Experiencing an accident can have severe consequences on a person’s physical, emotional, and financial well-being. Dealing with legal procedures after a personal injury can be overwhelming. The Miami personal injury lawyers at Klotzman Law Firm understand this and are here to help ease your burden.
With the assistance of our injury attorneys, you will not have to worry about receiving persistent phone calls from adjusters. Our lawyers will handle communication with insurance companies on your behalf. They will also investigate the circumstances surrounding the accident to determine fault and the appropriate level of compensation.
At Klotzman Law Firm, our Miami injury lawyers ensure that your case is handled properly and promptly by both insurance companies and the legal system. We handle all injury cases in Florida on a contingency fee basis. Contact us at 954-915-7405 to schedule a free consultation.
What Should I Do After an Injury?
Accidents can happen suddenly and take you by surprise. Your immediate post-accident and post-injury actions will greatly impact your ability to file a personal injury claim or lawsuit. You should take the following actions if you have been hurt due to a car accident, a faulty product, a worksite accident, or any other incident:
Get Medical Treatment if Needed and Keep Records of All Treatment
Most people do not bother getting a medical checkup after an accident. However, you should have a professional checkup immediately since a delay can be fatal. If ignored, nagging injuries that only cause minor discomfort can worsen and become long-lasting or permanent.
In reality, prompt medical attention enhances the capacity to demonstrate that an injury was brought on by accident. The insurance provider might assert that you had previous injuries if you wait too long before seeking medical attention.
Keep all records and information about the accident in a secure place. The information should include a claim number, the claim adjuster’s name and contact information, a list of all contacts, rental car receipts, and other costs related to the accident.
Take Photos/Video if You Can
Gathering evidence is essential when claiming for an accident. It will be easier to support your accident account later if you have pictures and videos of your injuries and the accident scene.
If there is obvious damage, you should take pictures of them using your phone’s camera. However, it would help if you didn’t impede the ongoing police investigation. If you can’t take pictures at the accident scene, do it as soon as you can afterward.
If your injury makes it impossible for you to return to the accident scene right away, ask a coworker or a friend to keep track of everything regarding your accident. If the accident is work-related, keep track of any adjustments your employer makes to the workplace or policies.
Get the Names and Contact Info of Any Witnesses
You should get the names, phone numbers, and addresses of everyone involved in the accident. If there are any witnesses, ensure you get their contact details so you or your lawyer can contact them later.
For auto accidents, the drivers will typically receive a police report number from the investigating officer if police are called to the scene. You can call that number later to get the police report.
Report the Incident
Ensure you take and file a formal report if you were hurt in a police-involved incident. Request a police report, as it will be helpful in a personal injury case. You will have a significant advantage in the negotiation if you know the details and conclusions in the police report.
Tell your manager and coworkers about the accident for work-related accidents so they can support your account when it comes time to submit a claim. Also, inform your employer about the accident to make the necessary adjustments to prevent further incidents.
Never Admit Fault
Some people automatically apologize when faced with a challenging situation, even though they are not at fault. However, every acknowledgment of guilt can be used against you. Even though it is obvious that you were not the cause of the personal injury, admitting guilt will significantly slow down the processing of your claim if you do so.
You should speak candidly about the incident and what transpired without apologizing or accepting responsibility. Both insurance companies and other parties might try to sue you as they hunt for any excuse not to cover losses.
Call a Personal Injury Lawyer
One vital step you can take to protect your interests after an injury is to speak with a lawyer. A Miami personal injury attorney from Klotzman Law Firm can protect your rights and ensure that crucial evidence is not lost.
We will help you with anything, including receiving the best medical care possible or getting full reimbursement for your loss. We work on a contingency fee basis, so there won’t be any fees until you receive compensation for your injuries.
Why Do I Need A Lawyer?
Accidents or injuries are never desirable. Personal injury cases are often expensive, tiresome, and upsetting. There are options to lessen your stress and financial burden if you’ve suffered a personal injury and someone else is to blame.
Hiring a knowledgeable personal injury lawyer in Miami will help you navigate the legal system and get fair financial compensation for your accident. There are various benefits to hiring a personal injury attorney. Typically your injury attorney will help you with the following:
Case Preparation / Filing a Lawsuit
Our personal injury lawyers often take cases on a contingency fee basis, only collecting fees after reaching a settlement or jury verdict. We take tremendous care in screening potential clients and determining the case’s merits as we finance litigation. We won’t take a case if we don’t think it will prevail.
We will gather proof to support your claim, including any police or incident reports. We might also track down witnesses and get their testimonies if necessary. Other evidence that we may review include medical reports, medical records, bills, receipts, employment documentation, and employment reports.
Settlement Negotiation
Many individuals feel intimidated by insurers and don’t stand up for their rights. However, our Miami personal injury lawyers have extensive experience in negotiating settlements with insurance companies. By examining the policy’s provisions and evaluating the facts of the case, we can calculate the maximum possible compensation.
At Klotzman Law Firm, our Miami personal injury attorneys are also equipped to handle all communication with the insurance company. We’ll make sure you don’t do anything that could harm your claim, like giving a recorded statement. Contact us at 954-915-7405 today to schedule a free consultation.
Trial Preparation & Representation
In the event that a settlement cannot be reached, your only recourse would be to file a lawsuit. In such circumstances, our experienced personal injury trial attorneys can help. We are skilled litigators and will fight for your rights and fair compensation in court.
What Type of Damages Can I Recover?
Accidents can cause losses on many fronts, including material, psychological, and emotional. Unexpected medical costs, several weeks or even months of lost wages, and intangible losses like emotional anguish may also be a part of them. If another person caused your accident, you are eligible for financial compensation for your losses.
It is crucial to speak with a personal injury lawyer since the types of damages available in your case will depend on the specifics of your injuries. Some of the damages you may recover include:
Economic
Economic damages are losses with a dollar value. They include calculable future expenses and verifiable out-of-pocket costs, bills, and charges, often including lost wages, medical, and other consequential costs. You should receive economic damages to cover all financial losses related to your injury. Some of these losses may include::
- Medical expenses and additional expenses related to your treatment and recovery
- Earnings lost while undergoing treatment and recuperating
- Potential loss of future earnings if you need further medical care or can no longer work in your current field
- Costs of upcoming medical care
- Household expenses for adjustments made to accommodate your injury
Non-Economic
Since non-economic damages are intangible and lack a fixed dollar value, they can be challenging to quantify. Non-economic losses could consist of the following:
- Mental suffering.
- Anguish and anguish
- Friendship loss
- Unhappiness with life
- Damage to reputation
Punitive
In a personal injury case in Florida, it’s possible to seek punitive damages, which are meant to penalize the defendant for their malicious actions or wrongdoing. However, these damages aren’t considered economic or non-economic and may not apply to your personal injury case.
Punitive damages are reserved for specific circumstances, typically involving reckless, wanton, or harmful conduct on the defendant’s part. They aren’t intended to compensate you for a loss but rather to punish the offending party. For example, if a driver is aware that breaking a traffic rule, such as running a red light, could result in a crash but chooses not to stop due to intoxication, the court may consider this intentional conduct and impose punitive damages.
How is Liability Determined?
Most personal injury claims stem from negligence by one or more parties. Negligence is a violation of a reasonable person’s standard of care that harms another person. You must prove the following legal elements of negligence to establish a party’s liability in a personal injury case:
Duty of Care: To have a case, the negligent party must owe you a legal duty of care. For instance, a driver has a legal duty of care to all other drivers. A business owner is required by law to ensure that everybody entering their establishment is safe.
Failure to Exercise Reasonable Care: You must demonstrate that the defendant broke the duty of care after establishing it. This might include a doctor who deviates from ethical medical standards or a reckless driver.
Causation: The third element in a personal injury case is establishing that the defendant’s failure to employ reasonable care resulted in the accident. For instance, consider a collision brought on by a driver who struck another vehicle after running a red light.
Damages: Lastly, you must demonstrate that you suffered damages from the accident after the negligent party breached their duty of care.
Florida enforces the pure comparative negligence rule. This means that the state recognizes that claimants may bear responsibility for an accident. When this is the case, your recoverable compensation will be proportionate to your percentage of fault. Even if you are determined to be more than 51% at fault for your injury, the law still allows you to receive compensation for damages.
How Much Time Do I File a Personal Injury Claim in Florida?
It’s crucial to file a lawsuit before the statute of limitations expires, even if you have substantial evidence against the defendant. The strength of your evidence is irrelevant if you don’t file your lawsuit before the deadline. If you miss the deadline, you won’t be able to pursue your claim for damages.
The statute of limitations in Florida is four years from the date of the injury for most personal injury cases. However, a wrongful death claim has a two-year statute of limitations from the date of death. The same two-year deadline applies to medical malpractice claims. Different types of injury cases and claims may have specific exceptions. Hence, consulting with a Miami personal injury lawyer immediately after an accident is crucial to ensure you don’t miss any applicable deadlines.
Personal Injury Claims Process
Each personal injury claim differs depending on the incident’s specifics and circumstances. The general process for filing a personal injury claim is as follows:
Initial Consultation
At the initial consultation, your Miami personal injury lawyer will meet with you to discuss the specifics of your claims and answer any questions you may have. After your initial consultation, the lawyer should review your injury claims and advise you on how to proceed based on your unique needs.
Investigation
A Miami personal injury lawyer will immediately investigate the details of your injury claim after the initial consultation. Some of the evidence may include photographs of the accident scene. The lawyer will assemble the accident records relevant to the main event in your claim.
Treatment
It would be best if you put all your attention into getting better from your injuries while your accident attorney investigates the incident and submits insurance claims. It’s crucial to follow your doctor’s recommended course of treatment to fully recover and experience the greatest possible improvement in your health.
It is usually helpful to keep track of the doctors you visit, any out-of-pocket expenses you have, and the days you have to miss work for your treatment as you receive it. This will ensure that your lawyer incorporates and considers all potential damages in your demand.
Demand Package
The Demand Package describes your personal injury claim’s history, including how the event occurred, liability theory, and settlement demand. A personal injury lawyer in Miami will review the Demand Package with you after it is ready to ensure it is complete. The lawyer will also send the Demand Package for claim review and assessment to the insurance company.
Negotiations
After examining the Demand Packet, the insurance provider will typically respond with a settlement proposal. If it makes a settlement offer, the Miami personal injury lawyer at Klotzman Law Firm will contact you immediately and review your options based on their expertise and experience handling hundreds of other personal injury cases.
Yet, you must ultimately choose whether to take them up on their offer, make a counter-demand, or file a lawsuit. You are in charge in this circumstance.
Settlement
Our personal injury attorneys will draft a settlement agreement outlining the contract’s terms if we successfully negotiate a settlement with the insurance company that completely and adequately compensates you for your personal injuries.
We will prepare a Settlement Memo for your review that outlines the distribution of the settlement funds before you sign the Settlement Agreement. Even though we resolve most personal injury cases outside the court, a lawsuit may be necessary when insurance companies undervalue your injuries or deny your claim.
Litigation
The last stage is to file a lawsuit, present your claim for injuries to a jury, and get a verdict against the person or parties who caused your injuries if negotiations with the at-fault party end in failure and we cannot negotiate a settlement agreement.
How Much Will a Miami Personal Injury Lawyer Cost?
At Klotzman Law Firm, our personal injury attorneys take on injury cases on a contingency fee basis. This means that we will agree on a percentage of the settlement or award before taking on your case. This percentage will cover our legal services and expenses.
One of the significant advantages of working with us is that you won’t have to pay any upfront fees or expenses, regardless of how long the case takes to settle or how much compensation you receive. Legal costs can be a significant concern for individuals pursuing a personal injury claim. Our contingency fee structure ensures that you can access high-quality legal representation without worrying about the financial burden.
Our firm only gets paid if we win your case. In other words, if the case is unsuccessful, you won’t owe us anything. This arrangement motivates our team to work diligently on your behalf and secure your case’s best possible outcome.
Types of Personal Injury Cases We Handle at Klotzman
You have the right to file a lawsuit against the responsible party when you suffer harm due to their negligence or carelessness. Dog bites, traffic accidents, and defective items are a few of the many personal injury cases we handle. Other cases that our personal injury lawyers handle in Miami and throughout Florida include (but are not limited to):
Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice refers to actions taken negligently by a physician or other healthcare provider that harm the patient. A medical malpractice lawsuit’s main argument is that medical professionals failed to provide patients with reasonably competent treatment. Having our lawyers fight for your rights is essential because the quality of medical care differs within institutions
Product Liability
Under product liability laws, manufacturers or sellers of a product may be held liable for any harm caused by a defective product. At Klotzman Law Firm, we understand that every product should meet the basic safety standards expected by consumers. If a product has a unique flaw or hazard that deviates from these expectations, it is considered to be defective. In such cases, the manufacturer or seller may be held responsible for any harm caused by the product.
Our team of personal injury attorneys has extensive experience handling product liability cases and can help you pursue compensation for any injuries or damages caused by a defective product. We will work diligently to gather evidence and build a strong case that proves the product’s defect and the liable party’s responsibility.
Premises Liability
Premises liability cases can be complex. Determining who is responsible for an injury can be difficult and depends on various factors, such as the purpose of the injured party’s visit and the level of permission granted to enter the property. Our Miami premises liability attorneys can help you navigate the intricacies of premises liability law to determine whether the owner or occupier of the premises is liable for your injuries. Our experienced injury attorneys will work diligently to build a strong case and fight for the compensation you deserve.
Automobile Accidents
Car accidents are the main cause of personal injury cases in the United States. Accidents happen when a driver fails to follow traffic regulations or takes the proper precautions when operating a motor vehicle. You could file a lawsuit to hold a careless driver accountable legally and financially if you or a loved one was injured in a car accident due to their carelessness
Wrongful Death Claims
We understand the pain and suffering caused by wrongful deaths. Such deaths often result from careless or malicious actions by another party. In such cases, you may be eligible to file a wrongful death claim to seek compensation for your loss. Our team of attorneys is well-versed in handling wrongful death cases and can provide guidance and support to help you navigate the legal process and seek justice for your loved one.
Slip and Fall Accidents
Another common source of physical harm, particularly among the elderly, is slip and fall accidents. You should be appropriately compensated if you have been hurt because of someone else’s negligence, whether it was damp floors or broken railings.
Assault
Personal injury lawsuits aren’t always related to accidents. In reality, it’s very common for attack victims to bring a civil personal injury claim to seek compensation for their harm. Don’t allow anyone to scare you into not filing a lawsuit if you’ve been abused. We will fight on your behalf to get the greatest result for your case from start to finish.
Animal Bites and Attacks
Animal attacks are rare, yet they can leave victims with serious wounds. Dog bites account for 50% of all visits to hospital emergency rooms for animal-related injuries, and millions of people are bitten by dogs each year. We can assist you if you have been bitten or attacked by an animal
Klotzman Law. Firm Helping Injury Victims Get Justice In Miami
The negligent actions of a property owner, a doctor, or a driver may negatively impact your ability to work and enjoy life. The Miami personal injury lawyers at Klotzman Law Firm can assist you in getting your life back on track with fair personal injury compensation.
We will invest our attention, expertise, and resources to get fair compensation for your injury. Our skilled personal injury lawyers in Miami have years of experience fighting for injured accident victims in Miami and across Florida.
Call us at 954-915-7405 to book a free case review or consultation with our Miami personal injury lawyer.
