If another party’s careless or reckless conduct caused an incident that injured you, the law makes the negligent party responsible for compensating your losses. You could collect your medical costs and lost income, and receive funds for your suffering by working with a trusted law firm.
Legal deadlines apply, and you might lose your chance to collect compensation if you wait too long. Speak with a Winter Garden personal injury lawyer as soon as possible after you get hurt to enhance your chances of receiving a reasonable settlement.
In most personal injury cases, a Winter Garden attorney must prove that another party’s negligence caused an injury. A party is negligent if they were not as cautious as a reasonable person would be in similar circumstances.
The proof needed to show negligence depends on the circumstances. A store owner has a more extensive duty to keep their premises safe for patrons than a homeowner has toward their social guests. A doctor must use the same degree of knowledge, skill, and judgment as a similarly trained physician would apply to a similar case, so as to avoid medical malpractice. A truck driver must obey all traffic laws and remain attentive to the road, or they could be negligent and cause a truck collision.
In some cases, another person might be liable for an injured person’s damages even if they were not negligent. For example, a dog owner is liable if their dog bites a person, even if the owner was not negligent. A manufacturer could be strictly liable if they produced a defective product that caused an injury.
A lawyer could assist with any of these incidents, as well as car accidents, boat crashes, bicycle and pedestrian accidents, nursing home abuse, motorcycle crashes, and cases of wrongful death.
The money that an injured person receives as compensation for an injury is called their damages. Anyone who can prove that another party’s negligence was a contributing cause of their injuries could collect compensatory damages, which include economic damages and non-economic damages. A Winter Garden attorney could help an injured person document their damages and calculate what it might be worth.
Economic damages are the losses that have a financial cost, like medical bills and lost wages. Any loss or expense the injured person incurred due to their injury could be included in economic damages. Non-economic damages acknowledge the injured person’s diminished quality of life, and could compensate for permanent or temporary disability, disfigurement, physical pain, emotional trauma, and other similar impacts of the injury.
An injured person could seek punitive damages in some cases if the responsible party acted intentionally or was grossly negligent. Florida caps punitive damages at three times the compensatory damages, or $500,000, whichever is more.
Statutes of limitation are laws that define the period for bringing a lawsuit. Florida Statutes § 95.11(3)a allows an adult two years from the date of injury to file a negligence lawsuit. Most lawsuits arising from vehicle or boating accidents, injuries on someone else’s property, drownings, and other injuries are negligence actions.
The timeframe could be shorter if the injury happened because of a medical error: a person must sue for medical malpractice within two years of discovering the injury. If the medical error was clear immediately, the injured person would have no more than two years to sue. A personal injury lawyer in Winter Garden could keep track of the filing deadline so that an individual does not lose out on this right.
Most personal injury cases settle before a trial but it is critical to act before the statute of limitations expires. The viable threat of a lawsuit spurs negligent parties and their insurance companies to negotiate in good faith and offer reasonable settlements. When that leverage is gone, the injured person’s negotiating position is weak, and they might have to accept far less than their claim is worth.
If another party’s negligence caused an incident that led to your injury, you could seek damages from them. You need not bear the burden of your injury without support.
A Winter Garden personal injury lawyer could investigate the circumstances surrounding your injury, identify the responsible parties, and engage them in negotiations until you receive an appropriate settlement. Reach out to Umansky Law today to schedule a case review.