Tampa Car Accident Lawyers

How Do You Seek Recovery for a Car Accident in Tampa?

In Florida, car accident claims usually involve personal injuries resulting from negligence. You will begin by filing an insurance claim with your no-fault insurance company and, if you meet the requirements, with the at-fault driver’s insurance company as well. Always have an attorney handle the process, whether filing a no-fault claim or fault-based claim.

A case citing negligence as the basis of liability requires that you prove.

• The person who injured you owed you a duty of care. Since the other driver assumed that duty of care when they accepted a driver’s license, this one is usually not difficult to prove. Every driver must follow all traffic laws, pay attention to the road, and drive in a reasonably safe manner to prevent accidents and injuries. Drivers owe this duty to other drivers, passengers, motorcyclists, bicyclists, pedestrians, and others on the road.
• The person who injured you breached that duty of care. At its simplest, this breach simply means that the at-fault driver failed to drive carefully. This breach can mean that the driver violated the speed limit, ignored traffic signs or signals, changed lanes recklessly, ignored bad weather, or drove under the influence. Whatever demonstrates the lack of care, that lack is a breach of the duty of care.
• The breach of the duty of care by the at-fault driver caused your injury. Caused means two things in this context. First, it means that, but for the careless actions of the at-fault driver, your injury would not have happened. Second, it means that the at-fault driver should have reasonably foreseen that your injury will result from the careless act.
• You suffered compensable damages from the injury. If your injuries are such that you can be made whole by financial compensation, you have met the standard for recovering in a negligence lawsuit.

This might seem straightforward, but proving negligence and liability for a crash can be anything but simple. You want a legal professional with car accident claim experience handling this process from the very start.

What Are Common Injuries in a Car Accident?

The Tampa area has a huge percentage of the state’s car accidents. A recent year saw more than 24,000 crashes causing at least 16,450 injuries.

These car accidents cause many utterly devastating and life-changing physical injuries, including:

• Spinal Cord Injuries – Spinal cord injuries result from vertebral fractures or the twisting and tossing that happens to passengers when a vehicle gets hit. Either can result in bruises or tears to the nerve tissue in the spine, causing permanent or temporary loss of function or sensation.
• Head and Neck Injuries – Head and neck injuries include fractures, bruises, and whiplash. Not all fractures are severe, but you should not ignore them. Fractures of the skull can cause significant brain damage. In contrast, fractures of the cervical vertebrae of the spine can lead to temporary or permanent paralysis. Many people treat whiplash as a joke, but it can lead to a lifetime of chronic pain, as well as reduce your ability to turn your head.
• Traumatic Brain Injuries – Medical professionals historically described traumatic brain injuries (TBI) as ranging from mild to severe. Today, we recognize that even a so-called mild concussion can lead to long-term severe brain damage, and we should never treat it as mild or minor. A “mild” concussion only presents that way at the point of diagnosis to a physician. It may still cause immense and long-lasting symptoms.
• Internal Injuries – Internal injuries can involve broken ribs, which carry the danger of punctured lungs, severe injuries to other vital organs, or hard to control internal bleeding. All of these life-threatening injuries need immediate treatment and long-term care.
• Fractures, Sprains, and Tears – Car accidents can cause a heavy mass to land on victims, making for crushing fractures and impact fractures inside the vehicle when the passenger gets thrown about. Muscles and ligaments can also be torn or stretched. In either case, the fractures or tears lead to infections sets or the loss of a limb.
• Burns and Scarring – Between volatile fuels and shattering glass, burns, and scars are common in car accidents. Burns are painful and require long-term painful treatments. These treatments can leave behind significant scars. The cuts and abrasions suffered in an accident can also leave scarring. Victims with significant scarring can develop emotional problems relating to shame regarding their physical appearance, leading to an inability to work or deal with the outside world.

Our Tampa car accident lawyers handle claims involving a wide range of injuries, and you should never assume your injury is too serious or minor to reach out to our firm for help.

What Damages Can I Recover?

You can recover damages for all the different losses you suffer in a car accident.

The major damages you can recover include:

• Medical and Hospital Expenses – These include all your doctor bills, hospital costs, healthcare personnel costs, drugs, treatments, equipment rentals, and rehabilitation costs. If your injuries are severe, you might need ongoing care, and our legal team is sure to take future medical bills into account.
• Property Damage – If you suffered significant injuries in your accident, your car likely sustained substantial damage as well. The costs of vehicle repair or replacement are also recoverable.
• Lost Wages – If you have been forced to take time off work and have lost income from doing so, those lost wages are damages you can recover. You will need to provide copies of previous pay stubs to demonstrate what you would have made if you had not missed the work.
• Loss of Earning Capacity – If your injuries mean that you will be unable to return to work, or at least return to the work you used to do, you will probably experience a long-term reduction in your income. This long-term loss in your income potential does represent damages that you can recover. You will probably need expert testimony to calculate the losses you will experience from the change.
• Pain and suffering – You can recover compensation for the physical pain and suffering you experience due to your injuries and their effects.
• Loss of Motor Function – Sometimes, your accident doesn’t paralyze you, but it does impact the motor skills you have developed in your life. If the loss is minor and your job does not require those skills, the impact may not be great. On the other hand, if you work with fine motor skills like working in computers or jewelry, the loss of even a tiny amount of your fine motor skills can be devastating in the long term. Again, expert testimony will establish the extent of your loss.
• Loss of Executive Function – Highly skilled professional or executive jobs require specific cognitive skills that one can lose in a head injury. Since the positions that require executive function can generate high income, the loss of executive function can be utterly destructive of your pre-existing lifestyle.
• Emotional Damages – The loss of physical or mental function can cause long-term emotional damage to the victim. Scarring can damage the self-confidence and social skills of the victim. In contrast, the loss of previous mental or physical skills can diminish the ego by reducing the ability to work and earn the living one expects. Lifelong shame, depression, and the loss of joy in life can result.

What Evidence Do You Need?

Each damage you claim requires evidence. Lost wages and loss of earning capacity, for example, require the documents showing what you used to earn and have missed so far.

Loss of earning capacity will also require expert testimony to prove, had you not suffered an injury, what you would have earned, what promotions and raises you may have received, and how inflation might affect your income and savings.

For expenses like long-term medical costs and rehabilitation, as well as assistive care, you will need expert medical testimony. Testimony will establish how long you will need care and its costs.

Rehabilitation involves service personnel, paid for by the session, and may require that you purchase equipment to aid in your rehab or make your home more user-friendly for your post-accident condition.

For emotional expenses like depression, other mood disorders, and loss of cognitive function, psychiatric expert testimony is necessary. Psychiatric therapy is expensive and can take years to work.

Trying to recover from the loss of executive function takes psychological therapy and may never be fully recovered. These damages require long-term treatment and rehabilitation and may never go away. Their impact on your life can be equally intractable.

Contact a Tampa Car Accident Attorney Today

If you’re concentrating on getting back to normal after you or a loved one survived a Florida car accident, you need someone to fight by your side.

Let the skilled car accident attorneys at Boohoff Law’s Tampa office take charge of your battle. Contact us online today or call (813) 445-8161 for a free initial consultation and case evaluation. Let us work with you to recover physically and emotionally while we help you recover financially.

Client Testimonial

“Boohoff Law, Definitely stands behind Integrity the staff is extremely professional. Tatiana is not only a fantastic attorney in her expertise however she’s also down-to-earth, truly a people person. I believe in establishing relationships in any type of business that you do, they definitely bring that to the table. Thank you for all your help in my time of need. I would highly recommend this firm to represent you.”

-Elissa M.

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Boohoff Law P.A. Tampa, Florida Location

829 W Dr Martin Luther King Jr Blvd
Tampa, FL 33603
Phone: (813) 536-6221

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