A person is likely to sustain bodily injuries after an accident. The cost of medical treatment and repairing your damaged property can be overwhelming. Accidents can also happen at the workplace or in hospitals. Some accidents can be severe, resulting in life-long injuries or deaths. Fortunately, a victim of an accident can get financial relief for the damages suffered. Hospitals have insurance coverage in case they are faced with a malpractice case. Vehicle owners or drivers must also have auto coverage to take care of the liabilities that result from an accident.
Pursuing compensation for the damages suffered can equally be frustrating, especially when you are still recovering. Insurance companies are known to offer the least possible compensation, taking advantage of accident victims. Getting a lawyer to pursue your settlement is the best thing to do. If you are injured and want help in seeking compensation in Butler Beach, get in touch with the Clay County Personal Injury Attorney as soon as possible.
Types of Accidents with Recoverable Damages
A person can be exposed to accidents that require compensation for the damages or injuries they sustain. Seeking to recover damages can, however, be overwhelming for an accident victim. Luckily, you can focus on healing and allow a personal injury attorney to pursue your damages. Some of the common accidents the law allows a victim to recover damages are:
Truck Accidents
Road accidents involving trucks are common in Florida. Some of the worst injuries a victim of a road accident can suffer are from a collision with a truck. These injuries are mostly catastrophic, leaving lasting damages to the victims that require extended medical treatment. Others result in the victim dying due to the injuries or the impact of the accident.
A truck accident can be caused by many things, ranging from the truck's malfunction to the driver’s actions, or even weather and road conditions. Regardless of the cause, when injuries happen, a victim is entitled to get compensated according to Florida law.
Every vehicle owner must have an auto insurance cover. Florida is a no-fault state, meaning you will seek damages from your insurance provider when injured in an accident. If the liability coverage is not enough to cover your losses, you can seek damages from the at-fault party’s insurance. A local personal injury attorney will guide you and help you recover your damages.
Car Accidents
Car accidents are also common in Florida. They can involve two cars or multiple cars with the injured, including drivers or passengers in the vehicle. When an accident involving another vehicle occurs, according to the Florida law, each driver should seek damages from their auto insurance provider. The occupants of the cars must also seek compensation for their injuries from the vehicle owner’s insurance provider. This means, for each injured victim in a car accident, their initial claim must be with their insurance coverage or of the vehicle they are in. A local Butler Beach Personal Injury Attorney can help you with your claim and ensure favorable compensation.
Every driver involved in a car accident is assessed to establish their part in the accident. This, in Florida, is determined by the percentage blame. This percentage is used in discounting the damages one would receive as compensation.
If the driver’s coverage is not enough to cover for the damages, compensation can be sought from the other driver’s insurance. It is also essential to understand that irrespective of the at-fault driver, when you are injured in a car accident, you are entitled to compensation.
Bus Accidents
Buses also get involved in accidents in Florida. Bus companies are expected to get a coverage that takes care of liabilities in case of an accident. Bus accidents don’t only happen when a bus collides with another vehicle. If a bus driver applies emergency brakes, passengers can suffer from hitting each other or other areas of the bus. This too, is considered an accident.
When the buses are involved in a collision, the passengers are expected to seek compensation from their no-fault insurance coverage. A passenger can also seek claims from the auto liability coverage of the bus company or owner. Because of the complex nature of seeking damages involved in a bus accident, getting a local Butler Beach, Personal Injury Attorney, will be of great help in your claim.
Motorcycle Accident
A motorcyclist can also get involved in an accident by themselves, crash into a vehicle, or hit a pedestrian. A motorcyclist often suffers catastrophic injuries, especially when they were moving at high speeds. A motorcyclist, just like a vehicle owner, must have a personal injury protection policy or an auto cover. The no-fault insurance laws also apply to motorcyclists.
When a cyclist is injured on the road, there can be many. Aside from getting compensation from their insurance cover, a Butler Beach Personal Injury Attorney will help them identify who else would be to blame. The at-fault party’s insurance can also pay for the damages suffered.
Pedestrian Accidents
These are accidents that mostly involve a vehicle hitting a pedestrian. Most people are quick to assume that a motorist is always to blame following a pedestrian-car accident. This is not always the case. When an accident occurs, an assessment is carried out to determine the party responsible for it.
Fault can also be shared between the vehicle owner and the pedestrian. A pedestrian walking along the road instead of the sidewalk, or crossing the road at the wrong place, gets partly blamed for the accident. Florida laws guide pedestrians on how to cross the road, where to cross at and walk.
Pedestrian car accidents can also be entirely blamed on the motorist. If a driver is negligent or distracted on the road, they can fail to yield a way where they are supposed to. A driver can also run a red light and fail to stop at a crosswalk. When this happens, and they cause an accident, a pedestrian gets injured.
Accidents involving pedestrians often result in significant or catastrophic injuries. Unlike the vehicle occupant, the pedestrian is not protected by anything, and any impact is directed to their body. As a result, the injuries suffered cause not only physical damages but also financial damages to them.
When injured in a pedestrian-car accident in Florida, you can file a claim with your no-fault insurance, the driver’s no-fault cover, or the driver’s auto liability cover. A Butler Beach Personal Injury Attorney can guide you on the best way to file the claim based on your circumstances and injuries.
Medical Malpractice
Ironically, a person can be injured from a hospital’s negligence or doctor’s conduct when they go to seek help from them. Unfortunately, many people are injured during hospital procedures, and they suffer long term challenges.
When a patient suffers a medical accident, they may sue a doctor or the hospital to recover damages. In most cases, economic losses are hardly refuted and are quickly resolved. This is because they get often accompanied by evidence of their cost and can be verified easily. Noneconomic damages, on the other hand, can be challenging to receive. This makes it more crucial to have a Butler Beach Personal Injury lawyer represent you.
Up until 2017, the state of Florida put a cap on how much a victim of medical malpractice can receive in noneconomic damages. According to the statutes of Florida Section 766.118, if a health practitioner gets sued for noneconomic damages due to their negligence, the victim would not receive more than $500,000. This amount was set for each claimant regardless of the number of defendants in the suit. If the victim suffered permanent vegetative injuries or died, the cap moved to $1,000,000.
If a victim sued the hospital instead of the health practitioner, the cap for noneconomic damages was at $750,000. If the hospital got sued by a victim that suffered catastrophic injuries, the cap increased to $1,500,000.
Fortunately, the rule of capping noneconomic damages was found unconstitutional. You can now get rightfully compensated if you get injured due to the negligence of a medical practitioner or a hospital. An experienced Butler Beach Personal Injury Attorney will know the critical documents to attach to your claim to enable you to get the best settlement possible.
Wrongful Death
When an accident occurs, a victim can die immediately following the accident or due to the injuries the victim sustains. Seeking compensation for wrongful death can be complicated in Florida. Not everyone can claim compensation for wrongful death for a victim. A Butler Beach Personal Injury Attorney will guide you on the legal requirements when claiming your loved one's death.
If you are allowed by the law to seek wrongful death damages, you must do so within two years since the death of your loved one. This time provision is found in the Statute of Limitations. It dictates the time a plaintiff has to file a suit for the death. When this time lapses, you will not get the court to pursue the damages for you, although you can still seek them directly with the insurance provider.
In Florida, a civil court is responsible for compensating for wrongful death. The statutes under section 768.21 give guidelines on how to award the damages.
You can recover two types of damages in wrongful death claims, economic and noneconomic damages. If following the injuries the victim incurred medical bills or lost income due to the death, these are some of the economic damages recoverable.
Recoverable Damages Following an Accident in Florida
As earlier stated, when an accident occurs, the victim is entitled to compensation for the damages suffered. The state of Florida allows a victim to recover both economic and noneconomic damages. The noneconomic damages are heavily contested because they have no financial evidence and can be hefty. The contention in the losses can be overwhelming for the victim, making it essential to get a Butler Beach Personal Injury Attorney experienced in claims to handle them. Below we discuss the claims a victim can seek when involved in an accident.
Economic Claims
These claims are typically supported by documents indicating the victim suffered those damages. Although, in some cases, the insurance providers when they suspect fraud will investigate the authenticity of the claims, these are hardly contested. The damages in this case include:
- Medical bills – When a victim sustains injuries following an accident, they will seek medical attention that will result in bills. The losses from the medical costs get compensated under economic damages. All the medical procedures and medication costs are included in this claim. If there is a need for future treatment due to the injuries, it is also included.
- Lost income or capacity to earn – During the recovery period, a victim may miss work and lose income. Additionally, a catastrophic injury can render a victim unable to earn an income for the rest of their life or an extended period. All this gets calculated, and the victim compensated for it.
- Funeral and burial expenses – If a victim dies due to the accident, the surviving family or the representative of their estate can seek compensation for the costs of burial and funeral. This must be accompanied by documents showing proof of the expenses as well.
- Property damage – In a road accident where motor vehicles are involved, damages can occur to the cars. The insurance provider compensates the victim for the costs of repair for their vehicle.
Noneconomic Damages
These damages, as earlier stated, are often controversial, and a cap had previously been put on how much a victim can recover. However, that cap has since been removed. A victim can get compensated for their pain as well as suffering, based on their injuries. Some of the damages under this include:
- Pain and suffering – It is not possible to quantify the amount in the suffering an accident victim undergoes due to the pain. However, damages get awarded on a case by case basis. In most cases, the economic losses a victim gets awarded often help in determining the noneconomic costs.
- Lost consortium – This is damages awarded to the spouse or registered partner of the victim. If the victim is unable to offer their partner affection due to the accident, this also is compensated.
Find a Personal Injury Attorney Near Me
The no-fault rule can often complicate damage claims for accident victims. Fortunately, an experienced attorney can help accident victims recover damages in Florida. Finding an experienced attorney becomes essential for your claims to ensure rightful compensation. At Clay County Personal Injury Attorney, we are experienced in recovering claims for our clients successfully. Find us at 904-494-8242, and let us fight for the compensation you deserve.
