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Personal Injury
What Is Personal Injury Law?
Have you ever driven down the street and noticed a branch hanging dangerously over the road or someone in the next lane texting on their cell phone as they roll through a red light? What happens if the branch falls on a car or the person texting causes an accident? Who pays for the car repairs, hospital bills, lost income, and all of the other consequences that someone else suffers because of the property owner or driver?
This is what personal injury law is all about. When individuals — or groups — are harmed as a result of someone else’s negligence, recklessness, or otherwise dangerous behavior, a personal injury attorney will fight to hold the at-fault party accountable for the consequences.
Some of the most common types of personal injury cases include:
- Car accidents
- Truck accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Slip and fall injuries
- Workplace injuries
- Medical malpractice
- Product liability
- Wrongful death
- Catastrophic injuries
In each of these types of cases, the injured party may often have the opportunity to file a claim with liability insurance held by the at-fault party, although this is not always the case. What many people misunderstand is that the insurance company is not there to pay out the full amount owed; in fact, adjusters often attempt to approach victims early on in order to settle for the least amount of money possible, protecting insurers and hoping to mitigate costs for the at-fault party.
Why You Need a Personal Injury Lawyer
People mistakenly believe that they only need a personal injury lawyer if they plan to file a lawsuit, and that they can handle an insurance claim on their own. While going through the process of filing a claim is simple enough — as long as you follow the adjuster’s lead — the reality is that getting the money you rightfully deserve is complicated no matter what.
Your attorney will be able to handle the claims process on your behalf, using their extensive knowledge and understanding of personal injury law and the insurance claims process to maximize your claim or determine when it’s appropriate to move forward with other legal options.
While your attorney is fighting to get you fair compensation, you can stay focused on your recovery while keeping updated on the process without needing to move it along yourself.
Your attorney will:
- Prove fault
- Calculate damages
- Gather evidence
- Build a strong case
- Negotiate with insurers
- File a lawsuit when necessary
Insurers intentionally overwhelm claimants to dissuade them from seeking the compensation they truly deserve, and will use these tactics to settle quickly and inexpensively. This takes place while you are dealing with the consequences of at-fault policyholder’s negligence or recklessness, meaning that you are left wading through endless documents and dealing with aggressive communications from insurance adjusters while suffering through the pain of your injuries and the complications they’ve caused in your life. When your lawyer is handling all of this for you, you can keep your stress low, knowing a proven professional is fighting to get the money you are rightfully owed out of the insurance company.
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Kanner & Pintaluga have recovered over 1 billion dollars and are experienced in working against insurance companies. Contact us for a free consultation, and let us provide you and your family with dedicated service and get you the compensation you deserve.Call 800.586.5555
Comprehensive Coverage of Personal Injury Cases
We cover a wide range of personal injury cases. Take a look below for a more comprehensive look at the different cases we focus on, and please reach out to us for further clarification or inquiry.
Car Accidents
If you’ve been in a car accident that someone else caused, most often the right approach is to file an insurance claim with the at-fault party’s insurer. However, getting the money you actually deserve out of an insurance company is more complicated than you may first think.
Even in clear-cut cases, like those involving drunk drivers, proving fault is just the first step. Next, we calculate your damages and negotiate with the insurer.
Sometimes, the at-fault driver isn’t carrying insurance, or isn’t sufficiently insured. In these cases, we will fight to seek compensation through other avenues to make sure that their dangerous decision doesn’t cause further harm to your life.
Truck Accidents
Commercial trucks like 18-wheelers or delivery trucks are much larger than passenger vehicles, and a crash with one can cause serious injury. To complicate matters, commercial vehicle insurance is much different than personal insurance, as are the many different state and federal regulations that commercial drivers must adhere to.
Unraveling these complexities takes time, attention, and, most importantly, experience. We will go through all of the details of the accident and build a strong case that factors in all of these different issues that make your accident unique before fighting to get you the money you are rightfully owed.
Motorcycle Accidents
Riding a motorcycle exposes the rider to additional risks due to the lack of comprehensive safety features and reduced visibility to other cars. A motorcycle rider has a higher chance of being struck compared to a passenger vehicle, and the risk of serious injury is also higher.
As such, a motorcycle rider involved in an accident at similar speeds as two passenger vehicles may suffer from much greater injuries, resulting in higher medical bills and other impacts. It’s important for an experienced motorcycle accident attorney to build a strong case and fight for fair compensation.
Premise Liability
When you lawfully enter someone else’s property — whether it’s private, public, or otherwise — you have a right to expect that the property is maintained in such a way that you aren’t at risk of avoidable injury. Things like slippery aisles in a grocery store, loose carpeting in a hallway, or broken handrails are all risks that a property owner should take care of in anticipation of a visitor, and if they fail to do so and you are injured, you have a right to expect compensation.
Dog Bites
Dog bites can be extremely painful and traumatic. A dog owner is responsible for keeping their animal secure and others safe around it, and must be held accountable for an attack. There are nuances about a dog bite case, though, that your attorney will need to account for as they are building your case.
Medical Malpractice
Working with a medical professional comes with the expectation that they will uphold their duty of care and work to keep you as safe as possible while attempting to support your needs. Unfortunately, there are a shocking number of instances each year where patients are harmed or killed as a result of malpractice, ranging from misdiagnoses, improper prescribing, and cases as egregious as medical devices being accidentally left in patients during surgeries.
Fighting a medical malpractice insurance company is complex and overwhelming – let our experienced attorneys handle it for you.
Product Liability
When a company sells a product, the consumer has a set of rights pertaining to how they can expect it to function and how clear the instructions must be in order to help them use it properly, among others. When you are using a product as directed, and it fails due to issues with the design, manufacturing, or warnings, you have a right to seek compensation for your suffering.
Filing a lawsuit against a massive corporation is a daunting task, but the legal team at Kanner & Pintaluga has decades of experience with these types of cases and is ready to fight for what you are owed.
Catastrophic Injuries
In any type of personal injury, there is always a risk of catastrophic injuries: injuries that result in long-term or permanent disability, significant disfiguration, or other issues that seriously impair the victim’s physical or cognitive abilities. Trying to calculate the long-term costs associated with a lifelong disability can be a challenge in itself, but it’s absolutely essential that a victim of catastrophic injuries does not settle for less than they need in order to support themselves for the rest of their lives with these injuries.
The associated costs include medical treatment, rehabilitation, and ongoing care, as well as the loss in earning potential and the measurable decline in quality of life.
Wrongful Death
Much like catastrophic injuries, there is always a risk that a personal injury is fatal. In this case, the surviving family members or other designated parties can seek compensation that covers everything in a personal injury case as well as things like the loss of financial support from the deceased, loss of consortium, and more.
Start Your Personal Injury Case Today
Take a look at this section to understand the process of initiating a personal injury case and what you may be able to expect throughout your case. Keep in mind that no two cases are alike, and your attorney will determine the best path forward depending on your circumstances.
Schedule a Free Consultation
Contact Kanner & Pintaluga 24/7 to request your consultation. During the consultation, you’ll be able to go over the details of your situation with an experienced legal professional who can offer advice and give you a better understanding of how the process may go when you work with our team. Once you decide to work with us, we will begin right away.
Case Evaluation
We will begin by analyzing your case and determining the most appropriate course of action. This may be filing an insurance claim or going right to the courts with a lawsuit — it all depends on a number of variables that we’ll consider. We’ll also identify key people who are involved with the case, whether that is witnesses, liable parties, or otherwise.
Investigation and Gathering Evidence
The way to build a strong case is by having exceptional evidence that supports our claims. This will include medical records, reports and accounts of the accident, witness statements, financial documents, and anything else that helps us get a complete picture of the situation, which we can then present.
Negotiate or Litigate
Once we’ve gathered all of the evidence and have a clear understanding of the situation, we’ll decide whether it’s appropriate to seek compensation through negotiating with an insurance company or defendant, or if we should file a lawsuit and prepare for trial. Keep in mind that very few personal injury cases, even those where lawsuits are filed, ultimately see trial. Regardless of the direction your case takes, we’re here to fight for you.
Calculating Personal Injury Damages
At the end of the day, the most important part of a successful personal injury case is the amount of damages a victim takes home. Calculating that amount is a complicated process that requires a close look at many different areas of the victim’s life that go beyond the cost to repair or replace their personal belongings and cover their current medical bills.
Compensatory damages are divided into two distinct parts, and in some cases that go to trial, there is a third type of damage that we’ll touch on, as well.
Economic Damages
Economic damages are the losses and costs associated with a personal injury case that have measurable dollar values. These include your medical bills, the cost to repair or replace any damaged or destroyed items, and your lost wages if you were unable to work following the accident.
Calculating your current economic damages is as simple as gathering all of your associated expenses and totaling them up, but many people overlook a few different factors. For one, you may have future losses that you need to consider, like future medical expenses or impacts on your earnings. Calculating these potential future losses is more complicated, which is why hiring a lawyer to handle this process is such a good idea.
Non-Economic Damages
More abstract are non-economic damages, which seek financial compensation for fundamentally non-financial impacts of an injury. These include things like the pain and suffering that the victim must endure as a result of their injuries, as well as any declines to their quality of life, mental health issues they struggle with as a result of the injury, and more.
As you can imagine, coming up with a dollar value for something as nebulous as “pain and suffering” requires a bit more experience with personal injury law, and insurers know this. If a victim attempts to submit a claim, including non-economic damages without legal representation, the at-fault party’s legal team will work to pick it apart and pay as little, if any, as possible. This is where strong negotiating experience comes into play, leveraged by extensive knowledge of tort law.
Punitive Damages
In certain instances, when a personal injury stems from a particularly egregious situation, the attorney may decide to push for a trial, where there is a possibility for punitive damages. The dollar amount for punitive damages has nothing to do with the compensatory damages. These damages are determined by a judge and/or jury as a way to punish the at-fault party for their actions and to serve as a way to dissuade others from making the same decision.
Your attorney won’t be able to request punitive damages, and they won’t include the possible additional payment in any of their calculations. If the defendant realizes that there is a high chance that they will need to pay punitive damages in addition to compensatory damages, they may offer to settle the case before it goes to trial and the information is made public. This is common when filing cases against major corporations and other entities with significant financial capacity.
About Kanner & Pintaluga’s Personal Injury Practice
Our proven track record and decades of experience handling personal injury law sets us apart. Our dedicated legal team takes a client-first approach, and we do what it takes to get you the money you deserve.
Learn About Your Case During a Free Consultation
We offer a free consultation so you can learn more about your legal options. We encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity so you can get a clear understanding of the path forward. Speaking with an experienced legal professional is one of the best ways to clear up some initial anxiety about getting back on your feet, and we’ll be able to give you examples of cases similar to yours that we’ve successfully represented. We want you to complete your initial consultation knowing that there is support for you.
Only Pay If We Win
We work on contingency fees, meaning that you pay us a portion of your winnings and owe us nothing if we don’t win the case. This is a safe way to get exceptional legal representation without adding to your stress and anxiety about your finances after such a major disruption in your life. You’ll also know with certainty that your attorney is focused on your case, not just collecting a check and not giving it their full effort.
Proven Results
One look at our history of success shows you that we know how to take on these cases, and we know how to win them. During your consultation, we’ll be happy to go over similar cases to yours so you know that we’re experienced with this area of personal injury and that we see a way forward for you.
Client-Centered Approach
We focus on compassion, communication, and service to our clients. When you’re being represented by Kanner & Pintaluga, you can be certain that there is a dedicated legal professional handling your case and will be in contact with you throughout the process. No speculating about your case or wondering if there is anyone still thinking about you — we’re on top of it, and you’ll be kept in the loop.
// FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Frequently Asked Questions About Personal Injury
The following are just a few of the many different questions we answer most often during our free consultations and throughout the time we work with clients. Remember that your case is unique, and the answers below are meant to give you a general idea. The best way to get answers to your unique situation is by speaking directly with a member of our team.
Do I have a personal injury case?
If another party’s negligent or intentional actions caused you any harm, then there is a good chance you have a personal injury case where you can seek compensation for the consequences of their behaviors.
How long do I have to file a personal injury claim?
The specifics vary, but generally, you have two years from the date of the injury or when you first realized that you were injured to file a personal injury claim in Florida. Don’t wait until you are coming up to the statute of limitations before contacting an attorney, though. We will use this time to build a case and work toward a settlement, deciding whether or not to file a case after going through this initial process.
How much is my case worth?
As you can imagine by just the baseline factors of medical expenses, lost wages, and emotional distress, the amount that a victim is owed is extremely specific. Two people involved in the same accident will ultimately be owed very different amounts based on countless personal factors that are best calculated by a personal injury attorney.
What if I was partially at fault for my accident?
As of 2023, Florida is now a modified comparative fault state, meaning personal injury victims can only collect damages if they are less than 50% at fault for their accident. It’s no longer the case that damages are reduced based on a percentage of fault. If you believe the other party is responsible for your personal injury, contact Kanner & Pintaluga to evaluate your scenario. You can still collect damages so long as you are not found to have been the one in the wrong.
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