Personal injuries can be incurred in various motor vehicle accidents, workplaces, and healthcare practices. These injuries can have severe consequences where financial, emotional, and social effects need to be recovered from the respective at-fault parties in the accident. Our team at the Jacksonville Personal Injury Attorney is experienced in defending personal injury clients in Vilano Beach to enable them to find justice when they incur damages as a result of all sources of their injuries.

1. Wrongful Death

Wrongful death is the death that occurs due to recklessness, negligence, or deliberate action of another person. Here the surviving family members can file a claim against the negligent individual for compensation since the death of their loved one affected them emotionally and financially. Wrongful death can occur in many instances where the following may be sued for wrongful death:

  • The at-fault driver, the manufacturer, the mechanic or car owner in a vehicle accident
  • A medical practitioner who causes the death of a loved one
  • The road designer, contractor or servicing agent whose negligence in maintaining safe roads led to a car accident
  • The bartender, owner or anyone who participated in giving alcohol or any other drugs to already an impaired driver
  • An individual involved in criminal behavior that led to the death of another person
  • An employer when an employee died due to exposure to conditions which should have been avoided

The following elements of a wrongful death claim must be satisfied:

  • The death of a person occurred
  • The death resulted from a deliberate or intentional action to harm
  • The survivors suffer emotionally and financially due to the death
  • The appointment of a representative for the deceased estate

Wrongful death must be filed within a statute of limitations, although circumstances such as discovery clause can lead to the lifting of the statute of limitations. The discovery clause applies when the wrongful cause of death delays in being unveiled.

Some government agencies and individuals have immunity from lawsuits; hence it may not be possible to recover by taking legal action for them. For instance, injuries sustained in railroads accidents and medical practice, such as when death occurs due to pharmaceutical products approved by the FDA, cannot be compensated. A local Vilano Beach Personal Injury Attorney can give the best legal advice for your specific wrongful death claim on which party you can file litigation against.

The claim seeks compensation for losses such as:

  • Medical care and funeral costs
  • Lost income had the person lived their life fully
  • Pain and suffering incurred by the deceased before they died and the survivors
  • Loss of inheritance that could have been derived from deceased
  • Loss of nurturing, companionship, care, love, and consortium

The settlement is decided based on the following:

  • The age, health and earning capacity at the time of their death
  • Medical care and funeral costs incurred before the death of the deceased
  • The training and professional experience of the deceased
  • The survivors’ age and life circumstances
  • The value of lost benefits such as pension

2. Car Accidents

The comeliness posed by a new car can be lost in a few moments when an impact from another car or motorist smashes from the front, rear, or by the sides. Car accidents can involve rear-ends, head-on collisions, rollovers, and T-bone accidents, among others. These result in various injuries when the car sides or the airbags give way to the intensity of the impact. The determination of who is at fault is the most crucial thing after taking care of your health to determine who should compensate you. The Vilano Beach Personal Injury Attorney helps you to evaluate the person responsible for paying you after considering the facts. The claims will not have to worry you as the lawyer will file it as you recover.

3. Truck Accidents

Truck accidents have the highest fatalities. Their heavyweight and size cannot allow them to slow down, change lanes or exit the traffic as small cars can do. Their accidents are the most dangerous due to their weight compared to other vehicles.

Trucks accident can occur when:

  • When over speeding car underrides a truck
  • When a vehicle hits a diverting truck which has jackknifed
  • A tailgating car may stay in the blind spot and cause accident when trying to overtake

Blind spots length increase with the height and the length of a vehicle.

Most of the truck accidents are caused by:

  • Fatigue
  • Road work zones
  • Driving under influence

Truck drivers hardly have time to relax and get refreshed for another long period of driving. This sleep intoxication makes them disabled to fully concentrate and control the trucks well. Lack of sleep deprives a person of optimum functioning levels since research equates 18 hours of full concentration to a 0.05 % blood alcohol concentration.

Some regulations require a half-hour rest after driving for eight hours. However, the drivers mostly do not find a suitable spot to park and rest after driving for that long.

Other truck accidents happen due to the presence of work zones in the traffic. Closed or shifted traffic lanes may lead to a slowdown of traffic, which makes it difficult for trucks to stop given their weight. Vehicles joining the highway and exiting add to problems of truck accidents.

Truck accidents also occur due to drug intoxication, especially from marijuana and alcohol. This level of intoxication impairs them for controlling the heavy truck increasing the odds of accidents. Vilano Beach Personal Injury Attorneys can help you in getting compensation, especially in these severe accidents, which results in disastrous damages.

4. Pedestrian Accident

Injuries sometimes happen to other road users apart from those driving. Pedestrians are injured:

  • When crossing the road
  • Due to poor maintenance of roast
  • Road construction
  • Defective parking lots
  • Other debris and obstructions on the road and sidewalks

One is held liable for a pedestrian accident if they are negligent -failed in the duty of care that a person in their capacity and circumstances would reasonably do.

The injured pedestrian proves the following to obtain compensation if the defendant was negligent:

  • Supposed to exercise a duty of care under such situations
  • Breached that duty of care by their actions or failure to act
  • Their action or inaction caused an accident involving the pedestrian
  • The accident caused an injury

In a pedestrian accident, either of the following could be at-fault:

  • The pedestrian
  • The driver of the vehicle
  • The entity responsible for maintaining roads, sidewalks and parking lots

In vehicular-pedestrian accidents, the negligent party is always apparent, but sometimes a more in-depth analysis may be needed to establish the negligent party. Drivers are likely held negligent for:

  • Exceeding speed limits
  • Driving while intoxicated
  • Failure to observe the traffic and weather conditions
  • Disregard of the traffic signals
  • Failing to yield the pedestrians at the cross-walks
  • Improper signal when turning and diverting

The pedestrians also contribute to negligence when they:

  • Carelessly enters the highway and disrupt the traffic
  • Ignoring to walk on the crosswalks while crossing
  • Inconsistent movement in front of a vehicle
  • Ignoring the walking section at the road intersection

The duty of reasonable care for the driver increases when children are involved, especially in schools and residential areas. Pedestrians can be fatal since they are not shielded by anything and may hit other stationary objects after being hit by the vehicles. The injuries incurred here are compensable.

5. Bus Accident

Bus accidents can be dangerous given the size and nature of the bus. The lack of seatbelts, thin protection from the sides, being tossed about, rollovers, and the windows that give way easily adds to the fatalities in a bus accident. Other causes of bus accident severities:

  • Passengers travel while overcrowded or parked like sardines in public buses especially during peak hours
  • The passengers are not aware of how the drivers drive hence they will not brace themselves for the impact of the collision
  • The higher center of gravity makes toppling over and knocking onto the seats easy

Various parties can be at-fault in a bus accident, as determined by the circumstances of the accidents. The following can be totally or partially liable for injuries caused by the accidents:

  • The driver of the bus or the motorist that caused the accident due to negligence, such as over speeding, driving under intoxication, disregard of traffic regulations, fatigue, among other reasons
  • The bus company for neglecting to maintain their fleets in the traffic and hire competent drivers who have been vetted and selected based on their driving experience
  • The bus manufacturer for making substandard vehicles which turn out to be lemon after a short period of use in the road
  • The tour company hiring the bus company could also be held liable for engaging companies which have no good transport safety reputation
  • The area municipality which is in charge of maintaining roads for neglecting to repair highways and erect roads signs which causes accidents by failing to inform the drivers of the road hazards

6. Motorcycle Accident

Motorbikes accidents pose a serious threat to the motorcyclist due to lack of protective barriers afforded by the bodies of other vehicles. The accidents are worsened by the motorcyclist, for failing to wear protective gear which lessens the severity of injuries. The small size of a motorbike is difficult to see or expect in the traffic, especially when they are in the blind spots obscured by the road objects and inclement. The two-wheeled nature of a bike makes it susceptible to the accident since slight road hazards such as puddles, potholes, slick, and crossing railroad tracks can tamper with the cycling balance of the motorcyclist. The motorbikes also are likely wobble when driven at a higher speed due to wheel misalignment as a result of poor servicing or manufacturing defects. The accidents may also be caused by a lack of experience to operate the motorbike or lack of familiarity with the road.

There exists a prejudice towards the motorcyclists held by police, the passengers, the other motorists, and worse still by the jury. Hence right from the beginning, a Vilano Beach Personal Injury Attorney would help you in the determination of who is at-fault since motorcyclists are typically villified for being stereotyped as gang members or reckless. The attorney will also defend you whether you are accused or entitled to compensation.

7. Medical Malpractice

It refers to a type of injury that happens to a patient when a health-care related blunder is committed by a medical practitioner. Any patient harmed through a medical procedure must prove the liability of the medical person by establishing that:

  • A patient-physician association exists since the patient voluntarily contracted the medic’s services and he willingly offered to provide the health care
  • The doctor neglected their duty towards you in that they did not perform their duties that another competent physician would have done should they have been incumbent
  • The physician’s negligence caused the injury to the patient which led to injuries

The damages that can be incurred by the patient include:

  • Physical pain due to the harm
  • Physiological and emotional anguish
  • Additional health care costs due to the illness
  • Loss of the ability to earn income and loss of working time

Examples of medical malpractice include:

  • Improper diagnosis, failing to diagnose and misinterpretation of the lab test results
  • Discharge before the recovery is assured or lack of proper follow-ups
  • Performing surgery in the wrong place or surgical errors
  • Improper testing of diseases or misrecognition of a disease symptoms
  • Administering incorrect dosages or medicines
  • Neglect of care for admitted patients who may develop bedsores

The personal injuries incurred from medical negligence can be recovered after negligence is established if the claim is filed following the right legal procedures.

Types of Compensable Injuries

Injuries also may result in the workplace. Illnesses and injuries that occur in the course of employment as a one-time accident or repetitive small injuries that lead to severe damage can be compensated using the employees’ compensation cover. Instances of cumulative stress-related diseases include back pains and carpal tunnel syndrome. Exposure to hazardous chemicals that are corrosive or cause some diseases once they come into contact with the body due to their toxicity can be a source of personal injuries. Psychological or mental injuries, although states’ law differs on the formula of determining compensation criteria, are compensated if they are correctly linked to the execution of one’s job duties.

The injuries incurred during travels when doing one’s employment duties are also part of the compensable injuries. In contrast, those injuries one gets when traveling to and from work are not compensable. Other injuries exempted from compensation are:

  • Those incurred after the violation of workplace policies
  • Damages incurred when working under the influence
  • Injuries sustained during a criminal activity
  • Self-inflicted harm that causes injuries
  • Pre-existing injuries that are not exacerbated by the work

However, some injuries are compensable but cannot be covered by the workers’ compensation cover. The workers or employees have to seek justice out of the cover by suing the employer. Some of them are injuries due to:

  • Employers disregard of the state or federal law regarding workplace
  • Employer’s malice or carelessness
  • Employers acting in dual capacities while in the workplace
  • Employers revengeful actions such as demoting or sacking workers for seeking compensation for injuries incurred
  • Non-physically related harms such as discrimination
  • Employers injuries directed at the property of the worker such car

Sometimes types of damages are neither compensable by the workers’ compensation cover nor their employers. Here the workers are expected to sue the relevant third parties such as:

  • Healthcare providers who give botched care on a work-related injury
  • The manufacturers and sellers of defective workplace instruments which cause injuries
  • Workplace colleagues who deliberately cause injuries to you
  • The workers’ insurer who gives settlement on a work-related injury unfairly

Owing to the diversity of damages incurred by a worker and the parties responsible for compensating, it can be challenging to know which party to file a claim against. Finding a Vilano Beach Personal Injury Attorney that will evaluate your case to determine from which parties you can get compensation from, is a smart thing to do. They can help you in negotiating your due claims since insurers and third parties may require legal competence for you to get compensated successfully.

Find a Vilano Beach Personal Injury Attorney Near Me

The diversity of sources of personal accidents can be difficult to navigate through when seeking compensation. The Jacksonville Personal Injury Attorney is seasoned in handling cases from each specific cause of personal injuries as discussed above. Contact our attorneys today if you have been injured in Vilano Beach by dialing 904-800-7557 to get your case considered before the expiration of the statute of limitations.