Florida Personal Injury Laws

Construction Site Injury

It depends on the situation, but if you’ve been injured on a construction site or at the workplace you want to contact an attorney to first assess whether or not you have a viable worker’s compensation claim. Oftentimes if you do not have worker’s compensation insurance, or if you’re injured on a construction site and there was reckless or willful conduct on the part of the employer, you may have a viable third party negligence claim against your employer.

Oftentimes, however, individuals injured on a construction site they just think that they do not have a case and they never contact an attorney until it’s too late and the statute of limitations has already been expired. But if you’ve suffered a catastrophic workplace injury – especially on a construction site – you want to talk to a reputable law firm to assess whether or not you have a viable case against your employer.

Punitive Damages For An Auto Accident

In a Florida auto accident case you sometimes can recover punitive damages. These are damages that are different from compensatory damages, which are the damages that compensate you for your injuries. Punitive damages are designed to punish the wrongdoer. In Florida, punitive damages are available in a car accident case, only if you can establish that the defendant, or at-fault driver’s conduct, either was intentional or amounted to gross negligence, which is sometimes also referred to reckless conduct. So it’s a higher threshold that you have to establish in terms of the wrongfulness of the conduct, in order to be entitled to recover punitive damages in your case.

Partial Fault In An Auto Accident

Any individual who is in an accident in Florida and who is driving can be found to be wholly or partially responsible for that accident. A jury is always going to be asked to assess the relative fault of each of the parties involved in the litigation. And if, for example, you have one vehicle – the other vehicle where someone ran a stop sign – but perhaps in your vehicle you were not wearing a seat belt, a jury can assess your responsibility for your injuries because you were not wearing a seat belt.

Who can you sue if you are involved in a car accident in Florida?

There are many options. Of course, you can sue the other two drivers involved in the accident. If you are a passenger, your host driver or the other driver. If you are driver, you can sue the other driver. But it’s deeper than that. You also have potential claims against automobile manufacturers, property owners for obstructions division, auto-repair companies for falling to maintain cars. There are many options options available and many potential parties at fault. Hire an attorney, and call us if you have questions like these. We get them all the time at Colling Gilbert Wright and Cater.

By: Mel Wright

Lawyer Referral Service

Hi, I’m Matt Dolman, of the Dolman Law Group. I’m a Clearwater civil trial attorney. If you were just in an accident you may be wondering whether you should call a lawyer referral service, one that advertises on television or the radio. In fact, if you live in the Tampa Bay area, our market is inundated with these advertisements all day long, and you’re probably wondering how good are they. Well, keep in mind that lawyer referral services are only partly regulated by the Florida Bar. When I say partly, only the lawyers are regulated. The lawyer referral service can often make advertisements, make claims, make statements that don’t pass Bar scrutiny. In fact, they don’t have to submit their advertisements to the Florida Bar.

411 Pain & Ask Gary

If you listen to a recent radio advertisement for 411 PAIN, you’ll note that the non-lawyer attorney spokesperson makes a very curious statement. And the statement they make is we have a very exclusive group of attorneys. We’ve spent many years putting this group together. Well, what does that really mean? Does that mean that these lawyers are superbly talented? I don’t want to make a generalization because there are some good lawyers that belong to these networks, but really if you become a member of 411 PAIN or Ask Gary, you simply have to pay to become a member. It’s a pay for play system. It doesn’t state the quality of the lawyer, how many cases they’ve tried, the types of verdicts they’ve obtained, are they experiencing any personal injury claims like yours. It simply means that they paid to be a member of a lawyer referral service, but keep in mind that being a member of such an exclusive group does not convey quality. It just conveys they paid.

Hire Matt Dolman

Thank you again for listening. This is Matt Dolman, of Dolman Law Group. Thanks again for visiting our YouTube channel. I greatly appreciate your time. Look forward to seeing you soon, and click on our button here to subscribe to our channel. Thank you.

By: Matt Dolman

Pedestrian Hit By Car

If you or a loved one have been struck by a motor vehicle while a pedestrian, you very well may have a basis to pursue a claim against the driver of the car. But the basis for that claim depends on the circumstances surrounding the crash. You’d have to be able to demonstrate that the driver was negligent or careless, meaning that he or she did something wrong to cause the crash. An example would be that the driver run a stop sign or a red light, or failed to yield to you while crossing in the crosswalk.  If the car was owned by somebody other than the driver, you may also have a basis to pursue a claim against the owner of the car. And if the accident happened at the time that the driver was on duty for an employer, then the employer may also be responsible for your injuries.

Nursing Home Injury

If you suspect a loved one has been hurt in a nursing home in Florida, it’s important to document that right away. A lot of times I tell clients to take notes, take pictures, document things while it’s fresh in your mind. Also, you can call The Agency for Healthcare. You can Google that and find their number. They have a 1-800 number. Also, The Department of Children and Families has an elder abuse hotline. If you call those numbers they will send people in to take witness statements, take pictures, and also document the incident. It’s also important that you call us right away. We’ve handled hundreds of nursing home cases all across the state of Florida. A lot of times after we get the chart and have it reviewed by our experts, we find issues that the family was not even aware of. So if you suspect abuse in a nursing home in Florida, call me, Nathan Carter at Calling, Gilbert, Wright, and Carter at 1-800-49-LEGAL.

By: Nathan Carter

Settle Out Of The Court Room

In most personal injury case, your attorney is going to make an effort to try to settle or resolve your case with the other side, usually an insurance company, before filing a lawsuit and taking the case to court. That doesn’t always happen, and it doesn’t always succeed. If it does not succeed, your attorney then has to file a suit and put the case into litigation, then there are generally ongoing negotiations and opportunities along the way to try to settle the case before it gets to trial. Just one primary example is that every judge in the floor is going to order your case to mediation before trial, and that’s usually a more formal settlement conference providing the parties with an opportunity to try to settle your case before it actually gets to trial.

Hi, I’m Evan Fetterman. I’d like to talk to you. Accidents can happen anywhere. When accidents result in injuries, people trust us for the legal help they need. If you’ve been hurt, call 800-330-HELP. I’m here for you.

By: Evan Fetterman