Clearwater Personal Injury Lawyer
- Over 30 years of Experience
- No Fee Until We Win
- FREE Consultation
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You Need an Experienced Personal Injury Lawyer at Light & Wyatt On Your Side
If another party’s negligence or intentional acts caused you harm, you have one chance to file a lawsuit and recover compensation for your losses. To make the most of that chance, you need the personal injury lawyers at Light & Wyatt on your side. With over 30 years of experience helping Florida victims like you recover after car accidents, slip and falls, and other harmful incidents, our law firm has earned a stellar reputation for our knowledge, experience, and skill in the courtroom. Unlike many other accident attorneys, who put their own bottom line ahead of helping their clients, we are dedicated to making sure your medical bills get paid, and your family is financially secure in the future.
The defendants will have a team of attorneys working for them. Put Light & Wyatt to work for you. Call today for a free consultation.
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How Our Experienced Personal Injury Attorneys Can Help
After suffering serious injuries, you probably have a lot on your mind. How will you pay for your medical bills and get the medical treatment you need in the future? Do you have to accept the insurance company’s initial settlement offer? If you don’t, will you need to go to court? How will you prove to the judge and jury that the other party is liable for the pain and suffering you’re going through? Consulting with our personal injury attorneys can help ease your mind. Let us answer your questions, address your concerns, and guide you through the legal process so you can focus on healing.
At Light & Wyatt, our personal injury lawyers will:
During your initial consultation, we will ask you to tell us about your accident so we can get a better understanding about the way you were injured.
Our attorneys will consider the parties who may be liable for your injuries, and help you determine the best course of action going forward.
We will gather and review evidence, like photos, videos, and witness statements to uncover details and demonstrate liability for your injuries.
We will handle negotiations with the insurer(s) on your behalf, helping to maximize your recovery.
Our law firm will cover the upfront costs associated with taking legal action, like hiring expert witnesses and filing a lawsuit.
If negotiations with the insurance company are not successful, our attorneys will present your case to the Judge and jury.
We Are Your Personal Injury Lawyers
What Is Personal Injury?
Personal injury law is designed to provide you with a legal means of recovering compensation if you are harmed because of another party’s actions or failure to act. There are three grounds on which personal injury claims and lawsuits can be brought. They are:
Members of the community owe a duty to others to avoid or minimize the risk of harm to society. Claims based on negligence stem from the at-fault party’s failure to act with the level of care that a reasonable person would exercise in the same or a similar situation. If someone breaches the duty of care owed to you, and you get hurt, the wrongdoer can be held liable for your injuries.
Under the theory of strict liability, a defendant is liable for your injuries if his or her direct action hurts you, even if the defendant did not act negligently or intend to cause you harm. In strict liability cases, your personal injury lawyer will only need to prove that the defendant’s actions caused your injuries. Strict liability cases generally involve possessing dangerous animals or participating in especially hazardous activities. In products liability cases, strict products liability may apply.
In intentional torts cases, the defendant willfully commits an act that causes harm to the victim. The act does not have to be committed with the intention of causing harm to the other person. Examples include cases involving pranks that go wrong, battery, assault, domestic violence, inflicting emotional distress on a victim, and murder.
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Do You Have Grounds to File a Personal Injury Claim in Florida?
When you sit down with our personal injury attorneys to discuss your case, we will truly listen to your story. Before moving forward, he will ask you various questions to determine whether you have grounds for a personal injury claim or lawsuit. If your case is based on negligence, various elements must exist for your personal injury claim to be viable.
For your case to be successful, we must establish that the defendant owed you a duty of care to protect you against reasonable risk of injury. This is generally the easiest element of a case to prove. Motorists owe a duty of care to others on the roadway. Property owners owe a duty of care to lawful visitors. If the defendant caused a foreseeable risk of harm, and you were in the “danger zone”, then he or she owed you a duty of care.
A duty of care is breached if the defendant deviated from the reasonable standard of care expected. Common examples of when the other party might have breached the duty of care include: if that person was drinking and driving, speeding, or driving while texting. In premises liability cases, a breach of duty might be failing to warn you about a wet floor, or failing to repair a broken handrail.
Your personal injury lawyer must present evidence that demonstrates a link between the defendant’s actions, or failure to act, and your injuries. Causation isn’t always straightforward. The insurance company may claim that your injuries already existed, or that they were caused by something else. Medical records, photographs, and expert testimony are sometimes needed to establish the link between the defendant’s behavior and your injuries.
For your claim to exist, you must have suffered some type of loss. Instead of just telling the jury that you suffered a traumatic brain or spinal cord injury, however, this is our chance to demonstrate how your injuries have impacted your day-to-day life. Keep a diary of the difficulties you experience because of your injuries. This will provide the jury with a clearer picture of how your injuries impact you now and in the future.
How Much Is Your Personal Injury Case Worth?
Since the goal of a personal injury claim or lawsuit is to recover compensation to pay for your losses, it’s not surprising that one of the most common questions our clients ask is “How much is my personal injury case worth?”
In a perfect world, your personal injury lawyer would be able to tell you exactly how much you will be able to receive from the at-fault party. Unfortunately, this simply isn’t possible. No personal injury attorney can guarantee how much you can recover by filing a personal injury lawsuit. Light & Wyatt, however, can evaluate your case and provide you with a fairly accurate estimate of what to expect if your case is resolved successfully. To do this, we will take into account:
Determining the value of your economic losses is fairly simple. We’ll add up your medical bills, wage statements, and any other financial losses your injuries caused, or are expected to cause. The total of your economic losses also includes a combination of your prescription medications, modifications to your home or vehicle, in-home nursing care, vocational rehabilitation, special medical equipment, and more.
Assigning a value to your non-economic losses is a bit more difficult. These losses include things like your physical pain, emotional and physical suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, etc. Since non-economic losses are subjective, personal injury lawyers in Florida usually use your economic losses as a basis for determining their value.
Damages
In rare cases, when the wrongdoer who caused you harm did so intentionally or with reckless disregard to your safety, the jury may award punitive damages. Although these damages are awarded to the victim, they are designed to punish the defendant and deter similar actions in the future.
Resources for Personal Injury Victims in Clearwater and Spring Hill
FAQs About Florida Personal Injury Cases
Approximately 90% of personal injury cases are settled out of court. If the insurance company refuses to offer you a fair settlement to pay for your losses, however, it’s important to hire an experienced trial attorney who will fight for your rights in court.
The length of time it takes to resolve your personal injury case depends on various factors. These include, but are not limited to, the evidence in your case, the willingness of the insurance company to offer you a fair settlement, and the skill of your personal injury attorney. Oftentimes, the more your case is worth, the harder the insurance company will fight to deny or minimize payouts.
Most personal injury lawyers in Florida accept cases on a contingency fee basis. This means you won’t need to pay anything up front. Your attorney will shoulder the financial burden of resolving your case. Those costs, along with your attorney’s fees, will be deducted from your injury award. If you don’t win, you don’t pay.