Personal Injury
Auto & Motorcycle Accidents
Car Accidents & Emotional Impact
When people sustain serious injuries as a result of a car accident it can be devastating. They often wonder how they will afford to pay their medical bills, and how they will support their families during the time that they are recovering.
Car Accidents & Physical Injuries
Car accidents cause the body to accept a lot of energy in a very short period of time. The severity of the injuries may range from bruises, fractures and soft tissue injuries to more serious spinal injuries and brain injuries that may cause devastating, life altering, debilitating injuries such as paralysis and even death.
Legal Representation
Often the manner in which an accident occurred is a serious area of dispute in motor vehicle accident cases with both sides accusing the other of being at fault. A personal injury attorney can assist to protect your right to collect the damages you have suffered & litigate your case.
Premises Liability (Slip & Fall, Trip & Fall)
Slip, Trip and Fall Accidents Can Be Very Dangerous
Property owners, such as grocery stores, department stores, or home-improvement stores, have a responsibility to provide a safe environment, free of slip, trip and fall dangerous conditions. These premises owners must properly warn visitors of potential slippery conditions or hazards on their premises. If they fail to either warn or protect people from these slippery conditions, then they may be held responsible for the accident and one of our attorneys can assist you in seeking monetary compensation for your serious fall injuries.
Slip and fall accidents can occur at anytime to anyone. Because of the frequency of these accidents, the law has determined that the property owner should be held responsible for slip and fall accidents where other people were not warned of the dangers which caused their accident. If anyone slips, trips and falls on the property of another person, they should speak with an attorney to determine if they may have a case to recover compensation for their injuries. Additionally, your case is subject to one or more statutes of limitations pursuant to the Florida Statutes. If you do not file a lawsuit within the applicable time limitations, you may be forever barred from filing your lawsuit. If you intend to pursue a claim, we suggest you immediately contact our law firm so we can review your case.
Slip and Falls Accidents are the Second Most Common Types of Accidents
These types of accidents account for nearly 16,000 deaths every year in the United States. Additionally, while not every slip and fall accident results in a death, there are a substantially larger number of serious injuries that result from these falling accidents.
Below are a few common questions regarding slip and fall accidents:
How is someone injured in a slip and fall accident?
A: Slip and fall accidents generally occur in one of two ways. If you slipped on a liquid or other object on the ground, your slipping foot will generally abruptly move forward, causing you to lose your balance, which most likely results in your falling backward. These types of slip and fall accidents may seriously injure your leg, hip or arm while you are attempting to break your fall. Alternatively, one of your feet may lose traction and slip backward which will result in you falling forward. The common slip and fall injuries resulting from this type of fall includes broken arms and knees as well as brain damage and spinal cord injuries.
What is a trip and fall accident?
A: Trip and fall accidents result when someone's foot comes into contact with a semi-permanent or permanent object, such as a foot, seam in a carpet, tree root or child's toy. Most of the people injured in this type of accident fall forward and can suffer severe injuries to their face and arms. Additionally, severe head injuries can result if they hit their head on any objects while falling.
What are the common causes of slip and fall accidents?
A: Most slip and fall accidents are caused by environmental hazards or conditions resulting from the negligence of the property owner or one of their employees. Some of the most common types of hazards are liquids spilled onto slippery surfaces, such as the floor in a supermarket or grocery store. These types of spills result from both food spillage and leaking containers, or ice that has melted near the ice machine. There may also be a floor defect or improper lighting in a hallway or in a stairwell.
Where can slip and fall accidents occur?
A: Slip and fall accidents can occur nearly anywhere. These types of accidents are so common that they have occurred in such places as:
Department Stores
Parking Lots
Sidewalks
Schools
Shopping Malls
Supermarkets
The injuries one may suffer from a slip and fall or a trip and fall accident may result in serious injuries which dramatically affect your quality of life. If you or a loved one slipped, tripped and fell, please contact our firm for a free confidential initial consultation to discuss the facts of your case. We will describe how we can best represent you in recovering compensation for your injuries.
Wrongful Death
Wrongful Death Lawsuit
The shock over the sudden death of an innocent loved one can be both emotionally and financially debilitating. A Wrongful Death claim is a cause of action which arises from the victim's death and is brought by the surviving beneficiaries or dependents of the deceased victim.
A Wrongful Death lawsuit claims that the deceased victim’s death was caused in whole or in part by the defendant's conduct and that the surviving beneficiaries and dependents are entitled to monetary damages as a result of the defendant's conduct.
Types of Wrongful Death Cases include but are not limited to:
Medical Mistakes
Vehicle or Airplane Accident
Criminal Attacks
Work-Related Exposure to Dangerous Conditions or Substances
Death during a supervised activity
Vehicle Rollovers
Rollover Accidents
Rollover accidents are one of the most dangerous kinds of vehicle crashes, with a fatality rate higher than any other crash type. Serious injury and death are common in rollovers due to the severity and violence of the rolling over incident. Many causes for roll over accidents exist, and it's not just SUV's (sports utility vehicles) that are at risk. Cars, vans, buses and trucks are all susceptible to rollover crashes. If you have been involved in a rollover accident, please contact our attorneys immediately for a free consultation.
Rollover Crash Causes
Multiple factors can contribute to a car, van or truck rolling over, including vehicle type, road conditions, speed, and driver behavior. Due to the severe and complex nature of rollovers, the cause and object or person at fault may not always be clear. Following are some causes and risk factors for rollover accidents and fatalities.
Type of Vehicle: As stated, almost any vehicle can rollover. Nevertheless, certain design elements can increase the risk of a rollover accident. Vehicles with a high center of gravity, and/or those that are tall and narrow, such as SUV's, minivans and pickup trucks, have a high incidence and risk of rolling over.
Road Conditions: Poorly maintained roads and highways can cause a rollover.
Speed: Speed often plays a role in death from rollover crashes. Almost 75% of fatal rollover crashes happen in a 55 MPH or higher zone, while 40% of all rollovers deaths involve speeding.
Driver Behavior: Most rollover accidents happen in single vehicle events and during routine driving maneuvers, such as turning right or left or exiting a highway. Contributing factor to rollovers in these cases may include:
Driver Distraction, such as cell phone use, distractions within the vehicle including other radio and passengers
Speeding, as mentioned above
Alcohol, which a factor in almost half of all deadly rollover accidents, or other mind-altering substances
Location: Rural areas with speed limits of 55 or higher account for more than 70% of fatal rollovers
Rollover Death Statistics
Rollovers are not the most common form of car or vehicle accident, but when they do happen, they are often fatal. A roof caving in or a person being thrown from their car can be frightening and deadly. While only about 3% of all passenger vehicle accidents are rollovers, rollovers account for almost one-third, 33%, of all fatalities. Each year over 10,000 are killed in rollover crashes, with over 70% of deaths happening to people not wearing seatbelts.
Cruise Ship Accidents
Cruise Ship Accident Attorney
While the majority of cruise ships leave from ports in Florida, many of the cruise ships require guests to be bound and file all lawsuits in other states. While many of the cruise liners may argue that your injury was foreseeable, you should speak with our attorneys if you were injured on any cruise ship.
For families who are on vacation, one of the last things they will want to consider is hiring a cruise ship accident attorney to diligently represent them in seeking compensation for their injuries, it is important that these corporate entities be held accountable for their negligence and in creating dangerous environments which caused your injuries.
Bicycle Accidents
Bicycle Accident Lawyer
Riding a bicycle should be an enjoyable and relaxing experience. Unfortunately, other drivers often don’t give enough respect to bicycle riders, but bicyclists share equal rights to those who drive a car, truck, or motorcycle on local roadways. Specifically, riders of bicycles are required to obey the same rules as other vehicles on the road. Often there is a bicycle lane explicitly delineated for bicycle riders. Through the negligence, inattentiveness or willfulness of other motor vehicle drivers, injuries unfortunately occur. These bicycle accidents can occur when a motor-vehicle driver fails to:
adequately stop at a posted stop sign;
obey speed limits on a blind curve; or
while pulling in or out of a driveway or parking spot.
A bicycle may also be rear-ended if a car is following too closely behind a bicyclist. If this occurs, a bicycle accident could occur where the bicycle rider is "sandwiched" between two cars resulting in serious injuries, such as a broken leg, amputation, or death. When these bicycle injuries result, contact a bicycle crash lawyer to discuss your bicycle collision.
For those bicyclists who are involved in even a minor bicycle accident will often suffer far greater injury than anyone who was in a car or other motor vehicle. Cyclists who wear protective gear, such as helmets, will always have some injuries, even if it's only road rash. For those who were hit by a car at low speeds, there is generally only damage done to the aesthetics of their car, while for bicyclists, they are generally thrown from the bicycle and generally suffer serious injuries including broken bones, road-rash, lacerations, brain damage, severe bleeding or even death.
Construction Site Injuries
Construction Accident Lawyer
One of the most dangerous places to work are on construction sites. All construction sites are required to have certain safety equipment and procedures in place to minimize construction accidents, but they still occur, generally because of the negligence of another construction worker or the foreman. The most common types of accidents which would require an attorney are those in which an employee slips and falls, construction material falls on a construction worker, negligent operation of industrial machinery, such as a crane which injures other workers, malfunctioning industrial tools which may or may not have a defective product, as well as safety lines worn by the construction workers which fail. These construction accident injuries may be so severe that they may ultimately result in a work site wrongful death action. If a loved one was killed on a construction site, the family members can contact our firm to discuss the events of this accidental death.
Most construction sites are very noisy, and everyone on the construction site is under time pressure to finish their job as set by the construction foreman. Most construction site accidents occur where someone attempts to cut-corners to save on time resulting in unsafe working conditions. Because of the size and strength of most equipment on construction sites, even a slight miscalculation could result in a construction worker suffering serious injuries.
Common Construction Site Injuries
The types of injuries which can result from a construction accident include:
Brain injuries
Broken bones
Electrical burns
Wrongful death
Electrocution
Fire burns
Paralysis
Spinal cord injuries
Construction workers who are injured in an accident may be unable to return to work as a construction worker, depending on the severity of their injuries. As with all major accidents, the worker will have expensive medical costs, surgeries, and medications. While you are unable to return to work, you will have lost-wages, and your injuries may be so severe as to prevent ever working on another construction job site.
Traumatic Head & Brain Injuries
Head Injury Lawyer
Head injury is a trauma to the head that may or may not include injury to the brain.
Head injuries may be closed or open. A closed head injury is one in which the skull is not broken. A penetrating head injury occurs when an object pierces the skull. Brain injuries may occur over a wide area, or focal, located in a small, specific area. A head injury may cause a skull fracture, which may or may not be associated with injury to the brain.
Common causes of head injury are traffic accidents, home and occupational accidents, falls, and assaults. Bicycle accidents are also a common cause of head injury-related death and disability, especially among children. Head injuries can result in attention, emotional and memory loss problems. Severe head injuries can lead to a coma or death.
Common symptoms of head injury:
Loss of consciousness
Confusion
Drowsiness
Personality change
Seizures
Nausea and vomiting
Headache
Specific Problems after Head Injury Include:
Brain Injury: the disruption of the normal functioning of a brain, caused by a blow, jolt or penetration to the head.
Concussion: an injury to the head causing the brain to strike the skull, which may result in brain malfunctions such as memory loss.
Cerebral Contusion: a bruise to the brain caused by a direct impact to the head, resulting in attention, emotional and memory problems.
Skull Fracture: a break in one or more of the bones in the skull caused by a head injury. Isolated skull fractures are not very serious injuries, but usually the presence of a skull fracture indicates that significant enough impact occurred to cause brain trauma, which is quite serious.
Pedestrian Accidents
Pedestrian Accident Attorney
Pedestrian accidents are accidents in which a pedestrian is hit or struck generally by a car, truck, bike or motorcycle where they suffer personal injuries. When a pedestrian is complying with all road safety regulations and they are injured in a pedestrian accident, he or she should contact an attorney as soon as possible to gather and document all of the necessary facts associated with the injury accident. Similarly, if the pedestrian is killed, the pedestrian's family should speak with an attorney to determine whether they wish to bring a wrongful death action on their loved one's behalf.
Pedestrian Accidents Are Often Caused By Cars
Most pedestrian accidents are caused by cars in which the pedestrian will suffer serious injuries which may include brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, broken bones, or may ultimately result in the death of the pedestrian. These types of injuries are almost always very severe because of the speed of the oncoming car and how fragile a person is as compared to a 2,000 pound vehicle traveling at 35 mph.
When a car or truck hits a pedestrian, the pedestrian suffers his first set of injuries. The pedestrian may then trip and fall and be run over by the car causing internal injuries or internal bleeding as well as the general scrapes and scratches associated with coming into contact with the rough road. Alternatively, the pedestrian may roll over the top of the auto or be hit out of the way and may land on the ground next to the truck. All of these types of injuries may have long term lasting effects which will require years of physical therapy and ongoing medical costs.
How Do These Types of Pedestrian Accidents Happen?
Pedestrian accidents can result when automobile drivers:
fail to look before pulling into or out of a driveway;
making a right turn into a cross walk and hitting a pedestrian;
drive through a red light;
fail to stop at a stop sign;
failure to yield;
driving while intoxicated or drunk;
failure to obey traffic signs; and
failure to obey traffic signals.
A pedestrian may spend months or even years in a hospital unconscious, may undergo extensive surgeries, participate in physical therapy, be prescribed expensive drugs, and have years of future medical costs.
Trucking Accidents
Truck Accident Attorneys
Truck Collisions Are Very Common
Big rigs, 18-wheelers, and semi tractor trailer trucks are an essential and vital part of the American infrastructure. Tractor trailer trucks transport clothing, supplies, materials, packages, and machinery to their final destination. All of these trucks additionally have a timeframe in which they are required to make the delivery, before picking up their next shipment for transport. Commercial trucking companies impose difficult delivery dates on all of their truck drivers because the quicker the truck's cargo is delivered the more money the commercial truck companies can make. Unfortunately, this time pressure creates a lot of stress for the truck drivers, which causes the truck drivers to drive for long-hours in all types of weather and road-conditions. These dangerous conditions may result in a truck rollover accident. When a truck loses control and causes an accident, all vehicles and passengers involved are generally seriously injured and require the assistance of an attorney.
Some tractor trailer truck drivers attempt to drive for extended periods of time by taking drugs or other supplements to remain awake and therefore drive for longer hours. This enables the truck drivers to make their deliveries on time or early. Additionally, the present commercial truck compensation packages generally provide the truck driver with a bonus if the shipment of cargo is delivered before the scheduled delivery date. Therefore, the present system encourages truck drivers to break the law by driving as many hours as possible.
Truck Drivers Are Regulated By Law
All aspects of a commercial truck driver's drive across the country are regulated by the Federal government which put maximum limits on the length of a tractor trailer, speed restrictions, and even how many hours a driver may continuously remain behind the wheel for one day, and during a week. Failure of the 18-wheeler truck driver to follow these rules can result in hefty fines and penalties. These truck regulations are further in place to minimize the danger to occupants of passenger cars and other drivers on the road. When truck drivers fail to follow these rules, they may cause car accidents, pedestrian injuries, motorcycle crashes, and bicycle collisions. Either the injured party or a family member should speak with a lawyer to discuss the events surrounding their injuries to be able to better understand their legal options.