HOW MUCH IS MY PERSONAL INJURY CASE WORTH IN FLORIDA?

There are two fundamentals to a personal injury case in Florida: 1. Liability and 2. Damages.

LIABILITY IS FIRST.

Liability is the question of how did the incident happen, and then who is responsible for that incident. An injured person cannot collect a recovery unless there is an at-fault party and the injured person can prove the at-fault party was truly responsible for the injury incident. It helps to think of Liability as being on your Left-hand side. Damages are on your Right-hand side.  You do not get to an award of your damages (on your right side) unless you first prove liability (on your left side) against an at-fault person or at-fault company.

Consider an auto accident case. Auto accidents are very common in the State of Florida. In order for the injured person to collect they have to prove the other driver was at-fault for the auto accident. An injured claimant would have to prove liability to a jury if the case went to court. (NOTE: Most injury cases in Florida are not decided by a jury trial.) Sticking with the example of an auto accident case, at the end of all evidence presented a jury gets a jury verdict form which is usually only 2-3 pages with typically only 5 or 6 questions on it. The first couple of questions on the jury verdict form deal specifically with liability. The first question the jury decides is the fault—or not–of the Defendant. The second question asks whether there was fault on the part of the injured claimant, and sometimes a jury finds some percentage of the total fault against the injured claimant.  Other times the jury decides the claimant has no fault at all. This power to determine who is at fault, and how much at fault in percentages, is vested in the jury to decide. Not even the judge decides these questions, the jury decides percentages of fault (i.e., liability) in jury trials. Next is Damages.

DAMAGES COME AFTER LIABILITY QUESTIONS ARE ANSWERED IN THE CLAIMANT’S FAVOR.

On that 2-3 page jury verdict form the jury is given, if the jury finds primary fault on the part of the Defendant, only now can the jury award damages to the claimant.

If the finding of fault by the jury was totally against the claimant then there are no damages awarded to the claimant. Many attorneys do not want to be truthful with potential or existing clients that the client has to prove liability first, and only then does the claimant get to potentially recover damages from an at-fault person or party. Recall at the outset we said “LIABILITY” is in your Left hand, and “DAMAGES” are in your Right hand, but you don’t get to recover damages on the Right hand unless you have proven LIABILITY on the Left-hand side. No LIABILITY of a person or entity = No DAMAGES to recover.  Some would believe that if they are injured in a Wal-Mart or Target that those companies automatically owe the claimant a recovery, but that is not the law in Florida. Florida requires a claimant prove LIABILITY before a person can recover DAMAGES. What that means is just because a person sustains an injury in a Wal-Mart or Target, it does not mean the person will automatically get an award from them; the person has to prove the store is responsible for the injuries.

 WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE DAMAGES I COULD RECOVER?

Again, going back to the car accident scenario, after the injured claimant proves LIABILITY against an at-fault party, the next questions on the jury verdict form all have to do with DAMAGES. The next questions after LIABILITY are:

What is the total amount of medical bills of the claimant in the past.

What is the total amount of medical bills of the claimant in the future?

What is the total amount of wage loss of the claimant in the past?

What is the total lost earning capacity of the claimant in the future?

What is the total amount of pain and suffering of the claimant in the past?

What is the total amount of pain and suffering of the claimant in the future?

It is no secret that larger verdict awards usually come with higher medical bills in the past and for future. It only makes sense that an injury case with $100,000 in medical bills is more impressive to a jury than an injury case with only $500 in medical bills. There is no doubt that when a jury looks at how much “Pain and Suffering” to award that the jury looks at the total medical bills.

SUMMARY

Your personal injury case is ultimately worth what a jury says it is worth. There is no higher authority than the jury. Not even a judge can disregard a jury’s verdict in almost every personal injury case in Florida. This does not mean that a jury will decide your case. Again, most cases are not decided by a jury; however, an insurance company or at-fault company would examine your case as though a jury would decide it. This is because insurance companies and at-fault parties try to guess at best- and worst-case scenarios. To determine the worth of your case you need to first do the following:

1. Make an honest assessment of fault in the injury incident. Remember you cannot say, “I was in Target when I fell so Target automatically owes me money”. It does not work like that in Florida; you have to prove Target did something wrong to cause your injury. The same is true in auto accidents, pedestrian accidents, bicycle accidents, etc. The assessment of fault in an injury incident has to be honest as to what a jury would think, not what a claimant would want the facts to say. A jury in Florida is comprised of six people you have never met. (Jurors who know you are excused from the jury panel.)
2. What are the total of my medical bills. Your past medical bills are usually easy to show a jury. It is the total of medical bills you paid or are responsible for. For any future medical bills, note that a doctor has to say you need “X” procedure or treatment in the future, and it is going to cost “Y”. Only physicians get to testify on medical matters like cost of medical care.
3. What are my lost wages in the past and present. This is a 2-part question on wages. How much wage did I lose while I was hurt from the incident. 2nd, am I going to be able to make the same amount in the future since the accident? On future lost earning capacity this often requires expert witnesses to help establish those numbers. At FightingForFamilies.com that is something we help to establish for you.
4. What is my pain and suffering worth in the past and in the future. This is completely for the jury to decide. While it is easy math for a jury to read how much your medical bills were and how much your lost wages were, it is solely in the discretion of the jury to subjectively decide how much they feel the pain and suffering award should be.

Tying the factors altogether, as an example in an auto crash case, a claimant may have been rear-ended at a stop light and this usually means the rear-ending party is 100% at fault. When the jury decides liability in favor of the claimant, then the jury gets to decide an award for medical bills, wage loss, and pain and suffering. Therefore, after your medical treatment is complete, and you know how much your medical bills will be, and how much your wage loss will be, you can make an estimate on how much pain and suffering a jury might award.

Don’t be fooled by attorneys or their advertisements on-line who say they know how much your case is worth on Day 1. On Day 1 there is no way to know how much your case is worth because even you do not know how much your total medical bills are going to be, and if you are also missing time from work you do not know how much time and money that will be. Until you know the first two factors of damages—your total medical bills and your total lost wages—you can only guess what a jury might say about your pain and suffering damages. Yes, clients who have to stay in the hospital for weeks from their injuries their case will generally be of greater value than a person who only went into the walk-in clinic once for treatment. Despite what is portrayed on TV, the worth of your case comes down to: Can you prove fault on the other person/company, and then what are the totals of your medical bills, wages lost, and any pain and suffering a jury might award to you. Don’t be fooled by attorneys who act like they have a crystal ball for the value of your case as soon as you call them. If they are not going to be honest with you on the first call, you should not trust them to represent you. If you want truthful answers to your questions, call us at www.FightingForFamiies.com.