Aventura is a small city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, with a big-city feel. The name means “adventure” in Spanish, and there is potential for many fun activities when you visit or live there. However, like with many busy cities, there is also potential for personal injury.
Personal injuries due to other people’s negligence are no joke. As any personal injury attorney in Aventura will tell you, they often leave their victims with physical disabilities, emotional issues, and financial problems. While a personal injury lawsuit will not give you back what you lost, it will solve one of your biggest problems: money. A successful case will provide you with the compensation you need to get back on your feet and help you move on.
So what types of cases do an Aventura, FL personal injury attorney handle? Let’s find out.
Personal Injury Cases in Aventura
Personal injury cases in Aventura can come in many forms. You might sustain injuries at work, on a bus, while walking, in the hospital, or even staying home.
Fall from heights resulting in traumatic brain injury, pedestrian-vehicle collisions, medical malpractice, dog bites, defective products, and even a slip and fall all have the potential of severe injuries. An Aventura personal injury attorney will likely have experience in handling these cases.
You can file a personal injury case on your own. However, these types of cases are complex, and it is very easy to make a mistake. For example, establishing fault for car accidents can be difficult if you don’t know what you’re doing. Insurance companies are going to have a field day turning the tables on you.
Additionally, a personal injury attorney in Aventura has the experience to negotiate the best settlement for you. Insurance companies know better than to give lowball offers to claimants represented by a lawyer. If you want to succeed in your claim and avoid unnecessary delays and stress, get help from an auto accident attorney in Aventura.
The Aventura Personal Injury Process
Filing a Florida personal injury lawsuit involves basic steps, and you don’t want to take your time about it. Florida imposes a statute of limitations of four (4) years for filing a personal injury or insurance claim, but there are exceptions. If you are suing for medical malpractice, for example, you only have two years.
Find an Aventura personal injury attorney
Filing a personal injury case starts with consulting with an attorney specializing in the practice area relevant to your case. For example, if you sustain a brain injury from a slip and fall accident at your workplace, you want to find a work-related injury attorney to handle your case.
Collect evidence
The next step is to collect evidence to help your claim. The evidence you need will depend on the nature of the incident that caused your injury. For example, you need photos showing the property’s condition that caused your fall for a slip and fall case, and the property owner neglected to post warning signs. However, the medical report is the one thing that all personal injury cases will need by way of evidence. Make sure you seek medical attention immediately following the incident and keep a copy of your records.
Negotiate a settlement
Your Aventura personal injury attorney will most likely try to settle with the at-fault party or their insurance company pre-suit. Settlement negotiations are the shortcuts to getting compensation for your injuries without going through the courts. If your attorney can get you a good deal, you can get your compensation right away.
File a complaint
If you cannot settle, your attorney will file a Complaint against the party at fault. A process server will deliver the Complaint and relevant documents to the at-fault party, which must then file an Answer. These are the initial pleadings.
Enter discovery
After filing the initial pleadings, both parties now enter the discovery phase. Each side can ask for documents, establish the facts of the case, make interrogatories, subpoena phone records, conduct depositions, and so on.
Undergo mediation and trial
Once all the documents and information have been examined and submitted, the court may require the parties to go through mediation. The goal is to settle the case without going to court. If mediation fails, the case goes to the trial phase. Both parties may file motions to include or exclude evidence, pick the jury, and prepare experts. If the case goes before the jury, they will typically decide the case.
Damages You Can Recover in an Aventura Personal Injury Claim
When you file a personal injury case, and it goes to trial, a judge or jury will decide if the defendant in the case is liable for the injuries you sustained. If the findings are in your favor, the court will award monetary damages to you. In most cases, these are compensatory damages and may be economic and non-economic.
Economic Damages
Economic or special damages are the actual costs you incurred for your medical treatment and future medical expenses. These damages also include actual and future lost earnings, damage to property, and other costs.
The medical costs alone can run most people to the ground if the injuries are extensive and require long-term treatment. In cases of permanent disability, additional costs for physical therapy, adaptive devices, and lifelong care become part of the computation.
Lost earnings include any work hours you had to miss because of your injury, whether due to treatment, recovery, or both. The court will also consider work hours likely to be missed based on the nature of the injury. If you cannot work again or can only work in a reduced capacity, the court will consider lifetime lost wages when calculating economic damages.
Non-economic Damages
On the other hand, the court will calculate non-economic or general damages based on the pain and suffering you endured due to your injury. Other elements that come into consideration will be emotional distress, loss of consortium (companionship), inconvenience, and loss of enjoyment of life.
In most cases, pain and suffering loom large with a jury when awarding non-economic damages and can be significantly higher than economic damages. Many defendants would instead settle the case to avoid the potential for a massive award for non-economic damages. Insurance companies usually multiply the economic damages by a factor up to five for pain and suffering when offering a settlement.
Emotional distress and loss of consortium are closely related to pain and suffering but may add significantly to the award in some instances. For example, if you can prove you or a loved one acquired post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because of the incident, that would be evidence of emotional distress. If the PTSD has significantly altered your relationship with your spouse or partner, that will fall under loss of consortium.
The extent and appropriateness of the monetary awards you can get for your claim will largely depend on the skills and knowledge of your Aventura personal injury attorney. You can probably get these awards on your own if you get to the trial phase unscathed, but you are unlikely to get the proper compensation.
| Qualities of a Great Personal Injury Attorney Serving Aventura | |
|---|---|
| Professional credentials | You want your Aventura personal injury attorney to have the proper credentials. Before engaging one, make sure they are licensed to practice in Florida and a member of the Florida Bar. |
| Winning track record | Experience is a critical quality in a personal injury attorney, but it should be on the side of success. Look for an attorney that has won a high proportion of the personal injury cases they handled. |
| Friendly and personable | You will be spending a considerable time with your attorney, so make sure you choose one with whom you get along. If you feel comfortable with your attorney, it will make the whole experience that much more tolerable. |
Avoid the long-term effects of personal injury by scheduling an appointment with Diamond and Diamond Lawyers and getting the compensation that you deserve.
| Pro Tip: “Don’t be afraid to stand up for your rights, especially if you believe you’re not at fault.”– Diamond & Diamond |
Drawbacks of Handling Your Own Personal Injury Case in Aventura
You might decide to handle your personal injury case in Aventura because you are worried about the cost of retaining an attorney. However, as oil well firefighter Red Adair once said, “If you think that hiring professionals is expensive, try hiring amateurs.”
You will most likely lose a lot more than attorney’s fees if you handle the case yourself because you are an amateur. You will most probably make mistakes when filing your claim, and insurance companies are rooting for that.
You are also responsible for all the tasks that go into processing a personal injury lawsuit, such as serving the documents to the at-fault party, documenting the evidence, filing motions, and so on. That means losing hours off work or neglecting your medical needs, which can weaken your case.
When negotiating settlements, you might not know the difference between a fair and lowball offer. The upshot is you will probably end up with not enough to cover your expenses. Of course, you can always refuse to settle and go to trial, but that presents you with another set of problems. At that point, you definitely need to get an attorney because you don’t know enough to handle the case in court.
Seeking Assistance from Diamond & Diamond Lawyers
Suppose you suffered an injury that has significantly affected your life through no fault of your own. In that case, you deserve to get compensation to enable you to pay for your medical expenses, pain, and suffering. You can get monetary damages if you go about the process the right way. The first step is to talk with a Diamond & Diamond personal injury attorney in Aventura.
Residents across Miami often turn to Diamond & Diamond because of their talent, knowledge, and willingness to negotiate difficult situations in personal injury. We are a national personal injury firm with over 20 offices across North America and have thousands of satisfied clients and recovered millions in settlements. Most importantly, we will be with you all the way.
You pay us nothing unless you win your case, and it costs nothing to talk to us. Call 1-800-567-4878 for your free consultation today.