Tampa Bay Personal Injury Attorney
Pinellas Legal Center maintains a comprehensive personal injury law practice throughout the Tampa Bay area. If you have been injured by the negligence or misconduct of another, you should not have to endure the additional costs which come from medical expenses, lost wages, and having to endure this painful disruption in your life. We can help you recover the compensation you need and deserve to care for yourself and your family, while holding the responsible parties accountable for their wrongful conduct.
Car Accidents
With Florida’s confusing mix of no-fault personal injury protection (PIP) insurance and fault-based liability insurance, it can be difficult to know how to proceed when you have been injured in an accident. Basically, your insurance company should reimburse you for 80% of your medical bills and 60% of your lost income, up to $10,000, but only if you sought treatment for an emergency medical condition within 14 days of the accident. Otherwise, your recovery may be capped at only $2,500. However, if your injuries were particularly serious, you may be able to sue the other driver for pain and suffering and other damages. A serious injury in this case would include any of the following:
- Significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function
- Significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement
- Permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability
The above is only a general overview of Florida’s complicated auto accident laws. It is important to retain an experienced personal injury attorney who understands the applicable medical and legal terms and knows how to prove a case of serious injury.
Pinellas Legal Center can help in any motor vehicle accident, including collisions involving 18-wheeler semi-trucks, motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians. These types of accidents often result in serious, catastrophic injuries to the victims, and it takes a knowledgeable and experienced personal injury attorney to fully appreciate the extent of the injuries and compensation required. Pinellas Legal Center is able to clearly and persuasively communicate the needs of a life care plan for the victim and family to the insurance company or jury.
Unsafe Premises/Dog Bites/Animal Attacks
Property owners have a duty to keep their premises safe from unreasonable dangers that the owner either knew of or should have known about. This duty may include making regular inspections of the property and either repairing or warning people of hazardous conditions on the premises. Pinellas Legal Center can help if you have been injured in a slip and fall in a grocery store, restaurant, department store, or on another person’s private property.
Dog owners are strictly liable when their animal attacks and bites or injures another person, regardless of whether they had any prior knowledge of the animal’s dangerous tendencies. Dog owners are liable for attacks that occur in public or on the owner’s property, assuming the victim was lawfully on the property at the time of the attack. Dog owners who prominently displayed a “Bad Dog” sign in their yard may escape liability so long as they weren’t otherwise negligent, and the victim was not under six years old.
As with other personal injury matters, dog bite victims can have their compensation reduced in proportion to any percentage of negligence or fault assigned to them. A critical role for your attorney in any personal injury case is to make sure you are not denied the full amount of compensation due to you by having any of the blame for the accident unfairly attributed to you by the insurance company or jury.
Wrongful Death
The greatest tragedy occurs when a car accident or other misfortune takes the life of a loved one. Besides the immediate financial burden a death often brings, surviving family members have to cope with permanent financial loss and loss of emotional support. Florida wrongful death law authorizes the personal representative of the deceased to bring a lawsuit against the responsible party for the benefit of the surviving spouse, children, parents or other relatives who depended on the deceased for services and support. Compensation may be obtained for all of the following:
- Funeral and burial expenses
- Medical expenses which were incurred between the time of injury and death
- Loss of earnings from the deceased
- Loss of support and services
- Loss of companionship and mental pain and suffering of a spouse
- Loss of instruction and guidance and mental pain and suffering of children
- Mental pain and suffering of parents
A wrongful death lawsuit is sometimes more difficult to prove than another personal injury case. It is important in any instance to contact an attorney as soon as possible so that your lawyer can go to work right away collecting and preserving evidence that will be needed in any future negotiations or litigation.
Get Help with Your Car Accident or Slip and Fall Claim from an Experienced Tampa Bay Personal Injury Attorney
Pinellas Legal Center is owned and operated by an attorney with nearly 30 years experience helping people like you in Tampa, Clearwater and St. Petersburg who have been injured due to the careless, reckless, negligent or intentional misconduct of another. In Tampa Bay, contact Pinellas Legal Center for a free consultation to find out how we can help you on your road to recovery.
