Can I Sue for Personal Injury Even If I Was at Fault?mCar accidents are costly because of the property damage they create, and your injuries, which result in medical bills, lost earnings, and other out-of-pocket costs. But even if you were at fault, is there a way to cut back on your expenses by filing a personal injury claim?
You might, according to a personal injury lawyer in Fort Walton Beach. Even while personal injury protection (PIP), a type of no-fault insurance, covers drivers in Florida, you will only be reimbursed for around half of your medical expenses and lost income.
This implies that even while you cannot sue the other motorist for further damages, you may still bring a personal injury claim if you have catastrophic injuries. What you need to know is as follows.
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What Florida Defines as Serious Injuries
Since the majority of injuries sustained in auto accidents are “severe,” the term may seem ambiguous. However, according to Florida Statute 627.737, the following constitutes significant injuries:
- A victim that suffered a permanent loss of an important body function
- Significant or permanent disfigurement or scarring
- Wrongful death
- A permanent injury or scarring other than disfiguring within a reasonable degree of medical probability
Finding blame is essential for getting damage awards in Florida because it is a no-fault jurisdiction. If you have a personal injury claim in Florida worth roughly $100,000 and you are 20% at blame for the occurrence, you will only be awarded $80,000 in compensation because Florida uses a pure comparative fault system.
Proving Fault or Negligence
If you intend to obtain any damages after a Florida vehicle accident, you must establish culpability. However, even if you are at fault, you may still be entitled to compensation. A personal injury attorney will likely be retained by the plaintiff—the individual who files the lawsuit—to establish their innocence and your negligence.
In order to establish negligence, the plaintiff must present evidence showing that you owed them a duty of care, that you violated that duty, that the violation directly contributed to the vehicle accident, and that the victim suffered damages as a result of the violation.
The plaintiff’s attorney will almost certainly hire accident reconstruction specialists and witnesses to prove causation in order to show what caused the accident. Assume you are accused of causing an automobile accident. In that situation, the plaintiff must establish causation—including both economic and non-economic damages—that the accident caused their injuries.
The comparative fault system and hiring your own personal injury attorney are your greatest options as a defendant. For instance, if the other driver was texting and driving instead of paying attention to the road, they may have been unable to avoid hitting you in an accident while you were speeding.
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What You Should Do After a Car Accident
You should never accept fault in an automobile accident, even if you are mostly to blame. Call the police and an ambulance to the location so they can evaluate your injuries and take pictures of the accident scene.
Contact a personal injury attorney right after noting everyone who was involved, including any witnesses. Automobile collisions aren’t usually the result of one person’s carelessness. There could be additional contributing elements, such as poor roads or broken mechanisms. While you recover and rest, let your attorney handle the labor-intensive case preparation. To find out if you can file a personal injury claim even if it was your fault, schedule a consultation with one.