Personal Injury Attorneys Orlando, FL
Personal Injury Attorneys in Orlando Helping Victims Recover Compensation
Find Our Orlando Office Here:
Orlando
315 Park Lake Cir.
Orlando, FL 32803
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Phone: 407-481-0066
Accidents and injuries do not discriminate. They can happen to anyone and at any time. At Pardy & Rodriguez, we are always here for our clients and their families. Our team of Orlando personal injury attorneys, paralegals, investigators, and specialists are awaiting the opportunity to seek justice and full compensation on your behalf. Our mission is to provide you with the personal attention you deserve and successfully resolve your personal injury claim. We use our experience and expert knowledge of the law to aggressively fight for justice in your case. Our goal is to ensure that you, our client, is compensated for the serious injuries you sustained.
What is a Personal Injury?
A personal injury arises when one party negligently or intentionally injures another person. Personal injury is a category of civil law. If another person has injured you, you might have a personal injury claim on your hands. Typically, a personal injury claim requires the skill and knowledge of experienced Orlando personal injury attorneys.
The purpose of a personal injury claim is to hold the party who caused your injury liable or legally responsible for your damages. They fulfill their responsibility by providing you with financial compensation for your damages. Typically, it’s their insurance company that provides the compensation.
Types of personal injury cases include:
- Motor vehicle accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Tractor-trailer accidents
- Pedestrian accidents
- Bicycle accidents
- Premise liability
- Slip and fall
- Dog bites
- Product liability/defects
- Workplace accidents
- Medical malpractice
- Wrongful death
What is Negligence?
Most personal injury claims are rooted in negligence. When someone doesn’t act with the same level of care that a reasonable person would have acted with under the same circumstances, they are acting negligently. Negligence can come in the form of acting or failing to act.
Examples of negligence in personal injury claims include:
- Distracted driving
- Speeding in a school zone
- Truck drivers failing to take breaks as provided by federal laws
- A surgeon performing surgery on the wrong limb
- A daycare allowing young children to play with toys that aren’t age-appropriate, such as those with choking hazards
- Failing to stop at a crosswalk with pedestrians in it
- An employer not providing safety equipment or appropriate training
No matter what specific circumstances a personal injury claim involves, the following four elements must exist to prove negligence:
- The at-fault party owed a legal duty or duty of care to the injured party
- The at-fault party breached that duty
- The injured party sustained an injury
- The at-fault party’s breach caused the injury (proximate cause)
When you hire an attorney from Pardy & Rodriguez to handle your personal injury claim, we work hard to prove each of these elements with evidence. We will determine how your accident or injury happened and who is responsible. Next, we identify all available sources of compensation, such as insurance policies. Then we work towards negotiating a full and fair settlement for your damages on your behalf.
How Long Do I Have to File a Personal Injury Claim in Orlando FL?
Injured individuals have to file their personal injury claim within a certain amount of time. Deadlines vary depending on the type of personal injury and who the claim is against. Claims against the government usually have a shorter deadline and require a pre-suit notice to be given to the at-fault party within a specified amount of time. Depending on how you sustained your personal injury, you could have up to four or five years to file your claim. Claims involving minors or at-fault parties who leave the state often have extended deadlines.
To ensure that you don’t miss any of these crucial deadlines, meet with a seasoned personal injury lawyer from Pardy & Rodriguez as soon as you can after your injury. Our lawyers are well-versed in Florida’s personal injury laws and will know and adhere to any filing deadlines that apply to your case.
The statute of limitations ensures that injured parties bring their cases to court on time. These deadlines protect potential at-fault parties so that they won’t need to worry about legal action regarding something that occurred decades ago. A time limit also prevents critical evidence from being lost over time, which is beneficial for each party. The time limit needs to be “reasonable,” allowing for a different statute of limitations in each state.
What Kinds of Damages Can I Receive Compensation for in a Personal Injury Claim?
You’ve likely heard about individuals who have suffered a personal injury settling their claim for or being awarded a certain amount of damages. Damages are a representation of the losses and extraordinary circumstances people face after their injury. It is the responsibility of the liable party to pay for the injured party’s damages.
Economic or Special Damages
Economic damages are usually the most easily valued and understood losses after an accident. Economic damages are the financial losses arising from a personal injury claim. Economic damages can easily be calculated by adding up dollar figures. Money is objective, and there is no arguing about its value. Economic damages can include:
Medical Expenses
Some of your medical-related expenses will come as bills that must be paid, and some you will need to pay upfront. You will likely receive bills for:
- Ambulance services
- Emergency room care
- Hospitalizations
- Lab or other diagnostic tests
- Physical therapy or rehabilitation
- Physician and surgeon services
- Anesthesia
Out of pocket expenses related to your medical care can include:
- Prescriptions
- Travel expenses to and from medical appointments
- Medical equipment such as crutches
You can also receive compensation for any future medical care that your healthcare providers anticipate you needing.
Lost Wages or Income
Suppose your injuries kept you from going to work, or you had to miss work to attend medical appointments. In that case, you deserve compensation for your lost wages. You can use pay stubs and information from your employer’s human resources department to prove these losses. Even if you are self-employed, used PTO time, lost out on bonuses, or work on commission, you deserve to be compensated.
If your injuries will keep you from returning to work for quite some time, or ever, you deserve additional lost wages compensation. We can hire the financial specialists necessary to determine what your future lost wages are worth.
Non-Economic or General Damages
Non-economic damages don’t have a pre-determined value like economic ones do. They also lack hard evidence to prove their existence, such as receipts or bills. To prove and receive money for your non-economic damages, you’ll need the help of a reputable personal injury lawyer.
Non-economic damages generally include:
- Pain and suffering: The physical and emotional pain and suffering you endure or will continue to endure due to your injuries.
- Scarring or disfigurement: If your personal injury left you with injuries that will leave noticeable scars, required the amputation of a body part, or otherwise gave you a disfigurement, you deserve money for the humiliation and emotional struggles you will face.
- Loss of consortium: Injuries can impact relationships, especially those with your spouse and children. Loss of consortium includes affection and sexual relations. It is the spouse or another family member who is entitled to such damages.
- Loss of enjoyment of life: Even seemingly minor injuries can cause you to miss out on things you enjoy or had planned. Personal injury victims can miss family functions, school performances, hobbies, recreational activities, and vacations simply because of their injuries. You deserve to be compensated for the impact the losses have on your life.
Non-economic damages are difficult to value. Insurance companies often downplay them since they often can’t be proven with tangible evidence, but that doesn’t mean you are any less deserving of compensation for them. Generally, non-economic damages are worth between 1.5 and 5 times the value of your economic damages. Severely injured individuals will receive more compensation than ones with minor or moderate injuries.
The attorneys at our firm are skilled in determining how much your claim is worth based on your damages. We will make every effort to negotiate a settlement that reflects the value of your losses. Suppose the insurance company is unwilling to offer you a settlement that you feel is sufficient for your damages. In that case, we have the experience and aren’t afraid to litigate your claim.
What Should I Do if I Think I Have a Personal Injury Claim?
If you think you might have a personal injury claim, your actions and inactions both now and into the future can impact your claim’s worth. Consider the following tips from our knowledgeable attorneys:
- Get medical attention: Seek medical care as soon as possible after your injury. If you don’t, you could put your health and wellbeing at risk, as well as your financial recovery for your injuries.
- Meet with a personal injury attorney: An attorney can put you on the right track and ensure you take all the necessary steps specific to your claim.
- Don’t talk to the insurance company: You might fall for any of the dozens of tactics insurance adjusters use to deny or devalue your claim. When you have hired a personal injury lawyer, refer them to your lawyer’s office instead of speaking with them.
- Continue to get medical care: Follow your doctor’s instructions about follow-up care, treatments, and any restrictions to your activities. If you don’t, the insurance company can argue that you aren’t as hurt as you say you are.
- Don’t post about your accident or injuries on social media: In fact, avoid social media altogether if possible. The insurance company could find what you have posted and use it against you. For example, if you post a picture of yourself at dinner with some friends, they could say that you aren’t really that injured if you were physically able to go out to dinner.
- Don’t talk about your injuries or accident with other people: For the same reason you don’t want to post on social media, you never know whom the insurance company could depose or what might come back around to them.
- Don’t talk to witnesses: If there are witnesses to the circumstances that caused your injuries, don’t speak to them other than to obtain their contact information. It’s best if you don’t talk to them to preserve their credibility in your claim. You don’t want to give the impression that they are offering a biased witness account of your accident.
Why Choose the Orlando Personal Injury Attorneys at Pardy & Rodriguez?
Our firm litigates lawsuits on behalf of personal injury victims in courts throughout the state of Florida. Whether you live in Orlando, Tampa, Kissimmee, Poinciana, Haines City, or Sarasota, we have legal professionals near you who are ready to help you get what you deserve.
Each case is given undivided attention by the partners of the firm. Our support staff members are experienced and trained in their respective areas. They are focused on their responsibilities as well as ensuring that each client is never left with a question unanswered. We hire the best in the field and work with top experts, specialists, and investigators.
We understand the financial impact that an injury can cause from medical bills, loss of income, and impaired quality of life from a disability. Our attorneys are here to help. We give every case personal attention and push for an expedited resolution.
If you or a loved one has been seriously injured, please contact us for a free consultation with a personal injury lawyer in Orlando, FL. If your claim is with an insurance company, talk to our personal injury attorneys first before trying to negotiate a conclusion to your claim. Insurers employ sophisticated strategies to reduce or deny claims. Their tactics involve gaining your confidence then asking questions about your injury in an attempt to obtain a statement that can later be used against you. They may even try to persuade you to believe that you are at fault in an effort to reduce or deny your claim.
When you work with the Orlando personal injury attorneys at Pardy & Rodriguez, you will receive:
- High Quality Service
- Respect
- AND MOST IMPORTANTLY- Results!