Statistically, if you’re a pedestrian who has been in a car accident, you’ve sustained some level of injuries. In fact, in 2021 and 2022, 85% of the nearly 20,000 pedestrian accidents resulted in injury or death in the state of Florida. Those are daunting numbers.
Source: FLHSMV
If you are one of the thousands of pedestrians injured in Florida annually, you are entitled to compensation from the at-fault party or their insurer. The Pompano Beach personal injury law firm, Long, Jean & Wechsler, P.A., will offer you a free consultation. If we accept your case, you will not have to pay out of pocket for our legal services.
What is a Pedestrian Accident Lawyer?
Personal injury lawyers in Florida pursue damages on behalf of plaintiffs. Pedestrian crashes are one of the many incidents that personal injury lawyers handle. Because of the nature of pedestrian accidents, injuries can be severe, which means the damage amounts are significant. If you’ve been hit by a car, it’s important that you have an attorney with specific experience in pedestrian accident law. This will ensure you receive the best representation possible.
How to Determine a Pedestrian Lawyer’s Legal Expertise
Your pedestrian accident case is important to you. Depending on your injuries, it may be the most important thing going on in your life right now. So, how do you know you’re choosing the right lawyer? Here’s a checklist that will help you determine whether the attorney you’re talking to is right for your case:
- Focuses on Personal Injury Law – This is not the time to experiment with an attorney who is trying to branch out into personal injury law. You want to hire a lawyer who has been working in the personal injury field for a good portion of their career.
- Specific Pedestrian Accident Cases – If a personal injury attorney handles traffic accidents, they should also have some experience with pedestrian accidents. Ask them about car vs. pedestrian accidents they’ve successfully handled in the past.
- Local Representation – It only makes sense to hire an attorney who works in the geographic area where you were struck. A local personal injury lawyer will not only be familiar with the local terrain and traffic laws but will also be familiar with the civil court system in your county.
- Testimonials and Referrals – Personal injury clients who are happy with their attorneys will often provide testimonials. Ask your prospective attorney to see testimonials from accident victims that they represented.
Legal Team Resources
Large national firms will often talk about the extensive resources that they have available to them. However, if you’ve been in a pedestrian accident in Broward County, you probably don’t need access to an accident reconstruction expert in Wichita, Kansas. However, your law firm should have access to an extensive network of local resources.
As a Pompano Beach, FL, pedestrian accident law firm, we have a large in-house legal team to facilitate the needs of our clients, including attorneys, paralegals, legal secretaries, and support staff. We also can employ South Florida’s doctors, surgeons, medical experts, private investigators, accident reconstruction experts, and more. We also have an excellent rapport with members of the local police departments and the Broward County courthouse.
As your attorneys, these are exactly the types of local assets that we need to construct an ironclad pedestrian accident case. Because we are a local law firm that does not have to report to a large bureaucracy, we are able to manage our caseloads in a way where each of our clients receives the attention that they need.
Trial Experience
It often surprises accident victims to learn that, statistically, their case will never see the inside of a courtroom. Most personal injury cases reach a settlement before they go to trial. It’s still essential that your legal team has litigation experience. Here’s why:
- Even if your case doesn’t make it to trial, there may be pretrial motions that can affect the amount of your settlement or the viability of your case.
- Insurance companies have teams of lawyers that can measure the strength of your representation. If your law firm has a questionable reputation in court, they may be more likely to take your case to trial.
- If the defense will not come to a reasonable settlement, arbitration or court may be your best option.
Make sure that the law firm representing you not only has extensive trial experience but also a winning courtroom track record. This will put you in a position of strength when it comes to negotiation, either before or during trial.
Qualities of a Good Pedestrian Accident Law Firm
There are many South Florida pedestrian accident firms that will handle your case on a contingency basis. How will you know if a law firm is right for you? Here are some qualities that you want to look for in a law firm and its attorneys.
Client-Centered Approach
Many law firms focus on maximizing their attorneys’ caseloads. They maximize profitability by settling cases quickly. This type of approach can be highly profitable, but it also means that many of their clients are settling their cases for less than what they’re worth.
LJW puts our clients first. We take the number of cases that we can comfortably handle without pressuring our teams to settle rapidly. This is a slower method, but it increases the individual settlement amounts for our clients.
Empathy and Compassion
If you’ve been injured in a pedestrian accident, you may be worried about your health, your job, and your finances. Personal injury attorneys must be empathetic to your plight. Our legal team is here to answer your questions, and your attorney will respond to you personally if our support staff can’t provide an immediate answer.
Understanding Client Needs
At Long, Jean & Wechsler, P.A., we aren’t just the face of your negotiations with the insurer. Our attorneys are prepared to represent you in other aspects of your recovery. For example, we can issue letters of protection to medical practices to ensure that you receive medical treatment, even if you can’t afford it until your case settles. If you require an accommodation to continue working, we can discuss this with your lawyer on your behalf. This extra attention to detail is what separates LJW from some other South Florida personal injury firms.
Personalized Legal Strategies
No two accidents are alike. Your injuries and damages are unique. We will tailor your legal strategy to your specific case.
Legal Ethics
The Florida Bar establishes rules and ethics for attorneys. These ethics govern the way that attorneys can present themselves to the public, rules for advertising, and more. These categories particularly apply to personal injury cases.
Contingency Fees
Attorneys in Florida can charge a fixed fee, by billable hours, or on a contingency basis. Personal injury lawyers usually work on a contingency basis, which means they collect their fees from the proceeds of the case. The Florida Bar establishes the contingency fee schedule. However, you should ask your attorney to see their contingency fee schedule before hiring them for your case.
Termination of Contract
Your attorney can drop your case in Florida but with cause. For instance, if they had discovered that there’s a conflict of interest that was not apparent when they took the case, or they discover that you have been withholding information from them, they can elect to terminate their contract with you.
This is just a survey of a few ethical issues. If you believe that your attorney is in breach of their ethical obligations, contact the Florida Bar Ethics Hotline today.
Case Assessment
A reputable personal injury firm will only represent you if they believe that you have a viable case. For pedestrian accidents, your lawyer must be able to establish the four elements of liability:
- Duty of Care – All persons using the Florida roadways have a legal duty of care for others. This means that they must drive attentively, maintain the safety equipment on their vehicles, and adhere to traffic laws.
- Breach of Duty – In order for there to be a viable case, the defendant must have breached their duty of care. For example, the driver stops at a red light but encroaches on the pedestrian crosswalk. Because drivers are prohibited from proceeding into the crosswalk when they have a red light, this would be a breach of duty.
- Causation – In order for you to collect damages for a pedestrian accident, the defendant’s breach of duty must have either caused the accident to happen, contributed to the cause of the accident, and/or made the accident worse than what it would have been otherwise. For example, if a vehicle strikes a pedestrian because the driver failed to stop for a traffic device, in all likelihood, an attorney could show that they caused the accident.
- Damages – In order for there to be an actionable case, the plaintiff must have sustained damages. Damages include items like medical expenses, lost wages, property damage, and pain and suffering.
During your initial evaluation, our attorneys will determine whether or not all four elements exist. In addition, they will examine the strengths and weaknesses of the case. Under Florida’s comparative negligence law, you can collect damages for a pedestrian accident, even if you were partially responsible. For example, if you were walking along the side of the roadway instead of on the sidewalk and were struck by a car, you might be 20% responsible for the accident. In this situation, you could collect up to 80% of your total damages.
During your initial consultation, your attorney should discuss possible outcomes with you. No attorney should guarantee results. If they do, you should consider this a red flag and consider seeking other counsel.
What You Should Expect as a Client
If you’ve been injured in an accident, it will help you if you know what your attorney should be doing for you. Here are some of the responsibilities of the accident attorney:
- Act as a liaison between you and the responsible party (i.e., the defendant and their insurer)
- Collect medical records on your behalf
- Subpoena and depose all witnesses
- Collect evidence that supports your case
- Review discovery evidence provided by the other side
- Contract expert witnesses to support your case
- Calculate all economic and non-economic damages
- Prepare a demand letter for the defendant
- Prepare you for deposition
- Answer questions you may have as the process evolves
- Negotiate with insurance companies on your behalf
- File an accident claim if you haven’t already
- File a lawsuit
- File or defend against pretrial motions
- Litigate the case in court
- Issue Letters of Protection (LOPs) to doctors
This is by no means an exhaustive list. Pedestrian accident cases are complicated, and your attorney may have to perform many case-specific tasks. However, at LJW, you will not have to pay out of pocket for our legal services. We only collect our fees if we successfully settle or litigate your case.
Frequently Asked Questions
These are some of the most common questions we hear from our pedestrian accident clients. Contact us for the answers to your questions:
How Long Do I Have to File a Claim?
The statute of limitations in Florida is four years from the date of the accident. After that, you will not be able to collect damages for your case. For wrongful death claims, the statute of limitations is only two years from the date of death.
Can I Still Use an Attorney if I Have Already Filed a Claim?
Unless you’ve accepted a settlement from the defendant, we can represent you. If you have accepted a settlement and signed a waiver of liability, you do not have the ability to seek additional damages. That’s why we always recommend calling a lawyer as soon as possible.
Are there Damage Caps for Pedestrian Accidents in Florida?
There are no caps on economic and non-economic damages in Florida. Punitive damages have a cap of $500,000 or three times the amount of other damages (whichever is more). Punitive damages are not always awarded in personal injury cases.
If you’ve been injured in a pedestrian accident, you need to seek representation immediately. Contact the Pompano Beach, FL, personal injury firm of Long, Jean & Wechsler, P.A. today!
