The accidents that cause catastrophic, life-changing injuries usually come out of nowhere. They can land victims in the hospital facing uncertain futures, and leave families grieving a loss and wondering where to turn. In a car accident, slip-and-fall accident, negligent security, structure fire, defective product accident, or similar incident, if someone else’s negligence has caused the injured person’s harm they can and should be held accountable. In most cases, this means seeking compensation through insurance policies they hold. In other cases, if there’s no fault in an accident, you may be able to turn to your own insurance for financial relief.
The personal injury lawyers of Payer & Associates take up the cause of the injured in South Florida. When injuries occur, we help those who have been unjustly harmed put their lives back together. We help to make sure insurance companies pay the injured what they are due — all that they are due for medical expenses and other losses as prescribed by Florida law.
- Bicycle Accidents
- Brain Injury
- Burn Injury
- Car Accidents
- Child Injury
- Insurance Claims
- Motorcycle Accidents
- Pedestrian Accidents
- Premises Liability
- Spinal Cord Injury
- Truck Accidents
- Workers’ Compensation
- Wrongful Death
Why Hire Payer & Associates South Florida Personal Injury Attorneys
The goal of an injury attorney should be to get you as much money for your injuries as possible while providing you with the personal and professional legal counsel that you need throughout your case and beyond. That’s always the goal of Payer & Associates in any slip-and-fall, automobile accident, negligent security, product liability or other personal injury case. Attorneys James D. Payer and Christian G. Payer have dedicated their legal careers to helping injured individuals and their families in South Florida. They have focused the knowledge and skills gained from 40 years of combined experience on an aggressive pursuit of maximum compensation for their clients.
But beyond obtaining compensation for our clients, the entire team at Payer & Associates works to make sure our clients know they are not alone. From our initial consultations, which are always free, through negotiated settlements or court trials, we are available day and night, including over weekends, to answer your questions and concerns. Call Payer & Associates if you have suffered a serious personal injury in the Greater Miami region of South Miami, Miami Gardens, Hialeah, and all of Miami-Dade County, Broward County and Monroe County. Let us take up the fight for you.
Our No. 1 Goal: Get Our Clients the Money They Deserve by Making Insurers Pay What You Deserve After an Accident
People who have suffered catastrophic personal injuries or whose families are upended by bad accidents learn two hard lessons very quickly:
- Medical care is incredibly expensive and bills pile up with amazing speed.
- Insurance companies are especially reluctant to make full and fair payouts on personal injury claims and often try and trick you into accepting a “low-ball offer”.
At the heart of what personal injury lawyers like ours at Payer & Associates do for their clients is to work to compel insurance companies to pay claims. Insurance policies are contracts, and they and Florida law establish legal obligations insurance carriers should be held to. Unfortunately, contracts and personal injury law are complex. The insurers and their adjusters who work with them every day understand how to manipulate them far better than you, and will not hesitate to take advantage of you. Too many insurance adjusters worker harder to protect their company’s bottom line than they do to help their policyholders. You can bet that an initial offer from an insurance company is a low-ball offer that is far less than you need and deserve.
All insurers owe a fiduciary duty to their policyholders. If an insurer fails to act reasonably in fulfilling this fiduciary duty, it may be subject to a bad faith claim. Florida law specifically allows a policyholder to bring a first-party bad faith cause of action if you are treated unfairly or taken advantage of. Because there are so many advantages that insurers have over you, you need a dedicated personal injury attorney on your side as soon as possible after a bad accident. At Payer & Associates, we work solely for injured individuals and their families. We never work for insurance companies. Our goal is to make sure insurers pay you every dime you have coming to you after an accident. And we are ready to fight for what’s right.
Our Injury Lawyers Will Seek Maximum Compensation for Injured People in South Florida
At Payer & Associates, our task as your personal injury attorneys is to determine and document the full cost of your injuries and present those records to the insurance company so the insurance adjuster can evaluate your case and determine the proper payout for you. And by proper payout, we mean everything you have coming to you. We seek to settle claims through negotiation, but if a proper and fair agreement cannot be reached, we are always prepared to go to court to get you what you deserve. Florida law spells out the compensation or “damages” an injured party may seek and obtain in a personal injury claim. A personal injury claim might be pursued after a car accident or slip-and-fall accident, for injuries in a fire or explosion, or in a product liability claim.
Among the damages you may be able to recover compensation for in a personal injury lawsuit are:
- Medical expenses
- Lost income
- Property damage
- Mental anguish
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Loss of familial relationship (loss of consortium)
- Pain and suffering
- Scarring or disfigurement
However, Florida follows the rule of “pure comparative negligence.” This means the amount of compensation you recover in a personal injury claim may be reduced according to the degree of fault assigned by a jury to you for the accident. For example, if a jury finds that the total compensation (damages) you deserve is $100,000, and that you are 20 percent at fault for the accident, you would only receive $80,000.
Florida’s PIP Car Accident Insurance
In car accidents, Florida law spells out requirements for Personal Injury Protection (PIP) automobile insurance coverage that is required in the State of Florida. PIP, pays up to $10,000 in medical and disability benefits and $5,000 in death benefits per person killed in an accident. PIP is frequently called “no-fault insurance” because in theory it pays no matter who is at fault in a car accident. PIP does not apply to accidents involving farm equipment, recreational or off-road vehicles, mopeds, and motorcycles (though motorcycle PIP policies are available), and it has further exclusions.
In addition to the exceptions and caveats already written into law and insurance contracts, the law constantly evolves as new cases change how the law is interpreted or public needs or politics prompt legislative action. Because serious accident and injury cases are so complex, they require a personal injury attorney with extensive knowledge of the law and experience developing and pressing cases to know what damages are allowable and available to you. Your attorney also needs to know how to work with any potential for a court to find comparative negligence on your part, which could hurt your claim.
Statute of Limitations for Personal Injury Lawsuits in Florida
In Florida, the statute of limitations for personal injury lawsuits is four years from the date that the injury occurred. This means that you will need to file your personal injury lawsuit as soon as possible. If an injury lawsuit is filed after four years from the date of the injury, Florida courts may refuse to hear your case. For more details on the Florida statute of limitations for injury cases, see section 95.11(3) of Florida Statutes.
Miami Personal Injury FAQs
- Why do I need a personal injury lawyer?
- Can any attorney handle my case?
- How do I find a personal injury lawyer?
- How do I make a personal injury claim?
- How do I pick a personal injury lawyer in Miami or Fort Lauderdale?
- How do I prepare for an initial meeting with my personal injury attorney in Miami or Fort Lauderdale?
- How do I win a personal injury claim?
- How do insurance companies know about pre-existing conditions?
- Will my Florida personal injury case settle out of court?
Contact a Miami Personal Injury Lawyer Today
If you don’t hire the right personal injury lawyer to handle your personal injury case in Miami or Fort Lauderdale, that decision could cost you and your family a substantial amount of money. Don’t count on the insurance company to do what’s right. You need someone on your side who’s ready to fight for you. Contact a Miami personal injury lawyer at Payer & Associates tonight.
