If you suffered an injury in a traffic accident on an Orange County highway, you could recover compensation based on your injuries and other damages. So while you may feel weighed down by your piling bills, remember you don’t have to face the aftermath alone.
An Orlando highway accident lawyer from our law firm can manage your insurance claim or sue the at-fault driver on your behalf for a car crash. In addition, our team offers free legal consultations to address your immediate concerns.
You May Be Entitled to Compensation
When a crash victim qualifies to seek fault-based damages in Florida, we can help them pursue fair compensation using the available evidence to prove fault. We can gather proof of what happened and build a claim against the responsible party.
The damages we can recover for highway accident victims will depend on the injuries, necessary treatment, missed work, and other details. These collisions often occur at increased speeds, increasing the risk of severe injuries. Therefore, seeking medical care as soon as possible is crucial to increase your chances of recovery.
In addition to financial losses and expenses, such as medical bills and missed paychecks, it may be possible also to recover intangible losses, like pain and suffering. An auto accident attorney can determine the types of damage that apply to your case.
Economic Damages
This type of compensation is awarded in a legal dispute to compensate the victim for actual financial losses due to the defendant’s actions. Economic damages include, but are not limited to:
- Property damage: The cost of repairing or replacing damaged property, like your vehicle, can be included in your compensation. However, this might also include any damage caused to your personal property in the car.
- Medical expenses: This refers to the cost of medical treatment, rehabilitation, medical equipment, and any ongoing care that may be required due to the injury. The cost of medical care adds up quickly; keep track of your bills to ensure you are fully compensated.
- Out-of-pocket expenses: In a legal context, these costs must be directly related to the injury and not be pre-existing expenses. For example, if you need to take a taxi to medical appointments, the cost of the rides would be considered an out-of-pocket expense.
- Lost income: This refers to the wages or salary you would have earned if you had not been injured or disabled due to the collision. Lost income may include your current salary and any future wages or salary you would have earned if the injury had not occurred.
- Loss of future earning capacity: This type of compensation is designed to compensate the victim for their loss of potential earnings. For example, if your injury prevents you from continuing in your current job or pursuing the same career, you may be entitled to compensation for the loss of future earning capacity.
Economic damages are intended to make the victim whole by restoring their financial position to what it would have been if the harm had not occurred. They are often calculated based on tangible and quantifiable factors, such as bills, receipts, and records.
Non-Economic Damages
These damages refer to a type of award in a legal dispute meant to compensate the victim for intangible losses caused by the defendant’s actions. However, non-economic damages cannot be easily quantified due to their deeply personal nature. Common examples include:
- Pain and suffering: You may receive compensation for the physical pain and emotional suffering caused by the highway accident. The severity of your injuries and the emotional repercussions of the traumatic event are key factors in quantifying these damages.
- Loss of enjoyment of life: This refers to the reduction in a victim’s ability to enjoy the activities and experiences they enjoyed before the injury. For example, if you were an avid runner before the accident and can no longer run due to your injury, you may be entitled to compensation for the loss of enjoyment of life.
- Disfigurement and scarring: If you sustained a scar on your face due to the accident, you might be entitled to compensation for the disfigurement and scarring. These damages refer to physical changes or permanent marks on the body resulting from the injury.
- Loss of consortium or support: If a spouse cannot provide emotional support to their partner due to the injury, they may be entitled to compensation for the loss of consortium or support. These damages address the reduction in a spouse or family member’s ability to enjoy your companionship, comfort, love, and support.
- Emotional distress: When seeking an award, consider the mental or emotional suffering you experienced due to the crash. If a victim experiences anxiety, depression, or fear due to the accident, they may be entitled to compensation.
To prove non-economic damages, a personal injury lawyer must present evidence of the traumatic event’s psychological impact. This can come from testimony from friends and family who have observed the claimant’s suffering, witness statements, diaries, or journals documenting the experience of living through these non-economic harms.
If a lawyer can successfully capture the scope of a person’s injuries, they may use this information to build a case for recovering compensation for intangible losses.
Punitive Damages
Contrary to economic and non-economic damages, punitive damages focus on punishing the defendant. However, these are not awarded frequently, so consult your lawyer to see if your case qualifies. If the defendant is accused of extreme negligence, they may face punitive damages.
Some states, including Florida, cap the amount of money that can be recovered this way. Under the state statute, you may recover up to $500,000 or three times the amount of compensatory damages, depending on which is higher.
Wrongful Death Damages
If your family member died from injuries they suffered in a highway collision in Orlando, the Florida Wrongful Death Act, Florida Statutes §768.21, may allow you to recover a different set of losses. Wrongful death damages can include:
- Funeral and burial expenses: Claimants may access reimbursement for costs related to the victim’s funeral and burial.
- Loss of financial support: This includes the lost wages and benefits the victim would have earned had they survived.
- Loss of consortium: The loss of emotional and physical support experienced by the surviving spouse, children, or other close family members is an integral part of wrongful death cases.
- Pain and suffering: This includes the physical and emotional distress experienced by the victim before they died due to the accident.
After a fatal car accident, surviving family members may access financial compensation through a wrongful death claim. This also holds the at-fault driver accountable for their negligent or reckless behavior.
Filing a wrongful death lawsuit or claim can be emotionally and financially draining. Therefore, if you are considering it, it is recommended to seek assistance from an experienced legal professional to maximize your chances of success.
Our Team Can Help With Your Orlando Highway Accident Claim
The Orlando highway accident lawyers from the Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine provide responsive legal care to victims of collisions in Florida. We go the extra mile for every client, investigating their crash and building an argument for fair compensation. If we represent you in your case, you can worry about getting better. We take care of everything else.
Our clients’ testimonials confirm that we fight for accident victims’ rights and help them recover money for their bills and losses. In addition, we provide free consultations for victims and their families. We also represent clients based on a contingency fee, meaning you don’t pay any attorney fees unless we secure a payout on their behalf.
Develop Your Claim
We gather evidence to support our client’s claim and build a convincing argument to prove what happened before demanding the responsible party’s insurer pay damages. This could require us to:
- Obtain all reports, documents, and records
- Canvass and interview witnesses
- Identify any video or photos from the site
- Survey the accident site
- Collect physical evidence
- Call in accident reconstruction specialists to prove what happened
- Work with other experts to document damages
- Document all accident injuries, expenses, losses, and possible future damages
Once we have a case to show the client suffered injuries in a highway collision because of a negligent driver, we file an insurance claim with their insurance company and demand they pay our client a fair settlement. If they refuse, we will take the case to trial.
Negotiate With the Insurance Company
You should always proceed cautiously when dealing with insurance providers, as they do not have your best interest at heart. Insurance adjuster’s main goal is to increase profit for the company, so they will try to settle cases with as little payout as possible.
Insurance company representatives may be intimidating, but a highway accident attorney can help you get the settlement you deserve. They have experience negotiating with insurance companies and know how to handle their tactics.
If you were injured in a car accident, your lawyer could also help review your medical expenses and other payments related to the crash to ensure you receive adequate compensation. In addition, legal representation will give you peace of mind when filing an insurance claim.
Analyze Your Legal Options
At the Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine, our team can help you determine your legal options following a highway accident. Under Florida Statutes §627.7407, the state’s no-fault law, personal injury protection coverage is required for motorists and may be the only option for compensation for some accident victims.
We can review your collision case and determine if you can file a fault-based claim and recover non-economic damages. We understand how highway collisions occur and how to develop a fault-based case.
Statutes of Limitations in Florida
How long you have to decide to file a lawsuit against the negligent party for compensation depends on the type of case. For example, if you were hurt and want to recover compensatory damages, Florida Statutes §95.11(3)(a) gives you up to four years to start a personal injury lawsuit in an Orange County civil court.
In a wrongful death case, you generally have two years to sue the other driver per Florida Statute § 95.11(4)(d). However, exceptions to both statutes could reduce your time. Therefore, we encourage you to contact us as soon as possible to ensure you do not miss any critical deadlines.
Why You Should Work With Our Orlando Highway Accident Lawyers
Having legal counsel provides you with the support and expertise that can make a real difference to the outcome of your case. Our team has a vast experience in all aspects of personal injury, including highway accidents.
We recognize every case as unique and work hard to build a personalized strategy tailored to achieve the best possible results for each individual. With access to some of the industry’s most skilled and respected legal minds, we take a holistic approach when representing our clients.
We Work on Contingency Fee
Highway accident victims may be concerned about the cost of hiring a lawyer. However, that should not be a concern when you are working with us. Our legal team works on a contingency fee basis, a payment arrangement commonly used in personal injury cases where the attorney is not paid any fees unless they obtain financial compensation on behalf of their client.
A lawyer typically receives a percentage of any settlement money or court-ordered award as payment for their services. This arrangement gives you access to legal representation regardless of your financial means. It also incentivizes attorneys to take cases with good merits and devote significant time and resources to a successful resolution.
We Take Cases With No Out-of-Pocket Expenses
If you or a family member had injuries from a collision on any Florida highway or another Orlando roadway, we are here for you. Our team will discuss your case with you for free, helping you put a plan in place to secure financial recovery when possible.
Schedule a Free Consultation With a Highway Accident Attorney
You can learn more about how a car accident lawyer from Anidjar & Levine can help you with your case by meeting with our team. We have a lawyer available to assess your case now. They can review your case and answer your immediate concerns.
Contact us at our Anidjar & Levine’s Orlando location now. We can help you pursue financial recovery based on your highway collision and injuries.
We Can Help.
