Fort Lauderdale Boat Accident Lawyer
Fort Lauderdale Boat Accident Lawyer
Recovering the Compensation You Deserve
With its prime location on the Florida Coast, Fort Lauderdale is a hot spot for occupational and recreational boating activities. From cruise ships and sports boats to fishing boats and sea doos, there are seemingly endless types of watercraft throughout the region’s beaches. Although many may enjoy these pastimes and watersports as a form of leisure and care-free times, the fact remains that boat accidents are a constant and dangerous threat to everyone on the water.
Reports published by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), the agency responsible for enforcing boating safety laws, show that boating accidents are a serious concern in Fort Lauderdale and throughout the state. According to the FWC, there are hundreds of reported boating injuries each year, with growing trends in the number of preventable accidents and injuries. Largely caused by negligent boat operation and boating conduct, these accidents highlight the dangers of public boating and the need for all boaters to remain vigilant and responsible.
When boat operators fail to act responsibly, or when they commit illegal acts while boating, they can cause serious injuries and fatalities. Although there are a number of causes of boating accidents, the most common and concerning are improperly trained boaters and boating under the influence (BUI). When accidents are caused by boaters who fail to practice safe boating habits or by impaired operators, victims have the right to pursue a recovery of their physical, emotional, and/or financial damages by filing a personal injury claim, with the help of an experienced Fort Lauderdale boating accident lawyer.
How a Fort Lauderdale Personal Injury Lawyer can Help
Proud members of the South Florida community, our firm’s Fort Lauderdale personal injury attorneys strive to protect the rights of injured victims. If you or your loved one has recently been injured in a boating accident that was caused by the negligence of another, our legal team can work toward applying our knowledge of personal injury law to your unique situation. Through in-depth investigations into the circumstances surrounding your accident, we can highlight the extent of negligence involved and establish liability on behalf of the boat operator who caused your accident and injury. Whatever your case may entail, our legal team can deliver the compassion and representation you deserve.
over
10+
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Allow Our Firm to Guide You Through the Process
Navigating the personal injury claims process can be an overwhelming experience at times when victims should be focusing on recovering from their injuries. Capable of handling all aspects of your case on your behalf, keeping you well-informed at each step, and maximizing your recovery, our Fort Lauderdale boat accident lawyers are prepared to provide you with the highest-quality services and support possible. If you wish to discuss your case to learn more about the ways in which we can be of assistance, do not hesitate to contact a Fort Lauderdale personal injury attorney from Ace You Case, P.A. today.
Plantation Personal Injury FAQs
When Is It the Right Time to Call a Personal Injury Lawyer?
The right time to call is as soon as possible after your accident. There are many reasons why you need to begin the legal process as quickly as you can. The legal process may even begin without you, with many calls from the insurance company trying to either rush you or to pressure you to give a statement. They may try to catch you unaware and trick you into compromising your legal rights. Hiring an attorney could prevent this from happening.
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Equally important, as time passes from the time of your accident, the evidence that could help your claim can become harder to find. People might quickly clear the scene of the accident, and you may lose the ability to contact witnesses. The witnesses that you have may begin to lose their recollection of what they saw. When you hire a personal injury lawyer, they will get to work immediately to gather the evidence before it is lost.
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Calling a lawyer to get started on your case is a crucial step in the legal process. Knowing that you have someone on the job with the experience and tenacity to fight for you can give you at least some peace of mind during an undoubtedly difficult time.
How Do Insurance Settlement Negotiations Work?
An insurance claim is just like any other negotiation. You have a number in mind for what you think that you should receive for your injuries, and the insurance company has a much lower number in mind for what it wants to pay. Your insurance claim begins when your Plantation personal injury attorney files a demand letter with the insurance company. This is when the adjuster goes to work to try to save money for their bosses.
The insurance adjuster may outright deny your claim or question liability. They may come back with a settlement offer. When the number seems low, and it will, know that this is just their opening offer. Your Plantation injury attorney will likely reject the offer and respond with your own demand.
Eventually, you will lower your number, and the insurance company will raise theirs, and you could meet somewhere in the middle. This is a time-honored dance that personal injury lawyers have been doing with insurance companies since the advent of courtrooms. Even when you seem very far apart from the insurance company, most cases eventually will settle.
What Happens After I File a Personal Injury Lawsuit?
Filing a personal injury lawsuit is an early part of the claim process. Most cases will never go far enough to see the inside of a courtroom. Statistically speaking, a vast majority of personal injury cases are settled out of court. However, if your case does make it to court, you should expect going into it that the trial process may take one to two years to complete. The legal system is far from rushed, as courts and judges have busy schedules and full dockets.
In the short term, you can expect motions and attempts to obtain evidence. Many people associate a lawsuit with a trial, but that only happens after many months of the nuts and bolts of the legal system. The phase of your case that will take the longest time is discovery. This is when the two sides obtain evidence that the other has in their possession. At this point, you may even need to sit for a deposition.
Filing a lawsuit will not cut off settlement negotiations. As was previously mentioned, most cases will settle without a trial. If anything, litigation may give each side more incentive to settle. The two parties usually continue negotiating right up until the point when the jury is seated.
What Evidence Can Prove My Injury Claim?
Negligence is the basis of every personal injury claim. When you file a lawsuit in court, you have the burden of proof. It will be up to you to show that what you say is more likely than not to have happened. You need to back your claim up with evidence.
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Your Plantation personal injury lawyer will work to gather things that can backup your side of the story, including:
— Witness statements from people who say your injury or accident
— Pictures of the scene of your accident
— Security camera footage
— Expert witness testimony that could reconstruct the accident
— Maintenance logs of the area or vehicle involved
— Medical records that can help prove damages
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These are things that can be difficult to get on your own and piece together to tell the story of what happened. Injury lawyers in Plantation, Florida, know how to both get the evidence and use it to prove that someone else was responsible for your accident.
What if I Cannot Work Due to My Injuries?
Your personal injury damages include both economic and non-economic compensation. Economic compensation aims to pay you back for the actual money that you lost. This includes bills that you paid and earnings you lost. This specifically pays you back for lost wages from your job when you are unable to work. Since you would have worked, this is money out of your pocket.
Lost wages in a personal injury settlement are much broader than you think. Of course, this includes the time that you have already missed from work. It also encompasses time that you will miss from work in the future. You do not need to outright miss work to receive compensation for this. For example, if you were qualified for a promotion but cannot get it now because your injury limits you in the type of work that you can do, you can get compensation for the reduction in your earning capacity.
Lost wages are often a very contested part of your personal injury claim because you can bet that the insurance company will see things differently to try to lower its bill. They may dispute what your possible earnings are or use a lower rate of inflation to calculate what they may be in the future.