Q. Tell us about yourself and your practice.
A. I graduated from U of F undergraduate and FSU College of Law in 1972 and have always maintained my primary office in Tallahassee. My law practice has been focused almost entirely on personal injury, products liability and to a small extent on medical malpractice, for the past approximately 20 years and I have handled cases throughout the United States, Bahamas and Caribbean areas. We presently have offices in Tallahassee and Thomasville Ga. I am Board Certified as a Civil Trial Lawyer by the Florida Bar and the National Board of Trial Advocacy and have been named to virtually every “ Top Lawyers” list in the United States, including Best Lawyers in America and was chosen as one of Florida’ s “ Dream Team” of lawyers to represent the State of Florida against “ Big Tobacco” in 1995.
Q. Do you offer free initial consultations?
A. Yes. Our initial consultations with potential clients are free. We only handle cases on a contingent fee basis and have no established hourly rate charges.
Q. People have accidents every day. What separates a simple accident from one where a person should seek your firm’s assistance?
A. Primarily, the injury suffered. If there is obviously no injury or nothing more than some temporary soreness, then that accident is a simple accident. Once it is clear there is an injury involved, regardless of the level of the injury the accident becomes one where the injured person should seek legal representation. Whip lash type injuries are often thought of as not being serious, but unfortunately a good percentage of whip lash injuries turn out to involve more serious injuries mimicking whip lash. Once it is clear there is an accident related injury, the issues become complex due to the interaction of different levels of insurance such as bodily injury and uninsured motorist coverage, not to mention the proper valuation of the injury itself. Our suggestion is to always talk to a qualified attorney, once it has been determined that a serious injury has been caused by an accident.
Q. What kind of monetary compensation will one get from a personal injury settlement?
A. The monetary compensation depends entirely on the severity of the injury and resulting impairment, as it affects the individual. This is an area where good personal injury lawyers can help as they are trained in valuation of the injuries. Another issue here is whether liability is clear as to who caused the accident. If it is not clear due to whose fault the accident happened, the compensation can be less than in the situation where it is clear who caused the accident. Also Florida operates under the law of “ comparative negligence” and under this legal theory an individual can be not at fault in an accident, partially at fault or entirely at fault. The determination of fault within this comparative negligence theory bears directly on the compensation that will ultimately be paid to the injured person. The higher the percentage of negligence attributed to the injured person the less compensation he or she is going to receive. It should also be noted here that compensation generally is dependent upon availability of insurance from either the at fault driver and / or owner of the vehicle involved or from uninsured motorist coverage carried by the injured individual, who is not at fault or partially at fault. Generally, if there is no insurance available, it is unlikely a monetary recovery can be made. It is important in this respect to understand uninsured motorist insurance and to be sure to carry adequate uninsured motorist coverage.
Q. What is the process to file a personal injury lawsuit?
A. In most instances a personal injury lawsuit is not filed until the accident has been thoroughly investigated and the injured individual has reached the point of maximum medical improvement, with regard to his/her medical related treatment. Once these issues are covered there is usually an attempt to settle the potential case and if this attempt fails, then the law suit is filed by the attorneys. Filing of the law suit involves nothing more than the preparation of a proper legal complaint paying a filing fee and filing the lawsuit at the court house.
Q. What if an individual is partly at fault for the accident?
A. This issue of comparative negligence is covered in my response to the 4th question above.
Q. How soon should one file a lawsuit?
A.The timing of the filing of the lawsuit is less important than the timing of the investigation of the lawsuit. The sooner the lawyers are brought in to the situation and investigators are assigned to collect the facts surrounding the law suit, the better for the outcome of the case and the sooner a law suit can be filed, if necessary. Evidence tends to disappear with time and memories definitely fade, so the sooner we get involved the better. The timing of the filing of the lawsuit is more dependent on the severity and nature of the injuries. However, there are statutes of limitation that affect these timing issues.
Q. What damages can one recover?
A. Medical expenses both past and future, property damage, if the insurance company has not settled that issue directly with the individual, deductibles on medical payments, travel expenses, lost wages both past and future, pain and suffering, future disability and/or impairment, loss of enjoyment of life and in the situations where the injured person is married the spouse can recover for the loss of the services of the injured spouse to the marriage, as well as, the loss of the care and comfort of the spouse.
Q. What sorts of damages are covered under Tallahassee Personal Injury Law?
A. Same as the answer to the previous question..
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