Brooker in Bradford county is a great place to live. However, there are instances when residents get involved in accidents that leave them with serious injuries. If you sustain serious injuries, your life is thrown off the course, but you don’t have to lose hope because the Jacksonville Personal Injury Attorney is here to help. Our attorneys will guide you on your options and potential lawsuits so that you can get your life back on track.
Wrongful Death
You will file this type of lawsuit if a loved one dies because of somebody’s negligence, action, or inaction. You can file this claim if someone has died because of a car accident, medical malpractice, fatal accidents, and product liability claims. If a company, individual, or government agency is legally responsible for someone’s death due to negligence or failure to act, you can also pursue a wrongful death claim.
For you to win the lawsuit, you as the plaintiff must prove certain elements, these elements include:
- The defendant or opposition owed you a duty of due care
- The defendant violated the duty of due care
- The violation of responsibility led to the death of the deceased
- The decedent suffered damages
You will need a Brooker Personal Injury Attorney if you want to use these facts to win a wrongful death lawsuit. If you are successful in the suit, you will get compensated for three forms of compensation. These are:
- Financial compensations
- Non-economic indemnities
- Punitive damages
Not everybody can file this type of claim to recover the costs above. All descendants of the deceased should file a claim through a personal representative. The victims will determine who will be the personal representative.
Note, if you don’t wish to pursue a wrongful death claim, you can file a survival action to get the compensation that the deceased would have received if he or she had survived. Choosing between what suit is best to pursue is not a walk in the park. You will consult a Brooker Personal Injury Attorney to help you decide.
Car Accidents
The increasing population in Florida has led to an increase in car accidents because of high-density driving areas. When these crashes occur, they leave you with severe back, spinal cord, neck, and traumatic brain injuries. One or all the parties involved in the collision will be responsible for negligence. The person responsible for the accident should compensate you for the injuries. However, you will succeed in recovering these damages if you get help from a Brooker Personal Injury Attorney.
Car Accident Laws in Florida
After every Florida car collision, fault, the statute of limitations, liability, and insurance laws come into play. One of the regulations is the fault or no-fault rule. When it comes to this rule, Florida is a no-fault state. It means that whoever is responsible for the accident, you will go to your insurance company for compensation. If you have sustained disfigurement, permanent injury, or incapacitation, you can go to the at-fault driver’s insurer so that you can claim compensation.
The other rule about car crashes in Florida is that there is a time limit within which you should file a claim for your injuries. After an accident has a time limit of four years after the crash occurred. If this period ends without having filed a suit, the court will prevent you from initiating any legal proceeding against the liable party.
Punitive damage Cap provides the limit for the amount of money to be received as deterrence for drivers or to punish the defendant. The damages are awarded where there is gross negligence by a driver resulting in the death of the victim. The highest amount of damages you can recover in Florida are $500,000 or three times the number of compensatory damages awarded by the court.
Comparative fault rule also applies in car accidents because, in most cases, both parties involved in the crash are at fault; hence the percentage of fault is shared among the parties. The value of damages you were to recover will be reduced by the percentage of fault you contributed to the accident.
The common injuries that one can sustain after a crash include:
- Whiplash
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Fractured and broken bones
- Shoulder injuries
- Rapture
The common causes of car collisions that lead to the above injuries include:
- Distracted driving
- Reckless driving
- Drunk driving
- Poorly maintained vehicles
- Hazardous road conditions
Every time you are involved in a car crash that stemmed from someone’s negligence, you can file a lawsuit to recover damages for unexpected medical costs, wrongful death, property damage, or loss of income.
Truck Accidents
After a truck accident, the injuries sustained by those involved in the crash are very severe. Conversely, you don’t have to be scared because you can recover damages for the unexpected medical costs and the pain and suffering involved after the crash. In Florida, before any truck driver is allowed to operate any truck, he or she must possess a commercial vehicle license and a minimum driving experience of twenty-four months. Because many truck drivers are the persons that contribute to the accidents, he or she is required to report all the challenges experienced, leading to the crash.
Some of the common causes of truck accidents include:
- Fatigue
- Poorly maintained trucks
- Poorly placed cargo
- Distracted driving
- Drunk driving
- Speeding
- Inexperienced drivers
- Unsafe changing lanes
- Traffic flow
- Blind spots of the drivers
These causes of truck crashes can result in various types of truck collisions. These are:
- Runaway trucks
- Rollover
- Override
- Underride
- Cargo spills
- Jackknife
When any of these crashes occur, you are likely to sustain the following injuries:
- Limb amputations
- Broken bones
- Burns
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Internal injuries
- Disfigurement
If you endure any of the above injuries, your life is going to change because you won’t be in a position to undertake your routines. Aside from physical injuries, emotional problems due to things like depression or insomnia will stem from the car accident.
The statute of limitations for these injuries is four months. If you file a claim within this period, you can recover damages for medical costs, lost earnings, pain and suffering, loss of earning capability, physical impairment, temporary disability compensation, future medical expenses, and disfigurement.
Pedestrian Accidents
When a pedestrian is using the road, he or she is exposed to the risk of injury or death. The groups that are at a high risk of being involved in pedestrian accidents are the elderly and the children. Some of the major causes of these types of crashes are:
- Distracted driving
- Inappropriate use of crossroads
- Left-hand turns
- Poor maintenance of areas that are used by the pedestrians
- Los visibility at night
- Poor weather conditions
Pedestrians also get involved in different types of accidents, which are: hit and run, parking lot or back-over accidents, intersection, and crushing accidents.
If you claim you have been involved in a pedestrian crash, you need to contact a Brooker Personal Injury Attorney to help you file a claim. If you are aggressive enough to win the lawsuit, you will recover several damages that include:
- Unexpected medical bills
- Lost wages
- Loss of consortium
- Mental anguish
- Wrongful death
Note that before you pursue these damages, it is essential to know the amount of money you are hoping to get. The amount depends on the condition of your case and the opposing party. Before an attorney takes up the case, he or she evaluates to give an estimate of the value of compensation you expect to get if you pursue the matter.
After a pedestrian accident, the insurer of the driver at fault will reach out to you immediately, offering a particular amount of money as compensation. It’s advisable not to always go for the first settlement offered. You should allow your attorney to negotiate with the insurer of the opposing party to ensure maximum compensation.
When it comes to claiming pain and suffering damages, it will be hard to prove the amount of compensation you need, so you should get an attorney with experience in these issues. You will also need an economic expert when trying to prove the amount of compensation to receive for loss of future income.
Bus Accidents
These types of accidents are common when the bus involved is of large volume or when the amount of traffic is so large. The driver or the company that owns the bus owes all pedestrians and motorists a duty of reasonable care. If the responsibility of due care is breached by the bus driver or company, in the event you sustain any injuries; the company should compensate you for your loss.
Bus crashes involving school buses can be blamed on the driver, the school, or the company that operates the bus. When these crashes occur, the youngest children in the bus sustain the most severe injuries. If you sustain injuries because of an accident involving a bus operated by the school, then the school is liable. If it is a transport company that operates the bus, then they are the people you can file a bus accident claim against to be awarded damages.
Public buses in Florida are mostly operated by the county or state government. If an accident occurs involving a public bus, the government authority in charge of the buses will be liable for the accidents. In Florida, unlike many other states, you can sue the government because it waives the law of sovereign immunity. The government is responsible for an accident, just like any other party where the amount of compensation is $200,000. But when the amount is more than $200,000, the government will not waive the law of sovereign immunity. You will have to sue more than one defendant so that they can share compensation.
Also, Florida receives a lot of tourists every year. The tourists who want to travel for short distances rely on buses for transportation. When accidents occur involving these drivers, the bus owner is responsible for the injuries if the auto was poorly maintained. But if the automobile belongs to a company, the driver’s negligence will be blamed for the crash because the company will be accused of not offering proper training and supervision to drivers.
Motorcycle Accidents
Florida provides motorcyclists with the right of full use of the lane. It means a vehicle cannot ride alongside a motorbike in the same path. However, motorcyclists are allowed to ride along with each other in the same lane. The law also prohibits motorcyclists or bikers from engaging in certain conducts while on the road. In the case of a mishap involving a motorcycle, you are likely to sustain serious injuries.
The leading cause of motorcycle crashes includes terrible weather, animal collisions, poorly maintained roads, head-on collisions, uninsured motorists, and drunk driving. When these crashes occur, they leave you with severe injuries like:
- Fractured ribs
- Internal organs injuries
- Burns
- Permanent scarring
- Deep contusions
If you sustain any of these injuries, you have up to four years to file a claim; otherwise, you won’t recover damages. Make sure that you contact a Brooker Personal Injury Attorney immediately after the crash so that you can start the procedure of building a case. If you wait for a long time before filing a claim, you might forget serious details that might be pivotal in a bid for recovering compensation.
Medical Malpractice
All medical specialists, including doctors, nurses, surgeons, and pharmacists, are liable to face these claims because of medical negligence. The prevalent forms of medical malpractices include misdiagnosis, anaesthesia errors, birth injury, prescription overdose, surgical errors and complications, radiology malpractice, and emergency room negligence.
In case you or a close person is hurt, injured, or suffers death because of any of the above conducted by medical experts, you should reach out to a Brooker Personal Injury Attorney for consultation.
The statute of limitations for medical negligence lawsuits is two years. Instead of waiting for this period to elapse, you should file serve the defendant with a notice of your intentions to sue. If the negligent party shows no intentions of settling, then you have thirty days to sue them in court.
Find a Personal Injury Attorney Near Me
If you are in Brooker and have been injured or lost someone because of the negligence of another individual, you should reach out to the Jacksonville Personal Injury Attorney at 904-800-7557. Our attorneys will offer a zero obligation consultation to discuss your claim.
