Florida Personal Injury Laws

2007-10-15 12:53:47

( Legal )



Definition of Personal Injury

The concept of personal injury revolves around a tort, which is any physical or psychological harm that happens to one person due to intentional or unintentional acts of another. A person who suffers the tort has the right to seek compensation for it from the erring party, through a personal injury suit.

There are three possible types of torts. You commit intentional tort by inflicting an injurious act with willful intention to hurt the other person, such as in cases of battery and invasion of privacy. Negligence tort arises when the injury or harm was caused through your negligence, such as failure to install adequate firefighting equipment in a building. Torts based on strict liability are wrongful acts of harm caused by possession or production of dangerous products or services you sell to customers, such as drugs that cause harmful side effects. Keeping dangerous animals in your backyard can potentially turn into torts of strict liability if the animals accidentally attack your neighbors.

Highlights of Florida Personal Injury Laws

Most of Florida personal injury cases arise from negligence. As the plaintiff, you have to prove that the defendant caused harm directly, due either to his refusal or ignorance of minimum safety standards.

However, there are limitations about what constitutes a 100% negligent act. Not all defendants are fully negligent, and not all plaintiffs are fully fault-free as well with regard to the incident. For instance, you may have used a medical substance and suffered side-effects because you did not carefully read and follow the precautionary statements in the instructions.

You are subject to vicarious liability if you lent a vehicle to someone and he gets into an accident with it, or if you are a bartender who served alcohol drinks to a minor or habitual drinker who causes intoxication-related harm.

If you and another party have caused harm to another person, you are both jointly and severally liable for the personal injury.

The personal injury case gets even more complicated when death is the result. In such cases, the family of the deceased can claim wrongful death against you and be able to receive compensation for the loss of income and for emotional damages caused by the wrongful death.

Where to Find Help

If your personal injury case occurred within the boundaries of Florida, you can file a suit with a Florida court. It will be best for you to look for a Florida personal injury attorney since he or she will have the expertise to handle such a case.

A Florida personal injury lawyer can guide you in gathering evidence and information regarding your injury. He will be able to help you figure out how much compensation you should receive from the defendant. He will represent you in court hearings and negotiate with the other party on the case.

To find a good Florida personal injury lawyer, you can ask trusted people for references or look them up in the yellow pages or the web.


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