Free Unless You Win | Call 24/7: 1-800-800-1414
Free Unless You Win | Call 24/7: 1-800-800-1414
Suffering a personal injury at the hands of a negligent driver is costly, painful, traumatic, and a severe disruption in your life. You’re thrown out of work and incurring significant medical expenses. Who will pay those bills, and who will run the household while you are laid up? Florida’s personal injury law allows you to recover significant compensation from the negligent driver who hit you, but it doesn’t make it easy.
It’s your job as the injured victim to bring a claim against the negligent driver and prove their negligence and liability to you. Meanwhile, the at-fault driver and their insurance company fight back and deny their liability; instead, they blame you for causing the accident or dispute how much you were really injured. How do you deal with insurance company professionals who do nothing but manage injury claims all day to pay out as little as they can?
Here’s a thought: You focus on becoming healthy again and getting your life back in order, while we focus on getting you the compensation you need and deserve. At Hale Law, you’ll find accomplished Sarasota personal injury lawyers with years of experience working for insurance companies and fighting for injury victims like yourself. Our firm is dedicated to getting excellent results that help you get back on your feet after a serious injury.
Suppose you were injured in a motor vehicle accident outside of Florida’s no-fault insurance system. In that case, you can recover for the full amount of harm done to you, including both economic and noneconomic damages. Economic damage refers to direct financial expenses, such as hospital and medical expenses, doctor bills, prescription medicines, wheelchairs, home health aides, etc. It also covers losses such as wages, salary, or benefits if you missed work after the accident, cannot return to your old job, or earn a living at the same level as before the crash.
Conversely, noneconomic damage includes harm such as pain and suffering, emotional distress, the loss of quality of life, or scarring and disfigurement. Although you may not have a direct expense related to these kinds of harm, they are still genuine. Florida’s personal injury law recognizes that you should be compensated for these damages. In some cases, you may be entitled to punitive damages as well. They are meant to punish a negligent defendant for horrible conduct, such as:
If a jury finds such conduct extremely reckless or malicious, they may order the defendant to pay you punitive damages in an amount that hurts the defendant financially. This punishment also sends a message to other drivers about behaviors that are simply not tolerated in Sarasota County. Punitive damage awards are relatively rare in personal injury matters and are more challenging to prove than other types. But at Hale Law, we’ll take the extra time and effort to pursue punitive damages in appropriate cases.
Insurance companies would prefer not to have to pay injury claims; when they do have to, they hope to pay as little as possible. One common tactic is to deny that their insured caused the accident and blame it on the person making the claim. At the very minimum, they’ll say that you are at least partially to blame. Let’s use a car accident as an example. If you were T-boned in an intersection, they might say you were speeding or didn’t have the right-of-way. If you were rear-ended while waiting at a stoplight, they could insist you didn’t go when the light turned green.
The point of placing at least a portion of the fault on you is to reduce the amount they have to pay. Under Florida’s law of comparative negligence, any percentage of fault attributed to you equals a proportional percentage reduction in the amount of compensation you can recover.
Don’t let the other party’s insurance company decide you were at fault. Ensure your attorney has as much knowledge and experience in Sarasota accidents as the other party’s lawyers. At Hale Law, we use our years of experience representing insurance companies and injured plaintiffs to fight against unfounded claims of comparative fault. We aim to get you the most appropriate level of compensation considering the harm done to you.
If a negligent driver in Sarasota has harmed you, call Hale Law at (800)-800-1414 for a free consultation. We have experienced Sarasota personal injury lawyers who are sensitive to your needs and will aggressively pursue your claim with the insurance company. There’s no fee until we recover for you.
Hale Law operates 24/7 at 2803 Fruitville Road Suite 240, Sarasota, Florida. From Sarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ), head west on University Pkwy toward Airport Cir, and make a U-turn at Airport Cir. Then light right onto Desoto Rd, and turn right onto N Tuttle Ave. At this point, turn left twice, then turn right. Finally, turn left, and you’ll find our office on the left side.
For additional questions, call us at (800)-800-1414 or find us on Yelp.
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