St. Petersburg Personal Injury Lawyers

You may have a personal injury case in St. Petersburg if someone injured you due to negligence. A person is negligent if they fail to act like a reasonable person and cause injury to another party.

Most personal injury cases are based on negligence, including those arising from motor vehicle accidents, workplace accidents, slip and falls, St. Petersburg medical malpractice, and other injury-causing events.

You may have a case even if you weren’t injured due to someone’s negligence. Some personal injuries are strict liability cases. These cases don’t require you to prove that another person was negligent, just that they engaged in certain unlawful conduct. Injuries arising from dog bites and product defects are two examples of possible strict liability cases.

In negligence and strict liability cases, an at-fault party typically doesn’t injure a victim on purpose. Typically, the injury was a result of carelessness. However, some personal injury cases are based on intentional torts. In other words, you may have a case if someone intentionally injured you. For example, assault might provide grounds for a civil lawsuit.

The best way to figure out whether you have a personal injury case is to contact a skilled St. Petersburg personal injury attorney. We handle all types of personal injury cases, and we offer free consultations.

If you’ve suffered harm due to another party’s negligence, you could be entitled to substantial compensation to cover your economic and non-economic losses.

Economic damages are the financial costs associated with your injuries, such as:

• Medical expenses
• Out-of-pocket costs
• Lost wages
• Diminished earning capacity
• Loss of future income
• Property damage

Non-economic damages can mean payment for:

• Pain and suffering
• Mental anguish
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Loss of quality of life
• Scarring or disfigurement
• Loss of consortium

Punitive damages may be available only in some cases when the defendant acted intentionally or with gross negligence. These damages are intended to punish the defendant.

A St. Petersburg personal injury lawyer can significantly increase your chances of a successful personal injury claim. One study suggests that having a lawyer can help you achieve up to 3x more compensation for your injury claim than you would if you represented yourself.

A lawyer can help in the following key ways:

• Level the playing field. It’s likely that your case will involve an insurance company along the way. The insurance company has almost endless assets to fight your personal injury claim. They will use all of them to try to get you to accept less money than you deserve. An attorney gives you access to your own key resources and evens the odds between you and the insurance company.
• Knowledge of the law and injury claims process. There are many laws and rules that apply to injury claims. Making just one mistake in your injury claim can mean walking away with no money at all. An attorney can help you navigate the claims process without making mistakes that will jeopardize your claim.
• You’ll be blamed. Insurance companies love to use comparative fault rules to try to take money away from victims. They will try to blame you for your accident or injuries so they can pay less compensation. A lawyer can help protect you from unfair allegations that you share blame for your injuries — and secure you get the full compensation you deserve.
• You need time to rest. Injury claims require a lot of time and energy — things you may not have if you’re recovering from an accident. Your personal injury attorney can handle all legal and administrative aspects of your claim. That way, you can focus one what’s most important — getting medical treatment and your health.

Most of the times, there are no upfront costs. The majority of injury lawyers utilize contingency fee agreements for injury cases. These allow injury victims, who are typically facing financial struggles due to medical expenses, lost wages, lost earning ability, etc. to secure quality legal representation without handing out any fees at the beginning.

With one of these agreements, you only pay your attorney if they get compensation for your injury claim. This will come in the form of a settlement or verdict on your behalf. You will pay a percentage of this award to your lawyer (usually 33-40%) as compensation for their services.

Most injury lawyers also offer free consultations to prospective clients, eliminating all initial costs of hiring an attorney.

You have a limited time to file a claim or lawsuit in a case like this.

• You generally have two years from the date of the accident to file a personal injury lawsuit. However, note that historically, Florida’s statute of limitations gave accident victims four years to file — until the law was revised on March 24, 2023. Therefore, if your accident occurred before that date, you may have four years to take action. However, for accidents occurring after 3/24/23, you must adhere to the two-year statutory deadline.
• If the accident resulted in a family member’s death, you have two years from the date of death to file a wrongful death lawsuit.
• Medical malpractice lawsuits must be filed within two years of when the injury is or should have been discovered but no later than four years from the date of the incident.

Exceptions may apply in some cases. It’s crucial to contact an attorney as soon as possible to make sure that you don’t miss the statute of limitations that applies to your case. If you miss it, you’ll be barred from retrieving damages for your injuries.

Contact us to discuss your case and preserve your legal rights.

The timeline of your personal injury case will depend on the circumstances of your accident and injuries. Accidents with minor injuries and damages are the quickest to resolve – usually within one to three months. Accidents with moderate injuries can take longer to resolve — up to six months or more.

Accidents involving serious injuries can take the longest to resolve. You may have to reach maximum medical improvement before you have an accurate sense of your damages. These cases can take a year or more to resolve. 

Injury cases that proceed to court necessarily take the longest to complete. Hearings, discovery, and trial can add months to a case. Having a qualified St. Petersburg injury lawyer can help you push your case along to prompt resolution without sacrificing compensation.

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