STUART

There is often a lot of confusion and uncertainty after an accident or another catastrophic situation that causes a personal injury. You are dealing with pain from the injury, and you might be unsure of your rights and what steps to take to defend those rights.

Gordon & Partners’s Stuart personal injury lawyers advise people who were injured in accidents to take the following steps:

Go to the Hospital

The Martin Health System has multiple hospitals in the Stuart area, including Martin Hospital South and Martin Medical Center.

Obtaining medical treatment will help prevent your injuries from worsening and, in some cases, it could improve your long-term prognosis.

Once your injuries have been stabilized, ask doctors or hospital staff how to obtain a copy of medical records documenting your stay at the facility. This will be a critical piece of evidence in any insurance or personal injury claim you file to obtain compensation for your injuries.

Get a Copy of the Police/Accident Report

This does not apply to every situation. However, if you were injured in a motor vehicle accident, including accidents involving commercial vehicles like large trucks and tractor-trailers, police are required to submit a report within 10 days of the completion of the investigation of the crash (Florida Statutes Title XXIII Chapter 316.066).

You can go online to request a copy of the police report on your accident from the Stuart Police Department.

If your injury is not the result of a motor vehicle accident but police were called to the scene, there is a good chance that a police report was filed. You should request a copy on the website or call the police department at (772) 187-1122.

If you were involved in a slip and fall accident on public or private property, contact the property manager to receive a copy of the accident report.
Police/accident reports provide invaluable documentation of what occurred. These reports could be the key piece of evidence you need to prove that another person or entity is liable for your injuries.

File an Insurance Claim

If you were injured in a car accident or other situation for which you have insurance coverage, you should file a claim as soon as possible. Insurers often limit the amount of time in which you can file a claim after an accident.

The goal when filing your claim is to provide the insurance company with the basic facts about the accident and your injuries. Do not attempt to quantify the amount of pain you are experiencing or the severity of your injuries. The insurance company can make that determination by examining your medical records, which will have notes from qualified medical professionals.

The danger of providing your opinions about the accident or your injuries is that you will minimize the extent of your injuries or admit some level of fault for what happened. This could cause the insurer to deny your claim or lower the amount of compensation you receive.

Do not agree to a recorded statement until you consult with a Stuart personal injury lawyer. An attorney can make sure you do not incriminate yourself or minimize your injuries in any signed or recorded statements.

Contact a Stuart Personal Injury Lawyer

A personal injury attorney can advise you of your rights and legal options. If you decide to work with a lawyer, he or she will be focused on your best interests throughout the legal process, including your insurance claim and personal injury claim.

This helps to relieve some of the burdens of dealing with insurance companies and lawyers for the defense. It also allows you to keep your focus where it belongs, on your injuries and your recovery.

In most personal injury cases in Florida, there is no limit to how much economic and noneconomic damages you can recover.

However, in a medical malpractice case against a doctor or another healthcare professional, you can recover up to $500,000 (Florida Statutes Title XLV Chapter 766.118). In a medical malpractice claim against someone deemed to not be a practitioner, the cap is $750,000.

Florida also has a cap on punitive damages in all personal injury cases. You are limited to $500,000 or three times the compensatory damages amount, whichever amount is larger.

You need a skilled Stuart personal injury lawyer to obtain the maximum compensation allowable under Florida law. Gordon & Partners’s attorneys have a long history of recovering large settlements and jury awards in a variety of personal injury cases.

The state of Florida has a pure comparative fault standard that can impact your compensation based on the percentage of fault that caused your injuries. Comparative negligence could also come up in the insurance claims process, possibly limiting the payout from the insurance company.

Gordon & Partners experienced attorneys are knowledgeable regarding Florida’s comparative negligence rule, as well as other laws that apply to personal injury cases. We know how to apply our knowledge to your case and help ensure you receive the compensation to which you are entitled.

Florida has statutes of limitations for all personal injury claims. Statutes of limitations are deadlines for filing legal claims, and if you miss the deadline you are barred from pursuing legal action for the injuries you have suffered.

Florida’s statute of limitations for most personal injury claims involving negligence is four years from the date of your injury. The statute of limitations for wrongful death claims is only two years.

The statute of limitations for medical malpractice claims is two years from the date of the alleged malpractice or two years from the date when a reasonable person would have discovered that malpractice occurred.

However, you cannot pursue legal action more than four years after the date of the alleged malpractice. The only exception is for actions brought by a child. In these situations, the child must file a claim before his or her eighth birthday.

If you are considering filing a personal injury claim, contact Gordon & Partners’s Stuart personal injury lawyers right away. We can determine how long you have to file a claim and make sure it gets filed on time.

If you have suffered a serious personal injury due to a defective product or as a result of the negligence of another person, you may be able to file a claim and receive compensation for your losses.

At the law offices of Gordon & Partners, we have decades of experience helping South Florida personal injury victims fight for the justice they deserve. Multiple attorneys at our firm are members of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, which is composed of less than one percent of U.S. attorneys.

We work on a contingency fee basis, which means there is no upfront fee and you will not owe us any legal fees unless we recover compensation.