Evaluating All Damages and Settling Your Case

Aside from the emotional turmoil and stress, you could also be dealing with the complication of physical injuries, damages to property (e.g. car or home), and the insurance company’s failure to accept responsibility. Our  accident attorneys at Suarez & Montero can help you in all of these situations by helping you ensure that you receive the proper treatment that you deserve. Among the damages that you may seek compensation for, include, but are not limited to:

• Current and future medical expenses
• Lost wages
• Loss of future earning capacity
• Property damage
• Pain and suffering
• Loss of intimacy and support

Our accident attorneys will review all of the information obtained from police reports, video footage, and witness statements to reconstruct your case against the at-fault party. We are persistently checking for updates about any new information or research that can be used to further assist with your case. We want to build the strongest case for you and secure the settlement that you deserve.

Contact Suarez & Montero today to see how we can help you with your car accident case.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Does a Jury Determine the Amount of Non-Economic Damages in My Case?

A jury is accorded wide latitude in determining the amount of noneconomic damages in a personal injury case. To determine the amount of damages to award, the jury may consider any of the degree of the wrongful act complained of, the age of the person injured, the person’s life expectancy, the state of the person’s mental and physical health before the injuries complained of, the person’s past earning capacity, the injury’s effect on the person’s health, the inconvenience to which the person may be subjected in the future, and the person’s diminished capacity for the enjoyment of life as a result of the injuries, the person’s mental and physical suffering, and an injury’s permanency.

How to Prove Permanent Injuries to Justify Recovery of Additional Damages?

With respect to permanent injuries under Florida’s no-fault law, a mere recitation of the plaintiff’s complaint is insufficient to prove a permanent injury. A plaintiff must also present expert medical testimony to establish the existence and permanency of the alleged injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability and the plaintiff must prove, by the greater weight of the evidence, that a permanent injury was sustained within reasonable medical probability, evidence which may not be established exclusively by the testimony of the plaintiff regarding subjective pain. Even when a jury in a personal injury case finds that the plaintiff was not injured as a result of the subject accident, the plaintiff is entitled to recover those expenses incurred for medical examinations and diagnostic testing reasonably necessary to determine whether the subject accident caused the injuries.

Who is Liable When an Injury is Aggravated by a Subsequent Accident in Florida?

When an injury is heightened by a later accident, the original transgressor may be liable for the entire damage, if the second accident is a natural result that flowed from the original injury. Accordingly, if the wrongdoer is liable for an injury that impairs another’s physical condition, the wrongdoer is also liable for harm sustained in a subsequent accident that would not have occurred had the injured party not been impaired.

How are Damages in a Wrongful Death Cases Calculated?

Although the jury’s estimate as to the proper amount of damages to be awarded in an action for wrongful death must rest on facts supported by the evidence, the jury’s finding will not be set aside as excessive except in extreme cases where the court can clearly see that the jury’s verdict is so excessive that it shocks the conscience or is just not supported by any evidence presented at trial. A large damage award, by itself, however, is not necessarily indicative of an excessive or improper verdict. Again, the issue as to the proper amount of damages for a wrongful death is largely speculative, especially with regard to noneconomic or intangible damages for wrongful death. The amount of damages rests solely within the jury’s sound discretion, with the jury’s decision being given great credence. Moreover, there is no cap on the amount of noneconomic damages a financially independent adult child may be awarded for the wrongful death of his or her parent.

How Do Derivative Damages Work in Personal Injury Cases?

Where the personal injury is to a member of a family, non-injured members of such family may seek derivative damages against the party causing the injury. Thus, a parent may seek damages for the injury to a child, and a husband may seek damages for the injury to his wife. Before a parent may recover loss of services of a severely injured child, the parent must first prove child had extraordinary income-producing abilities before the accident. In a personal injury action, a spouse is entitled to receive at least nominal damages on a loss of consortium claim, where there is testimony of drastic changes in the lifestyle for the couple. However, several courts have held that the spouse who presents a consortium claim can recover only when the injured spouse meets the no-fault threshold in Florida.

How Does the Survival Statute in Florida Work?

Under the survival statute, no cause of action dies with the person and all causes of action survive and may be commenced, prosecuted, and defended in the name of the person prescribed by law. The damages recoverable by the personal representative in an action brought under the survival statute are those that might have been recovered by the injured person had the person lived. Under the survival statute, the personal representative of a deceased person’s estate recovers only such damages as were suffered by the deceased person. In other words, the survival statute preserves actions for injuries not resulting in death that the decedent might have brought or was bringing prior to death. When death is the result of a personal injury, the law essentially substitutes a statutory wrongful death action for the personal injury action that would otherwise survive under survival statute.

A personal representative’s survival action against a physician for a deceased parent’s personal injuries, alleging that the physician’s actions caused the parent to suffer physical and mental pain and suffering and the loss of enjoyment of life, is not extinguished by the operation of the Wrongful Death Act where the personal representative does not assert that the personal injury resulted in the parent’s death. In a personal injury case under the survival statute, damages that may be recovered include the cost of medical, hospital, and nursing services furnished the decedent between the time of injury and the time of death. Damages may also be recovered for the decedent’s pain and suffering between the time of injury and death. Although the damages recoverable in an action brought under the survival statute are basically compensatory, punitive damages, where otherwise proper, may also be recovered in such an action.

The Law Offices of Suarez & Montero Car Accident Attorneys represents accident victims injured in various types of accidents including: