Sadly, people are injured every day. It might be a car accident, or a boat accident, a bicycle accident, a slip and fall in a store, or an injury from someone else’s pet. If your injury occurred in Florida and was due to someone else’s negligence, you may be entitled to monetary compensation for your injuries.

It is stressful time in your life when you have been injured due to the negligence, wrongful acts, or even abuse of another. You are in pain. Your life is disrupted due to frequent doctor’s appointments, missed work and lost income. On top of this, the other side, whether an insurance company, a business or an individual may have an experienced claims adjuster or high priced attorney on their side. They may be seeking to minimize your problems and hope that you will just give up and go away.

While it might seem there is no one to help with your problems, if you or a family member have been injured, it is important that you take steps to protect your rights for your personal injury claim as soon as you can.

In Florida, a personal injury claim can be used to obtain compensation for your injuries, your medical bills, and your lost wages when it can be proven that there was “negligence.” An experienced Florida personal injury attorney can help you evaluate whether there was negligence under the law, but to look at it from the perspective of common sense, there is negligence when: 1) the other party had a duty to exercise care (for example, the duty to keep a proper lookout while driving on the street), 2) the other party fails to meet or “breaches” his duty (for example, a person was texting on their mobile phone instead of watching where they were driving), 3) the failure of the other party caused injury or damages to you (other car crashes into your car and your car is damaged and your body is injured), and 4) you actually suffered real harm or damages from the incident.

Anyone who has a duty to exercise care, who breaches that duty, and who causes another person injury or damages may be held liable. However, personal injury cases are often more complex. What if there were two people who were both careless at the same time causing an accident? Can there still be a personal injury case if more than one person was negligent? Even a simple accident or injury case can become rather complex and anyone injured in an accident should speak with a personal injury attorney as soon as possible. The short and simple answer is, yes, where more than two people were careless at the same time and caused an accident, both may be held liable depending on the facts. In a personal injury case in Florida, a system called “comparative negligence” is used. This means that if you bring a personal injury case, but you yourself were also careless, or “negligent” then any recovery for your personal injuries will be reduced by your percentage of negligence. For example, if a jury finds that your own actions were 10% the cause of the accident, then your compensation will be reduced by 10%. Most people think that Florida Law is fair. This way you don’t recover for personal injuries for the part that you caused yourself.

Comparative negligence issues can be complicated and an experienced personal injury lawyer can help you understand how comparative negligence might be applied in your case. A personal injury attorney will know how to gather the information and investigate your case in order to try to minimize any accusations of comparative negligence made against you.

Your injury may be minor, major or catastrophic, but we give all our cases the undivided attention they deserve.

When we take on your case, we work hard to discover all the facts which will support your claim and to recover all the damages that the law will allow including compensation for pain and suffering, reimbursement of lost wages and payment of medical bills. We understand that sometimes insurance adjusters may not be sympathetic to your problems. We believe that compassion for our clients and attention to detail can relieve the burden of dealing with stressful personal injury matters.

Todd C. Passman, P.A. handles personal injury cases, serving Fort Pierce, Port St. Lucie, Vero Beach, Stuart, and Okeechobee, Florida, and surrounding areas. If you have been injured due to the negligence or the wrongful act of another, we may be able to help you. We look forward to speaking with you if you have been seriously injured as a result of the negligence of another and are interested in pursuing what may be your legal rights.

Todd C. Passman, P.A. handles Auto Accident cases serving Fort Pierce, Port St. Lucie, Vero Beach, Stuart, and Okeechobee, Florida, and surrounding areas. We have an epidemic of dangerous auto accidents here in Florida and on the Treasure Coast in particular.

Call us at (772) 465-9806 to schedule your Free Consultation or fill out the contact form.