Personal Injury FAQs

A personal injury lawsuit is a lawsuit to compensate a victim who gets hurt because of the unlawful actions of another. It’s a civil claim for financial compensation brought by an accident victim. Most personal injury lawsuits are based on negligence; negligence just means that one or more parties acted with a lack of care. The purpose of the lawsuit is to provide fair compensation based on the damages and losses sustained by the victim.

Types of Personal Injury Cases

Some types of personal injury cases include:

• Car accidents
• Bicycle accidents
• Motorcycle crashes
• Pedestrian accidents
• Products liability
• Slip and falls
• Dog bites
• Assault and battery
• Libel/Slander

The process for a personal injury claim is filing the claim with the court and serving the defendant with a copy of the complaint. Next, you wait for the other side to respond while you begin to build your case. As you wait for trial, you pursue settlement negotiations and file preliminary motions with the court. If you resolve your claim through negotiations, you draft an order stating the outcome of the case, and you proceed to collect your judgment. If you don’t resolve your case by agreement, your case goes to trial. Either party may file an appeal after the trial.

You win a personal injury lawsuit by building a strong claim and pursuing it aggressively. Preserving evidence and documenting your losses is critical to winning a personal injury lawsuit. You must be sure to follow court procedures and meet deadlines to win your claim. Skillful negotiations and strong trial advocacy are also critical to winning a personal injury lawsuit.

Personal injury law is civil tort law. When you bring a personal injury claim, the defendant in the case isn’t charged with a crime. The case is brought by a private person or company against another private person or company. One party may have to pay money to the other party, but it’s a private lawsuit and not criminal. There are a lot of different types of personal injury law, like slip and falls, car accidents, defective products, and professional malpractice.

The complexity of the accident, as well as the particular injuries sustained, will determine the time frame of the outcome. We resolve our client’s cases based on an understanding of their current and future medical conditions. Once our law firm becomes involved, the average car or auto accident case is resolved within eight to 12 months.

Less than five percent of personal injury cases go to trial — the rest resolve in pretrial proceedings. A case can resolve before trial by agreement between the parties or by summary disposition ordered by a court. A party to a personal injury case has some input into whether the case goes to trial by how they handle the settlement negotiation process. In addition, most courts order the parties to pursue alternative dispute resolution proceedings. Most personal injury cases ultimately do not go to trial.

Whether it’s better to settle or go to trial depends on the circumstances of the case. If the defendant offers you a settlement that’s within the range of the value of the case, there are advantages to accepting the settlement rather than going to trial. However, if the responsible party isn’t offering you a settlement despite the ability to pay, it may be worth pursuing the case through trial.

In Florida, you may recover compensation from another even if you contributed to the accident or your injuries. However, the amount you may be entitled to will be reduced by the percentage of your own fault.

Comparative negligence in Florida is the legal concept that allows an accident victim to recover for their damages in an accident despite being partially at fault for the accident. Florida uses a pure comparative negligence system where the victim’s damages are not barred by the fact that they’re partially to blame for the accident. However, the victim’s damages are reduced by their percentage of fault. Comparative negligence in Florida is also called comparative fault.

To have a legitimate personal injury claim, the victim must have been injured from the negligence of another individual or entity. Negligence occurs when an individual fails to exercise a reasonable standard of care for the safety of others. If a person fails to act as a reasonable person would, he or she may be liable for any resulting damages.

The five elements of negligence are:

• Duty – The defendant owed a duty of care to the victim
• Breach of duty – The defendant breached their duty of care to the victim by acting negligently, recklessly or intentionally
• Proximate cause – The breach of duty caused the victim’s damages
• Foreseeable harm – The harm that occurred was a reasonably foreseeable result of the person’s actions
• Damages – The victim suffered a loss in some way

Yes, sometimes, personal injury victims have to testify in court. If your case goes to trial, the other side can call you to the stand. Your own attorney may call you to testify about the facts of the case. If you’re nervous about testifying at a personal injury trial, you can work with your attorney to ensure that you’re prepared and that you know what to expect.

You have four years from the date of the injury to file a personal injury claim in Florida. In cases of professional malpractice, you have two years from the date of the injury to file a personal injury claim. The time limits for Florida civil claims are listed in Florida law 95.11.

A personal injury lawyer is not required by law. However, a skilled attorney knows how to handle every aspect of the case. From building the evidence to preparing court documents to settlement negotiations, a personal injury lawyer knows what to do to work towards top compensation for the injured party. They also know how to avoid the mistakes that can complicate an otherwise strong personal injury claim. Ultimately, a personal injury lawyer is crucial to helping you win the compensation that you deserve.