Tampa Personal Injury Lawyers

Personal injury cases can result in serious and debilitating injuries. In many accident and injury cases in the Tampa area, another party is liable due to negligence or under another legal theory. When you have been injured and you believe someone else could be responsible, it is important to seek legal advice about filing a claim. An experienced Tampa personal injury lawyer at our Florida law firm is here to assist you.  We work in partnership with the top personal injury law firm in Tampa Bay and in the country to provide top notch representation.  Call us 813-672-1900. text us at 813-543-8960 or email us to provide the circumstances of your case and schedule a free consultation to discuss its merits.

Types of Personal Injury Cases We Handle in Tampa 

Our experienced Tampa personal injury lawyers represent clients in many different types of cases in Florida. The following are some of the types of personal injury cases our firm handles:

• Auto, Motorcycle, and Vehicle Accidents: Motor vehicle accidents in Florida often result from another driver’s negligence, such as distracted driving, aggressive driving, intoxicated driving, or drowsy driving. Since Florida is a no-fault auto insurance state, most initial claims for compensation will involve filing a claim through your own personal injury protection (PIP) coverage. However, if your injuries are serious, you may be eligible to file a lawsuit against the at-fault driver.

• Medical Malpractice: Whenever a health care provider’s negligence results in harm to a patient, it may be possible to file a medical malpractice lawsuit. Many types of health care providers can be liable, such as physicians, surgeons, nurses, physician assistants, OB-GYNs and other specialists, laboratories, hospitals, and dentists. Common types of medical errors that give rise to lawsuits include diagnostic errors, medication mistakes, and surgical errors.

• Pedestrian Accidents: When a pedestrian is injured in a collision with a motor vehicle or on the hazardous premises of another party, it may be possible to file a pedestrian accident claim.

• Wrongful Death: When a person dies as a result of another’s party’s negligence or intentional wrongdoing, the surviving family members may be eligible to obtain compensation through a wrongful death lawsuit. Under Florida law, the personal representative of the deceased’s estate must be the party who files the lawsuit. The personal representative steps into the metaphorical shoes of the deceased to hold the defendant accountable.

• Slip and Fall Accidents: Slips, trips, and falls can happen anytime a property owner fails to remedy a hazard on their premises. Liquid spills, objects in walkways, broken lighting, damaged flooring, and other hazards can lead to dangerous slip and fall accidents that may allow the injured person to file a premises liability claim.

• Premises Liability: There are many kinds of premises liability cases, and they all arise out of the negligence of a property owner. Slip and fall accidents, as well as trip and fall accidents, are particular types of premises liability cases. Premises liability can also include negligent security cases where a business owner is liable for injuries caused by a third-party assault due to a lack of proper security measures.

• Work Injuries: In Florida, most work injuries are compensable through the Florida workers’ compensation system. To be eligible to receive benefits, Florida law requires you to report a workplace injury to your employer within 30 days from the date of the accident.

• Product Liability: Whenever a consumer product causes harm to a consumer, it may be possible to file a product liability lawsuit. Product liability lawsuits generally take three forms: design defect cases (where the product has an inherent defect in its design), manufacturing defect cases (where the product has a defect that occurred during the manufacture stage), and marketing defects (where the product was marketed in a way that failed to warn consumers about risks associated with use of the product).
• Nursing Home Abuse: Physical abuse, psychological and emotional abuse, passive neglect, willful deprivation, and financial exploitation are all forms of nursing home abuse for which a nursing facility could be liable.

• Mesothelioma: Often resulting from exposure to asbestos, mesothelioma is a particular type of cancer that affects the mesothelium, or the protective membrane of a person’s lungs or abdomen. While it often takes many years for mesothelioma to develop after exposure to asbestos, it may be possible to file a claim.

• Birth Injury: In Florida, birth injuries can occur whenever a health care provider is negligent during a mother’s pregnancy, or during the labor and delivery process. Nerve damage and head injuries are particularly common.

Damages in a Tampa Personal Injury Case 

In a Tampa personal injury case or a personal injury case elsewhere in Florida, injured parties may be eligible to seek compensatory damages and, in some cases, punitive damages. There are two kinds of compensatory damages in Florida:

• Economic damages, which can provide a plaintiff with compensation for economic or financial losses (such as medical bills, lost wages, surgical and hospital costs, follow-up doctor’s appointments, and rehabilitative therapy); and
• Non-economic damages, which can provide a plaintiff with compensation for subjective losses (such as the plaintiff’s pain and suffering or emotional distress).

Depending upon the circumstances of the personal injury case, it may be possible to seek punitive damages. Whereas compensatory damages are intended to compensate a plaintiff for different types of losses, punitive damages are designed to punish a defendant for especially reckless or intentionally harmful behavior. While punitive damages are still paid to a plaintiff who seeks them, they have a different purpose than compensatory damages. With most punitive damages awards for personal injuries, the Florida Statutes caps punitive damages at $500,000, or three times the amount of the compensatory damages that are awarded to the plaintiff — whichever amount is higher.

Statute of Limitations for a Tampa Personal Injury Claim 

Every type of personal injury lawsuit in Florida has a statute of limitations. The statute of limitations says that a plaintiff only has a particular amount of time to file a personal injury lawsuit, after which the claim will be time-barred under Florida law. According to the Florida Statutes, most types of personal injury lawsuits in Tampa and throughout the state have a four-year statute of limitations. The clock on the statute of limitations will start to tick on the date of the injury in most cases. From that point forward, the plaintiff will have four years to file a lawsuit.

It is important to understand that a case does not have to be resolved within a four-year time window. Rather, the plaintiff’s lawsuit simply must be filed before that four-year clock runs out. When an injury results in a death, you should know that the statute of limitations for a wrongful death claim is shorter. In those cases, a wrongful death lawsuit must be filed within two years from the date of the deceased’s death.

Do You Need a Top Notch Tampa Personal Injury Attorney?

The experienced attorneys at All Family Law Group and our partners can assist you with a wide range of personal injury cases in Florida.  Call us at 813-672-1900, text 813-543-8960 Contact our experienced Tampa personal injury lawyer today to learn more about the services we provide.  We offer a free consultation to discuss the matter with you and to determine if you have a viable claim.  We work with a top Tampa and national personal injury law firm to provide you with the best representation.