Iona Personal Injury Lawyers

When you contact Morgan and Morgan, we connect you with an attorney who specializes in handling your type of personal injury case. During our more than 30 years of providing legal support for clients, we have litigated several common types of personal injury cases.

Car Accidents

Living in Southwestern Florida gives you two primary choices for getting around the area. You can drive a motor vehicle or ride in a boat to reach your destination. Public transportation is not much of an option for both residents and visitors. If you travel by land to reach a destination, you can expect to travel on congested roads and highways that frequently experience accidents that cause injuries. As with virtually every other state, car accidents represent the most common type of personal injury case in Southwestern Florida. Some of the common causes of auto collisions include distractions, reckless driving, and poor road conditions.

Slip and Fall Incidents

Every restaurant, shopping center, and grocery store is a prime venue for a slip and fall incident. The most common reason for someone to slip and fall is the negligence committed by the owner of a public space. Failure to quickly clean up a spill can lead to a customer slipping and falling to the floor, which can result in a serious injury such as a concussion or fractured arm. The key to proving negligence for a slip and fall incident involves retrieving and reviewing the footage captured by a store security camera.

Boating Accidents

From charter excursions to individual vessels, boating accidents in Southwestern Florida are about as common as car accidents in other areas of the United States. This is particularly true on Sanibel Island, where marine vessels in many instances represent the best travel option for both tourists and residents. Negligence for causing a boating accident is most frequently attributed to operating a vessel while under the influence or reckless behavior while navigating a boat on the open water.

Most personal injury incidents involve legal liability assigned to more than one party. Because of this, Florida has adopted the comparative fault principle when assigning blame for causing a personal injury incident that produces one or more injuries. During a civil trial, the judge determines how much legal liability to assign to each party.

Let’s assume you sustained an injury caused by a car accident. The driver of the other vehicle cut you off when you tried to merge into traffic on Interstate 75. Although fault seems to apply solely to the driver of the other vehicle, the judge hearing your case discovers from a traffic camera that you failed to signal your intention to merge into traffic. The result is a decision that assigns you 20 percent of the fault for causing the vehicle collision. If the judge awards you $20,000 in monetary damages, your net compensation decreases by 20 percent to $16,000.

Proving negligence requires your personal injury lawyer in Iona from Morgan and Morgan to establish the presence of four legal elements.

Duty of Care

Proving another party committed at least one act of negligence requires your attorney to show the other party had a duty of care to protect you against getting hurt. For example, a healthcare facility assumes a duty of care for every patient treated at the facility. Proving the first element of negligence is the easiest element to prove, except in some cases that concern premises liability law.

Breaching the Duty of Care Doctrine

The second element of negligence involves showing another party committed one or more acts that violated the duty of care doctrine. For example, another driver owes you a duty of care to drive safely, which prevents you from getting involved in an auto crash that causes you harm. If another driver ran through a stop sign that resulted in a vehicle collision, the other driver breached the duty of care doctrine.

Caused Your Injuries

The attorney representing the other party for a personal injury case might claim you sustained your injuries from another type of event. For instance, let’s say you sustained whiplash from the impact of a boating accident. The lawyer representing the other party might claim you sustained the injury not from the impact of another boat, but instead from riding a roller coaster at one of the many amusement parks located throughout Florida. Physical evidence such as the official police report helps you prove the third element of negligence.

Suffered Financial Losses

You must show the judge hearing your personal injury lawsuit that the injuries you sustained because of a personal injury incident generated financial losses. Copies of properly dated medical bills provide the physical evidence you need to demonstrate financial losses. You should also submit copies of monthly bank statements that itemize every expense connected to the personal injury incident. 

One of the most important types of legal support provided by a personal injury lawyer in Iona, Florida from Morgan and Morgan is to ensure you file a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages before the expiration of the statute of limitations. Every state sets the deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit, with most states establishing a statute of limitations between two and four years. However, you might one day relocate to a state that has set a deadline as long as six years or as short as one year. Florida law grants plaintiffs four years to file a personal injury lawsuit. The clock starts ticking on a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages on the day of a personal injury incident.

Four years gives you a considerable amount of time to gather evidence and receive statements from witnesses. Nonetheless, you should act with a sense of urgency when filing a personal injury lawsuit. Your attorney needs to interview witnesses as soon as possible after an accident that caused you to sustain injuries. The version of events presented by witnesses typically is more accurate the closer they are given to the date of a personal injury incident. Acting with a sense of urgency also helps you recover financial losses. You are responsible for paying off costly healthcare expenses until you receive compensation from an insurance claim and/or a personal injury lawsuit.

If you do not meet the four-year deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit in Florida, you can expect the court clerk processing your case to remove the case from the judicial docket.

A personal injury lawyer in Iona provides several types of legal support for clients that sustained one or more injuries as a result of a personal injury incident.

Gather and Organize Evidence

The heart of any personal injury lawsuit involves submitting persuasive physical evidence. At Morgan and Morgan, our attorneys work closely with investigators to collect physical evidence that includes photographs and security camera footage. Copies of medical bills and records also boost the strength of an insurance claim, as well as a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages.

Calculate a Reasonable Value for Compensation

The personal injury lawyer in Iona that you hire for legal representation must calculate a fair value for compensation for both an insurance claim and a personal injury lawsuit. Your attorney calculates a  fair value for economic damages by referring to copies of medical bills and receipts generated from property damage repairs. You also have the right to request non-economic and punitive damages.

Negotiate a Settlement

Most personal injury cases never reach the costly and time-consuming trial phase of the litigation process. Instead, both parties try to negotiate a settlement. If your personal injury lawyer in Iona, FL decides to negotiate a settlement, the process can include a series of counteroffers until both parties reach an agreement or decide to move on to the trial phase of the litigation process.

Learn more about how to receive the compensation that you deserve by scheduling a free case evaluation with a personal injury lawyer in Ioan from Morgan and Morgan.

Los abogados de lesiones personales de Morgan & Morgan entendemos lo importante que es resolver todas sus preguntas legales en el idioma en el que usted pueda entender mejor. Por eso contamos con una sección de Preguntas Frecuentes en nuestra página de abogados.com. Recuerde que en caso de ser victima de un accidente y necesitar ayuda legal, usted cuenta con los abogados de Morgan & Morgan. Siendo el bufete de abogados de lesiones personales más grande de los Estados Unidos, contamos con los recursos y la experiencia que usted necesita para defender sus derechos. ¡La justicia es derecho de todos!