Injuries involving the back and spine often require extensive—and expensive—medical treatment. Back injuries can happen on the job, in a slip and fall accident, in a car crash, while playing sports, or as a result of a defective product. However you sustained a serious back injury, you may have a legal claim for compensation if an act of negligence caused or contributed to the incident. Our Jacksonville personal injury lawyers can help.
A back injury lawyer can help you explore the possibility of filing an insurance claim or personal injury lawsuit. The Law Offices ofAnidjar & Levine offers free consultations to answer your questions and explore your options for seeking financial compensation.
Calculating the Dollar Value of Your Back Injury Claim
The amount of your claim will depend on the economic and non-economic damages you have suffered to date and your need for future treatment.
Potentially compensable damages may include:
- Your medical care and treatment costs to date
- Your lost wages to date
- Any property damage you suffered (e.g., car repair or replacement costs)
- Any miscellaneous or out-of-pocket expenses
- Reduced earning capacity if you cannot return to work
- Future medical costs if you require long-term care
Finally, we can include non-economic damages in your claim as well, including:
- Pain and suffering
- Lost enjoyment of life
- Mental anguish
- Disability or disfigurement
- Loss of consortium
Proving Your Need For Back Injury Damages
We value the opportunity to sit down with clients, discuss their cases with them, and create a comprehensive list of all the economic and non-economic damages they sustained. However, this is only step one of building a persuasive case.
To prove you deserve the damages you are seeking, we have to:
- Collect relevant evidence: For example, we may review your medical bills and records, speak with your relatives about how the accident impacted your health, and so on.
- Calculate a precise dollar amount: Using legal formulas, evidence, and our years of legal experience, we can determine how much money the liable party’s insurance company should pay you.
- Present our case to the insurer: Your attorney can schedule a meeting with the insurance adjuster to discuss your case and demonstrate that we have sufficient evidence to support the amount you want them to pay.
Options For Seeking Compensation For Your Back Injury
No matter how you sustain your injuries, the effects can be devastating and long-lasting, if not permanent. You may be unable to work, drive, or care for yourself. You will likely need extensive medical treatment, physical therapy, and rehabilitation.
Depending on the nature of your back injury, we can take different actions to seek fair compensation.
Filing A Jacksonville Workers’ Compensation Claim
If your injury took place at work, workers’ compensation insurance should provide medical treatment and compensate you for some portion of your lost wages.
However, if the insurance company denies your workers’ compensation claim – or if a third party’s negligence contributed to your accident – a back injury lawyer can help hold the negligent party responsible.
Filing An Insurance Claim For A Back Injury
For other types of injury accidents, you can often pursue a settlement from the at-fault party’s liability insurance. A back injury lawyer can help you navigate the complex legal aspects of filing a claim and pursuing a fair settlement for your injuries and damages.
Filing A Personal Injury Lawsuit
When an insurance claim fails to yield fair compensation, or if a negligent party lacks coverage, we can file a personal injury lawsuit on your behalf. We can present your case before a judge and handle all of the paperwork associated with going to trial.
Filing A Wrongful Death Lawsuit
Sometimes, a back injury accident also causes fatal injuries to the victim. In this case, the victim’s survivors may have a right to pursue compensation through a wrongful death lawsuit.
In a wrongful death suit, you can seek compensation for your own suffering (e.g., grief and loss of companionship), as well as any suffering the victim went through and never received compensation for, including the pain and medical expenses associated with their back injury.
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How a Back Injury Attorney Can Handle Your Case
The Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine provide comprehensive legal representation for back injury clients in Jacksonville. Our compassionate team of personal injury lawyers and legal professionals understands your situation, and we know how to help.
Proving Negligence In Your Injury Case
We begin by identifying the act of negligence that led to your injury to determine who has liability for your damages. Depending on the details, we can build your claim by obtaining evidence to prove negligence.
Proving negligence involves establishing the following four steps:
- First, the liable party had a duty to behave cautiously and carefully to protect those around them.
- Second, the liable party failed in this duty, either by breaking the law or behaving in a way that no reasonable person in their position would behave.
- Third, this failure of duty was directly responsible for your back injury.
- Finally, your back injury has caused you noticeable physical, emotional, and financial pain.
Gathering Evidence Of Negligence
To gather evidence of negligence and liability, we will utilize our network of resources, including:
- Investigators
- Medical and safety experts
- Accident scene specialists
We will dig diligently to find and interview witnesses, obtain accident scene photos, review police reports, and uncover any other information that will help us prove fault.
Negotiating With The Liable Insurance Companies
Once we submit your claim, we will push the insurance company to negotiate a settlement. Obtaining a settlement can help avoid the time and hassle of a lawsuit. We can pursue a settlement by:
- Speaking with the insurance adjuster either in person, over the phone, or both
- Presenting the evidence we have collected and arguing strongly for the money we know you deserve
- Attending as many meetings as necessary to negotiate a fair agreement
- Preparing the settlement agreement once we have reached one
- Answering any questions about the agreement before you sign it and receive your money.
However, if the insurance company will not negotiate in good faith, we can move forward with legal action to compel a response.
Representing You in a Jacksonville Personal Injury Trial
We will be there for you throughout the legal process, getting you the treatment and resources you need. We can represent you at a trial to seek a court-awarded offer. Our team will handle every detail, free you to focus on your health and recovery.
Providing You Client-Focused Legal Care
When you trust your back injury case to us, we promise never to treat you like one of many case files on a desk. Our Jacksonville lawyers provide personalized legal services by tailoring their legal strategy to suit each individual client’s needs. What might work for one case may not work for another, and we understand that.
Our goal is to get you the settlement or court-awarded order so that you can get your life back on track. We will also make sure that you can contact us throughout your case with any questions that you may have. Our team will never leave you in the dark about your case.
Proving Liability for a Back Injury
Our approach to establishing fault and liability for your damages depends on the details of your case and the accident that led to your back injury.
Back Injuries from Slip and Fall Accidents
Whether you slipped and fell at a business, a residence, or on a public sidewalk, we can pursue a premises liability claim with the property owner and their insurance company. For these cases, we can prove negligence by demonstrating that the property owner failed to maintain a safe environment or warn you of a potential hazard.
Car Accidents Can Lead to Severe Injuries
For car accidents, motorcycle crashes, and other motor vehicle accidents, we must establish that the at-fault party owed you a duty of care to avoid an accident. We must also demonstrate how the at-fault party breached their duty of care, causing the accident that led to your injuries. This might involve proving that a driver was distracted or impaired or that a commercial trucking company failed to provide necessary training or maintain its vehicles.
Injuries Due to Job-Related Accidents
If your job duties involve lifting heavy objects or performing strenuous manual labor, you could be at risk of a back injury from:
- Falling off a ladder or scaffold
- Lifting objects that are too heavy for a single person or without proper safety equipment (e.g., a support belt)
- Being hit by a motor vehicle
- Being hit by falling debris or equipment
For back injuries that occur in the workplace, we must determine whether gross negligence occurred on the part of your employer, if a third party’s negligent acts led to your accident, or if both parties are responsible. In addition to a workers’ compensation claim, you may have legal grounds to pursue a personal injury claim or lawsuit.
Accidents Caused by Defective Products
Sometimes, a back injury occurs due to a defective product, such as a vehicle component, construction equipment, or flooring. When a defective product causes an accident, the product manufacturer may bear liability for any injuries that result. We can investigate your case to prove negligence played a role in your case.
You Have A Limited Time To Take Legal Action
Time is of the essence, as Florida imposes a statute of limitations that requires you to take legal action within a specified period. If you fail to file a lawsuit within the statutory period, you could lose your right to seek compensation for your back injury.
Seeking compensation usually does not begin with filing a lawsuit. We usually try to obtain a fair settlement through an insurance claim first. It is important to keep in mind that negotiations with insurers take time. You will want to give your Jacksonville lawyer as much time as possible to investigate your case, gather evidence, file a claim, and negotiate a settlement.
Contact A Back Injury Law Firm Today
The Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine want to make this challenging time easier for you and your family. A back injury lawyer from our firm can do everything from filing your case to negotiating a settlement. Call us to get a free consultation from our Jacksonville office today.
