Personal Injury Attorney Tallahassee - An interview with Evgenia M. Waczewski
Q. Tell us about yourself and your practice.
A. My name is Evgenia Waczewski and I am an attorney practicing law with the firm Trial Attorney Group, in Tallahassee, Florida. The firm represents clients in various litigation matters, including personal injury, divorce, criminal defense, immigration and other civil litigation cases. The firm runs a modern practice, ensuring that each client has access to an attorney via e-mail and cell phone to answer any question and to update the client on the status of the case. All answers below regard Florida law only. These answers are not to be taken as legal advice. If any reader needs advice on a legal question, the reader should contact an attorney about the specifics of his or her case.
Q. Many people have never called a lawyer before, what should they expect when they call your office?
A. Our office provides a free consultation over the phone for any type of case. Basically, what this means is that any person who has a question pertaining to a legal issue can call our office and be sure that an attorney (not a paralegal or a secretary) will speak directly to him/her (usually our attorney will return a phone call within few hours, if the potential client leaves a message). During the initial phone conference, the attorney will gather information and answer any questions that can be answered during the initial conversation. If the firm can assist the potential client, the attorney will also quote a fee for the legal services (personal injury cases, however, are usually handled on a contingency fee basis) in case the client will decide to proceed with representation. Therefore, the initial free phone consultation will often help the client to better understand what actions need to be taken and to learn the costs of our services. This is a lot of information just a phone call away. Most law firms require an appointment and a visit to the office in order for a client to learn such basic information.
Q. What is the process to file a personal injury lawsuit?
A. In general, the first stage of the case is called “pre-suit.” If a person is hurt by the negligence of another and retains the firm, the attorney handling the case will assist the client, as needed, in coordinating medical care for the injuries. Generally, a personal injury lawsuit is not filed immediately after an accident. Instead, the injured party seeks medical care to determine the extent and permanency of the injury(ies) that are related to the accident. Once medical providers find that the injured party has reached Maximum Medical Improvement (a determination that the injury is permanent and that further treatment will not “cure” the condition), the attorney requests that the primary medical provider prepare a final report and assign the injured party a permanent impairment rating. With this report in hand, the medical records, and the history of the injured party, the attorney then prepared a demand letter to the party at fault and/or its insurer. If the case does not settle presuit, the attorney then files a lawsuit against the party(ies) at fault. Any lawsuit starts with the filing of a Complaint, which outlines the facts of the case and list counts, such as negligence in operating motor vehicle or negligence in maintaining premises.
Q. What are typical expenses in a personal injury lawsuit?
A. Generally, there are no out of pocket expenses to the client during the litigation of a personal injury lawsuit (excluding medical care). Basically, the attorney takes the risk of litigating the case and covering all expenses in hope for a recovery. If there is a recovery eventually, the law firm will be reimbursed for such expenses from that recovery amount. If there is no recovery, then the law firm takes the loss and the client does not owe any money to the lawyers. Expenses may include the cost of obtaining medical records, expert fees (i.e., medical experts, economic experts, etc.), filing fee, subpoena costs, travel costs, court reporter fees, etc.
Q. What happens if the person does not live in the state where his/her injury took place?
A. Personal injury lawsuits are generally filed in the County and State where the accident occurred. In most cases, personal appearance of the plaintiff is not necessary for most of the events that take place during litigation. However, the plaintiff (the injured party filing the lawsuit) will have to be present at the mediation, for his or her deposition and, possibly, for an independent medical examination. Also, if the case goes to trial, the plaintiff must be present.
Q. What if an individual is partly at fault for the accident?
A. If the injured party is partially at fault for the accident, in general terms, that person’s recovery will be reduced by the percentage of his or her fault. This does not mean that the injured party cannot sue, only that the recovery will not be as great as if the person had not been at fault at all. This concept is known as “comparative negligence.”
Q. What is contributory negligence?
A. A few decades ago, most states had a rule that if the plaintiff was found to be partially at fault, then the plaintiff could not get any damages. This was called contributory negligence. Today, the term is used interchangeably with comparative negligence. This just means that the jury gets to apportion how much each party was at fault, if at all. For example, if A was at fault for a car accident, injuring B, but B was not wearing a seat-belt (and there is evidence that the injuries would have been less if B had been wearing a seat-belt), the jury gets to apportion the fault between A and B, and B’s recovery will be reduced accordingly.
Q. What are the issues affecting the amount of damages that can be recovered?
A. This is a very complex question and a book can be written in attempting to answer it. In general, the most important issue is the type of injury and permanent health damage that hurt person incurred. Other important issues are whether the hurt person was partially at fault for the accident and whether it was anyone’s fault at all (for example, in natural disasters there is no fault on anybody’s part). Generally, factors such as the amount of medical expenses, the extent of medical treatment, the exent of wage loss (past and future). the credibility of the parties, the presence of insurance, the amount of insurance coverage for the defendant, the experience of the attorney handling the claim, the tendencies of juries in the venue where the lawsuit is filed, and other like factors play a role in determining the amount of damages that can be recovered. Most cases settle, taking all of the factors above into consideration in determining what is an appropriate settlement amount.
Q. If a dog bites a person, is the owner liable for doctor's bills?
A. It depends on a lot of factors. In Florida, liability may arise under statute, ordinance, or under the State’s Common Law. Several cases discuss common law liability issues: Vasques v. Lopez, 509 So.2d 1241 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987) (holding that landlord may be liable for tenant's dog if landlord knows dog is vicious and has sufficient control of premises to protect plaintiff); Noble v. Yorke, 490 So.2d 29 (Fla.1986) (stating general proposition that non-owner of dog may be sued under common law). The applicable Florida Statute provides:
767.04. Dog owner's liability for damages to persons bitten
The owner of any dog that bites any person while such person is on or in a public place, or lawfully on or in a private place, including the property of the owner of the dog, is liable for damages suffered by persons bitten, regardless of the former viciousness of the dog or the owners' knowledge of such viciousness. However, any negligence on the part of the person bitten that is a proximate cause of the biting incident reduces the liability of the owner of the dog by the percentage that the bitten person's negligence contributed to the biting incident. A person is lawfully upon private property of such owner within the meaning of this act when the person is on such property in the performance of any duty imposed upon him or her by the laws of this state or by the laws or postal regulations of the United States, or when the person is on such property upon invitation, expressed or implied, of the owner. However, the owner is not liable, except as to a person under the age of 6, or unless the damages are proximately caused by a negligent act or omission of the owner, if at the time of any such injury the owner had displayed in a prominent place on his or her premises a sign easily readable including the words “Bad Dog.” The remedy provided by this section is in addition to and cumulative with any other remedy provided by statute or common law.
The above statute regards liability by the dog owner. Usually, issues regarding common law liability pertain to attempts to collect damages caused by a dog bite against the non-owner of the dog, such as the owner of the premises where the owner kept the dog, or the employer of the dog owner when the injury occurred while the dog owner had his or her dog at a workplace.
