather. And the weather invites people from all over the country to come in on their bicycles, and share our highways and our roads. And one of the things that Friedl Richardson is concerned about, is educating the public as to the rights of those bicyclists.

Three Foot Law

One of the laws that are so important in Arizona governing bicyclists, is the three foot law. When you have an absence of bike lanes, and you have bicycles sharing the highway with motorist, it’s important for the motorists to realize, that he has to allow three feet from the bicyclists. And the bicyclists have rights available to them through Arizona laws, through municipality laws.

That really protects them on the streets, with or without a bike lane. One of the things that we see so often on the Phoenix streets, and in Maricopa County, are bicycle collisions. That’s a vehicle to bicycle collision. And generally these collisions happen, because the vehicle is inattentive. In most situations throughout our state, the bicycle has the right of way in any type of vehicle bicycle encounter. Whatever it takes to make these highways safer, that’s our goal.

By: Thomas M. Richardson

My name is Mack Jones and I’m a personal injury attorney at Jones Raczkowski PC, here in Phoenix, Arizona. Premises liability case is a case where a person is injured on the property of another, typically through a dangerous condition or dangerous instrumentality on the premises. So it is not a car accident and it’s not a medical malpractice case. It’s an injury that occurs when you fall on somebody else’s property typically.

Typically, broken sidewalk, a spill in the grocery store, falling merchandise – those are premises liability cases. In most of those types of cases, the defendant, the property owner, is going to assert that the injury is at least partially, if not completely, your fault. That’s why you need somebody who’s prepared to take the matter into litigation, and to court, because it will not resolve with a demand letter. It will have to go and be litigated.

If you have a serious personal injury, particularly if you were injured on premises, please contact my firm at (602) 840-8787, Jones Raczkowski PC.

By: Mack Jones

Friedl Richardson is concerned about community safety. We have to live in this community and we want it to be safer for us, for our families, and for our community. What we’re trying to do is make the community safer. Whether a person harms another person intentionally or chooses to break the rules that govern every member of society, whether it’s traffic laws, whether it’s bicycle laws, whether it’s homeowner’s laws, by enforcing those rules, we make the community safer for everyone.

By: Thomas M. Richardson

My name’s Mack Jones and I’m a personal injury attorney at Jones Raczkowski PC. Our philosophy on taking on new cases and representing clients is that it’s a two-way interview process, client, the prospective client is interviewing us and we’re interviewing them. The first thing – and the most important thing which you can have with any attorney – is trust. You have to decide whether you’re going to trust your attorney because you’re putting important matters into their care to be handled.

Second, what we’re doing is we’re trying to be realistic so that we all know what is possible and what is not possible. What is not possible is what happened to you cannot be undone. The defendant probably wishes it could be undone. You certainly wish it could be undone but that cannot happen. So what we deal with is the art of the possible not the impossible.

Third, we want to give you realistic evaluations of what can happen, not pie-in-the-sky evaluations, but something that you can sit there and go, “Okay, at least I know what’s going on and somebody’s talking to be straight.” If you have a serious personal injury case and you would like a consultation, or you’d like to interview me, please contact us at (602) 840-8787, Jones Raczkowski PC.

By: Mack Jones

Personal Injury Case Process in Phoenix

A personal injury case can take anywhere from six months to two, or several years or more to resolve. Different factors can affect his time period. Most important is the medical treatment you receive for your injuries. Many people have to undergo physical therapy, chiropractic or other treatment following an injury. More serious injuries may begin with a period of conservative care and move to other types of treatment including surgery. Neither our firm or the insurance company can place a value on your injuries until you have finished your course of treatment. When your treatment has completed, we will obtain all necessary reports and forward them to the insurance carrier for the negligent party. Settlement negotiations then may begin. If the case cannot settle, a lawsuit may need to be filed. Most cases resolve without trial, although there may be cases that because of the nature of the accident, the case may proceed to trial.

If you would like to know how long your personal injury case might last, please contact my law firm.

By: Jess Lorona

Phoenix Personal Injury

Dog Bites, assault and battery, motor vehicle collisions, premises liability, slip and fall, wrongful death actions and medical malpractice. Each of these cases can involve many types of claims, theories and principals. If you have suffered a personal injury it is important that you speak with a personal injury attorney as soon as possible. If you have questions or would like to know more about personal injury, contact me at (602) 385-6818 or email me.

By: Jess Lorona

Hi, my name is Nathan Meyer. I’m a partner at Jaburg Wilk. My practice areas include insurance coverage, insurance bad faith, insurance UM and UIM litigation, as well as commercial litigation, professional liability litigation, and general liability litigation. There’s actually been some very favorable rulings for insurance companies regarding punitive damages. It started with a United States Supreme Court case in 2003 in Campbell. There is also recently been some Court of Appeals cases that has significantly reduced punitive damages award amounts to much more reasonable amounts in Arizona.

Reducing Punitive Damage Awards

In the United States Supreme court case “Campbell”, the court actually reduced a $145 million punitive damages award all the way down to a million dollars, or at least they said – they told the Utah Supreme Court, “We’re sending this back to you, and you need to reduce this award to something around a million dollars.”

In a recent Arizona Court of Appeals case, there was a $54 million punitive damages award. And the Court of Appeals initially reduced that from $54 million down to $620,000. Then the Arizona Supreme Court actually reduced it from $620,000 all the way down to $155,000. So it’s a substantial reduction.

Also you have another recent case called “Orellana the Prime Life Insurance Company”, and they reduced a punitive damage award from about $1.3 million all the way down to $320,000. So courts are really reducing some of these egregious punitive damages awards amounts down to something much more reasonable.

3 Factors Courts Consider When Reducing Punitive Damage Awards

In “Campbell V. State Farm”, that 2003 United States Supreme Court case, the court established three guide post a court should look at when they’re reviewing these large punitive damages awards.

One is reprehensibility, the degree of reprehensibility of the defendant’s conduct. Two is the disparity, and that’s where you get the ratio of the punitive damages to the compensatory damages. And the third is comparability to civil authorized fines, and those are usually fines authorized by statutes.

For example, in Arizona there is a maximum $50,000 fine per six month period when you violate the unfair claim settlement practices act. So those are the three things that courts look at when considering whether to reduce punitive damages.

By: Nathan D. Meyer

About Jess Lorona

My name is Jess Lorona, I practice personal injury and civil litigation at the law firm of Lorona Mead PLC. I’ve been practicing law for 31 years. I am a native Arizonan and because of that, I have a lot of experience with all of Arizona.

Experience

I think that people hire me because of my experience and the training that I’ve had. I believe people hire me because of the fact that I’m a judge pro-tem. I serve as a judge in various courts. Having experience in all of these courts gives you the ability to, in any situation, know how to handle a case and I think that’s very valuable for any lawyer. I think my approach to law is based upon my experience, my experience in the courtroom, my experience outside of the courtroom.

Key Differences

I think that what makes me different from other attorneys is I have compassion, I’m a very caring person and I’m very humble. I believe I’m very concerned with a client’s needs. I always maintain contact with my clients. I make sure that they feel comfortable with me and with their case. You know, clients always have questions and concerns. A lot of times they don’t know the system and have never been involved with the system before and because of that, they’re very scared. They may have a million questions. They really don’t know what’s going on so it’s our job to make sure that they feel good. I think I can help my clients by understanding their needs. They need to feel it’s ok to call you on the phone everyday. They need to feel it’s ok to send you an email to ask you questions. They need to feel like their questions are important. We need to treat all of our clients like they’re important and their questions are important. I make sure that they know that I care about their case and I care about them more particularly. And I think that the client needs to know at that first meeting that hey, Jess is going work really hard for me, no matter what he’s going to work hard for me.

Lorona Mead

In today’s day in age, less and less cases settle, so a lawyer has to be ready to fight a case. I will fight to the end. I will take the case to trial and do whatever is necessary to make sure that my client achieves a result that is beneficial to him or her. If you want an attorney that’s honest and dedicated, then you should call me, Jess Lorona, at (602) 385-6818 or email me.

By: Jess Lorona