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(561) 295-5825When someone else’s negligent behavior causes an accident, you may be left to deal with the fallout in the form of painful injuries and expensive damages. If you are grappling with mounting medical debt, a lengthy physical recovery, or a jeopardized career, you may feel like you are out of options.
The good news is an attorney could help recover the cost of your damages in a personal injury claim against the negligent party. A skilled Boca Raton personal injury lawyer will be able to guide you to recover the maximum amount of compensation you are eligible to collect.
The personal injury lawyers of KMW Legal have successfully settled countless personal injury claims during our decade of exemplary service to the Boca Raton community. Our ability to recover maximum damages is based on our knowledge of the tactics insurance companies use to devalue settlements and our tireless work ethic.
Instead of backing down, KMW Legal will take them to trial to recover damages. We are unusual among personal injury lawyers because we also have the courtroom experience to advocate for your rightful settlement against a powerful insurance company.
Contact our Boca Raton office today to set up a strategy session with a KMW Legal lawyer. We offer this courtesy to prospective clients free of charge so they can evaluate our services for themselves. We will brief you on the process of filing a personal injury claim and make recommendations about how to recover the maximum compensation you are entitled to receive.
In order to recover damages in a personal injury lawsuit, it is not enough to claim that you were injured by another’s actions, even if they were blatantly negligent. Your Boca Raton lawyer must prove that the negligent party who caused the injury is also liable, or legally responsible, for your damages.
Ascertaining and establishing liability is more than just pointing a finger at a reckless driver or careless property owner. The negligent party in question may be an entity like a corporation or government, or a private citizen like a healthcare professional or truck driver. When pursuing damages in a personal injury lawsuit, your lawyer’s first task is to present an evidence-based claim that demonstrates you were owed a duty of care by the negligent party.
Liability is composed of a duty of care and the breach of that duty. A duty of care is a responsibility to act towards others with the appropriate caution and vigilance that a rational person would use in a similar situation. When a negligent party fails to fulfill their prescribed duty of care, they are considered liable for the damages of the injured party. This is dereliction is referred to as the breach of duty. The basis for recovering compensatory damages in a personal injury lawsuit has been established once liability has been demonstrated.
After your lawyer has successfully shown that the defendant is liable, they must directly link the at-fault party’s negligence to the accident that resulted in your injuries. Your injuries must then be tied to the damages you are seeking to collect from the liable party. In order to recover compensation in a personal injury lawsuit, your injuries and the damages you claim must both be directly related to the incident that was caused by the defendant’s breach of duty.
Personal injury claims are classified into different categories based on several factors. For example, the circumstances of the accident that caused your injury, your connection to the liable party, and the type of damages you expect to recover will often impact the type of personal injury claim you choose to file. Common cases that our personal injury lawyers in Boca Raton help with include:
Personal injuries can vary widely depending on a variety of factors like the victim’s age, prior health conditions, and how quickly treatment was administered. An accidental slip and fall can mean a couple of bruises or a traumatic brain injury that keeps you out of work for months. Traffic accidents can leave those involved with anything from minor scrapes and fractures to organ damage and paralysis.
Treatment may be invasive and span months, with no guarantee of a complication-free recovery. Even after treatment, you may have diminished function, severe disfigurement, or permanently lose your ability to live independently. Common injuries after a personal injury include:
Not all injuries are physical. After a traumatic accident, injured people may develop PTSD or anxiety as a result of the accident or undergoing treatment. Additionally, it is not uncommon for people who have been severely injured to experience a concurrent decline in their mental health due to the stress of recovery. A personal injury lawyer in Boca Raton can help you anticipate and calculate the value of all your future medical expenses so they are reflected in your settlement.
Seek medical treatment immediately after you are out of danger. A healthcare professional will be able to assess your injuries and provide an accurate record of the damage inflicted. Seeking prompt treatment is also wise because it protects your right to recover damages.
Insurance companies will have a difficult time claiming you falsely inflated the extent of your injuries or allowed them to worsen if there is a record of treatment. Delaying medical care could jeopardize the amount of compensation you recover.
Do not hesitate to report your accident, even when the injuries appear minor or it seems apparent who was at fault. If you do not report your accident and injuries, you are potentially risking your opportunity to recover a settlement. It is important to have a record of the accident to reference so that the negligent conditions that led to the accident are preserved as evidence.
In addition to reporting your accident to a third party, you should maintain your own record of events and communications. If you are able to, it is always advisable to document the scene of the accident as best you can with pictures and video. Write down witnesses’ contact information and a detailed summary of events while they are still fresh in your mind.
Your personal injury lawyer in Boca Raton will also want to see any medical records and pain journals, as well as bills for car repairs or medical treatment. If you are contacted by a debt collector or an insurance company- even your own- we want to know about it so we can ensure they are respecting your rights and manage any future communication.
Even when you believe you are to blame for an accident, resist the urge to apologize or discuss who may be at fault with anyone. This includes authorities, insurance companies, bystanders, the negligent party, or other injured parties. Assigning liability after an accident is contingent upon several conditions, which should be properly evaluated by a personal injury attorney in Boca Raton.
It is also dangerous to speculate about your injuries. If insurance companies are able to reference witness testimonies of you downplaying your injuries, they may be able to diminish your settlement. To that end, you should also refrain from giving a statement to the negligent party’s insurance representative. To protect your right to compensation, you have to act like everything you say can potentially be used to dismiss or reduce your settlement.
If you believe that your accident and subsequent injuries were the product of someone else’s reckless behavior, your next step should be to research a practiced personal injury lawyer in Boca Raton. Selecting the right lawyer can offer valuable resources, relieve the stress of navigating a personal injury lawsuit alone, and increase your chances of recovering maximum compensation.
The personal injury lawyer you chose to represent you should set realistic goals for the settlement they anticipate recovering and clearly outline the expectations for your contributions to the claims process. After reviewing their services and discussing their achievements, you should be able to verify their claims based on testimonials from former clients.
In Florida, drivers are required to carry Personal Injury Protection insurance, which they can use if they are involved in a car accident, regardless of fault. The $10,000 medical benefits and lost wage coverage also apply if they become injured in an accident while walking or bicycling. Unfortunately, PIP coverage and health insurance benefits may be inadequate compensation for hefty medical bills and lost wages, and PIP coverage does not apply to costs like mental anguish or loss of companionship.
To reduce the burden of out-of-pocket and emotional costs, you can pursue damages in a personal injury lawsuit in Boca Raton. These damages are typically paid by the insurance company of the negligent party. In exceptional cases, the negligent party will have to pay out the settlement on their own if their insurance does not apply and they have the ability to afford it. An example of this would be a large corporation that is found liable for negligence.
In a personal injury lawsuit, a settlement payout can range widely, even for comparable injuries. The value of your damages will be assessed in the context of the demands of your prior career, lifestyle, and obligations. For example, let’s say a professional opera singer or an avid marathon runner suffers severe lung damage in a car accident caused by a negligent driver.
They would be accordingly compensated for the massive impact on their life, while an average white-collar worker would likely receive a settlement that reflects the lesser degree of disruption to their life. A skilled personal injury lawyer in Boca Raton will work to have the true extent of your damages recognized in the value of your settlement.
After an accident, most people are grateful to avoid invasive surgery or an incapacitating disability. However, minor injuries are not exempt from consequences beyond the price of a brace, lost wages, or the cost of attending physical therapy.
In some cases, accident victims who sustain more grave injuries can be forced to an extended leave of absence from work, forfeit a hobby, or leave their career field entirely. Severe injuries are capable of completely disrupting life as you know it, but you are not without the ability to recover compensation for your losses. A personal injury attorney in Boca Raton is your most valuable asset when it comes to determining what damages are applicable to your claim.
Economic damages acknowledge financial losses, while non-economic damages typically recognize emotional or intangible losses.
In most cases, economic damages are also considered special damages, making them easier to estimate. When a loss has a prescribed monetary value, like the cost of a wheelchair, it is considered a special damage. Medical bills like medications or mobility aids, lost wages, and car repairs would also fall under the umbrella of both special and economic damages.
The majority of non-economic damages are considered general damages, which have a more subjective value.
If an accident results in a loss of quality of life, like paralysis, loss of a limb, severe scarring and disfigurement, or chronic pain, injured clients may seek damages. In some cases, you can recover compensation for the way that you are treated by others after your accident, such as damages for loss of reputation or humiliation.
For wrongful death claims, the families can recover damages for emotional losses in addition to economic costs like funeral expenses. Surviving children may receive settlements for loss of parent guidance, while spouses may be able to recover damages for loss of consortium. In addition to bills, these invisible costs can pile up.
The majority of personal injury claims are settled in pre-trial negotiations, allowing you to collect compensation within nine to twelve months of filing a claim in most cases. Personal injury claims that are not resolved before trial usually take additional months or years to work their way through the court system.
Recovering damages in a timely manner enables you to offset expenses, like wiping out your medical debt or compensating for wages lost during recovery. Unfortunately, the longer you wait to seek legal counsel from a personal injury attorney in Boca Raon, the greater the risk that your settlement may be dismissed or diminished.
If you have reason to believe that your injuries were sustained in an accident caused by negligent behavior, the clock to recover your damages has already started. In Florida, the statute of limitations gives you around two to four years, depending on the details of your case, to start seeking compensation for your injuries through a personal injury claim
Simply put, we do not collect any payment until you collect a settlement check. If we are unable to recover your damages, you do not owe us anything. If our personal injury attorneys in Boca Raton are able to recover a settlement or court awards, we accept a contingency fee. A contingency fee comes straight out of your settlement as a portion of the damages we recover, rather than out of your pocket.
When you have been injured in an accident, you should not have to worry about whether or not you can afford to get help. Florida law protects injured people from being unfairly burdened with the costs of damages because they could not pay for a lawyer by ensuring that legal assistance for negligence claims would be accessible. This system also has the benefit of motivating lawyers to recover their own cost of services.
At KMW Legal, we admire the resiliency of our clients who have been forced to contend with exhausting physical recoveries, staggering bills, and unreasonable settlement offers from insurance companies. That being said, there is no reason to needlessly jeopardize your settlement by attempting to negotiate for compensation on your own.
The lawyers of Keller, Melchiorre & Walsh in Boca Raton have been recognized among their colleagues for their ability to recover maximum compensation for injury-related damages that have compromised health or career prospects and disrupted financial stability. Our team is distinguished by our passion and trial experience, which has served us well in our quest to protect our clients’ right to compensation.
When it comes to irritating or confusing administrative tasks, KMW Legal has you covered. You can depend on KMW Legal to coordinate paperwork, deadlines, and questions related to your accident from debt collectors, insurance companies, and law enforcement agencies.
KMW Legal will also conduct our own review of the accident to determine liability, connect you with a medical professional for an evaluation, outline the damages you are eligible for, and negotiate with insurance companies on your behalf. We are not afraid to call their bluff on going to trial in order to recover the compensation you deserve.
The exclusive Boca Raton community is located along Florida’s eastern coast in Palm Beach County. It boasts a thriving business center, upscale shopping districts, and a population of 97,422 residents. KMW Legal has invested our time and talents into protecting the rights of many injured Boca Raton residents for the last decade.
The lawyers of Keller, Melchiorre & Walsh have cultivated a reputation for excellence among our Boca Raton clients based on our meticulous attention to detail and dependable work ethic. This is reflected in our impressive settlement recovery results. When a Boca Raton resident is injured as a result of someone else’s negligence, they turn to the lawyers at KMW Legal for customized legal insight, access to extensive resources, and transparent communication.
After an accident, many people are uncertain about what to do. If a negligent party caused your injuries, it is your prerogative to be compensated for medical bills, lost or reduced wages, and mental anguish in a personal injury lawsuit. To protect this opportunity to reclaim damages, you should seek out a reputable Boca Raton personal injury lawyer with a record of satisfied clients and fair settlements.
At KMW Legal, we employ a results-driven approach that has garnered us the respect of clients and colleagues alike. A few bills rarely tell the full story of what our clients have lost, which is why we will not accept a small settlement just to close a case. Instead, we will dedicate ourselves to delivering maximum compensation.
Our clients can attest to our unwavering support and effective persuasion tactics in negotiations and in court. Reach out to KMW Legal at your convenience to schedule a complimentary strategy session with our Boca Raton legal team. KMW Legal will listen to your story and devise an individualized approach to recovering a fair settlement based on your specific needs.