You enjoy the pristine nature areas of a small Florida town, and that is why you live in Mount Dora. You may explore Palm Island Park with your children or take them to the eclectic shops dotting the hilly downtown. Your kids can be exposed to art and music at the Cultural Center, and the city is not notorious for high crime. Still, child injuries can happen anywhere, even by accident.
When others are negligent or reckless, they should pay the medical bills if your child is injured. These accidents can occur almost anywhere, but children are owed special care and diligence it takes to protect them. Even curious children who trespass are protected by Florida law. When your child is hurt in an accident caused by someone else, a Mount Dora child injury lawyer could recover the compensation you need to take care of them during recovery. The Umansky Law Firm employs personal injury lawyers who know how to shepherd your claim through the civil court system.
Children aged 1 to 4 most often succumb to drowning, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a problem this state has dealt with extensively due to our amusements parks and tourist-heavy coastline. Even if your child trespasses, under Florida’s Attractive Nuisance Doctrine, the homeowner owes the child a duty to secure the entrance to the pool or other manmade draws because children do not recognize danger as easily as adults do. Other negligent acts include:
Child injuries are based on negligence, the legal tort for which your Mount Dora attorney must prove four elements.
Negligence must be established for a case to be successful. The elements include duty, breach, causation, and injury. If your child is injured, your attorney must show that someone had a duty to act responsibly and keep your child safe, breached that duty by not acting as a reasonable person would in similar circumstances, and that breach causes an accident in which your child is injured.
The Umansky Law Firm understands the emotional trauma your family is experiencing after a child injury, and we are ready to advocate for you in insurance negotiations and litigation to achieve the most compensation available.
If parents contribute to the negligence harming their child, such as failing to strap them into a car seat prior to a serious car accident, they will no longer have a case for compensation if the jury rules they were more than 50 percent at fault for the accident.
Effective March 24, 2023, under Florida Statute § 768.81, the state adopted a modified comparative negligence standard from the former pure form. Prior to that date, plaintiffs could be up to 99 percent responsible for an accident and still recover the percentage of fault assigned to the defendant. Now, for personal injuries other than medical negligence, the plaintiff cannot be more than 50 percent responsible. Damages awards will be reduced by the plaintiff’s percentage of fault.
For example, if a parent fails to strap a child into a car seat, and speeds along Lakeshore Drive when a drunk driver crashes into them, the jury might assign 25 percent of the blame to the parent. A $1 million damages award will then be reduced to $750,000. A Mount Dora lawyer could utilize all available evidence in a child injury case to reduce your damages reduction as much as possible.
Along with tort reform for comparative negligence, Florida in 2023 also revised the amount of time plaintiffs have to bring a negligence action against a defendant.
Imposing a Statute of Limitations ensures evidence can be found, witnesses remember events, and defendants do not have the threat of a lawsuit hanging over their heads indefinitely. Fla. Stat. § 95.11(4)(a), gives plaintiffs two years to file injury claims, a reduction from what was previously four years. However, claims with child victims may have up to seven years – it is important to speak with a lawyer first about how much time is actually left to file.
Our attorneys understand how heartbreaking it is when your child is injured because someone else was negligent. While you care for them, our Mount Dora child injury lawyers build a case for negligence against the at-fault party to get you compensated for your child’s medical bills and emotional trauma.
We believe in justice for your family. For compassionate but determined representation, contact The Umansky Law Firm Criminal Defense & Injury Attorneys today.
The Umansky Law Firm Criminal Defense & Injury Attorneys
