Florida Personal Injury Laws

Bicycle Accident Led To An Injury

If you’re injured while riding your bicycle here in Florida, you can sometimes recover benefits under your automobile insurance policy if you have one. That generally depends on whether your injuries where the result of an accident involving a motor vehicle. So as an example, if you’re riding your bicycle and you’re hit by a car, then you certainly may be entitled to benefits under your no fault coverage under your auto insurance policy and if you have UM, which uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage under your auto policy, then that may also provide benefits for you as well. On the other hand, if you’re riding your bicycle and you’re injured just because you ran off a curb or hit a tree and had nothing to do with a motor vehicle, you probably are not going to be entitled to benefits under your auto insurance policy.

Florida Wrongful Death Act

Florida has a specific wrongful Death Act. There are different types of cases that you can bring in Florida, or medical malpractice cases, nursing home cases, and general negligence cases. If you had a loved one pass away, or suffer a wrongful death that you think may be the result of negligence, it’s important to call us and talk about the facts of the case right away. There are different laws that apply to this situation. A lot of times, people ask us who’s entitled the recover and who can bring the case. We will help you set that up. We will get a probate lawyer involved, we’ll open the estate, we’ll appoint somebody to be the personal representative to bring the case, and we’ll figure out the exact statute that applies. If you have any questions about a wrongful death case in Florida, call us today. Nathan Carter at Colling Gilbert Wright & Carter, 1-800-49-LEGAL.

Defective Product Case With Limited Evidence

It is very difficult to pursue a product liability case without having the actual product that is alleged to be defective. Unfortunately, all too often, folks will approach our law firm about pursuing a product defect case or a dangerous medical device case, but that device itself or that product itself has been destroyed or is no longer in existence. If you believe that you’ve been injured by a defective product, you must take all steps to preserve that evidence which will become crucial in the case because both the defense and your own lawyers will have experts that will look at that device and determine whether or not it’s in fact defective. So, it’s very difficult to pursue a product defect case without the actual device that is alleged to be defective.

Punitive Damages, Auto Accident

If you have been injured in an accident, you’re entitled under certain circumstances to be compensated for your losses. That’s called compensatory damages. Punitive damages, also called exemplary damages, are only allowable in Florida when there has been not just gross negligence but an extraordinary, wrongful level of conduct, so much so that when people look at it, they would say it is almost intentional in terms of the conduct that set things in motion. An example would be the conduct of someone deciding to drink, knowing that he is later going to get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. Gross negligence is the key. It is also referred to as willful or wanton conduct.

Attorney Fees And Contingency Fees

Typically most attorneys in the state of Florida will charge on a contingent fee basis. And what that means – it allows us, or allows any attorney, to represent you as a consumer on a contingent fee basis meaning there’s no upfront fees and no upfront costs that have to be paid by you as a consumer. We are able to represent you and we don’t get paid until the end of the case and only if there’s a successful recovery on your behalf do we get a percentage of that recovery in attorney fees and do we recoup the cost that we have advanced on your behalf during our handling of the case.

Semi-Truck Accident Attorney

Retaining an attorney after you’ve been injured in a big rig trucking accident is essential, but you want to get not just a good lawyer, the best lawyer. You want someone who is qualified, someone who has had experience in handling, in litigating, and hopefully in taking to verdict some big rig tractor trailer truck cases. You need a lawyer who knows the federal regulations. You need a lawyer who is trusted by other lawyers. It’s not good enough to just research a lawyer on the Internet. You want to find out his or her reputation by checking with other lawyers or by checking with organizations to see what her qualifications are and what she has been doing over the course of her career.

Motorcycle Bias

Typically what we found in Florida, through the years of handling motorcycle accident cases, is that jurors have somewhat of a bias against motorcycle operators just like many of us have a bias against truck drivers. Oftentimes the mere fact that a motorcycle operator is operating a motorcycle as opposed to a motor vehicle, sometimes jurors will hold that against that person just by the mere fact that they’re operating a motorcycle. Thinking that they must be reckless, because who would operate a motorcycle on the roads in Florida?

And oftentimes it’s difficult for us, even where the motorcycle client of ours is not at fault in any manner whatsoever, we still have to overcome that bias that many potential jurors out there have. So you must keep that in mind when pursuing a motorcycle accident case.

You’re involved in a car accident in Florida. How do you pay for your lawyer?

If you hire Colling, Gilbert, Wright, & Carter, you pay us nothing unless we recover money for you. With other questions call us at 1-800-49-LEGAL at Colling, Gilbert, Wright, & Carter.

By: Mel Wright

Factors To Valuing A Personal Injury

Determining what your personal injury case is worth is probably the most difficult task that any attorney has in the course of your case because there’s no easy answer, and the answer to the question often varies greatly from the beginning of the case to the end. It sometimes changes from time to time with additional information that’s obtained through the discovery process. The value of your case depends on a number of factors, including the nature of the accident, the nature and severity of your injuries or damages, and any available insurance coverage that applies to the case. The most important thing to keep in mind is that you should maintain regular contact with your attorney who can answer candidly his or her assessment regarding the value of the case, which helps you decide at every step of the way whether it makes sense to settle your case with the other side, or to continue pursuing your case towards trial.