Miami Lakes Personal Injury Attorney

The town of Miami Lakes is a suburb of Miami, Florida, located within the northwest corner of Miami-Dade County, with an estimated population of 30,000 residents and is home to over 1,100 businesses. The 31st municipality in Miami-Dade County, Miami Lakes is one of the younger cities in South Florida. Because it is part of the heavily populated Tri-County area, those living or visiting Miami Lakes are just as much at risk of being involved in an accident and suffering a personal injury as those visiting other parts of the county.

Negligence: Why It Matters

Most personal injury cases are based on the theory of negligence. Negligence is the failure to act with the level of care that an ordinary prudent person would have under the same circumstances. While negligence usually consists of actions, it can also consist of a failure to act when there is a duty to take action. There are four elements that a plaintiff must prove for a negligence case to succeed:

• Duty: The defendant owed a legal duty to the plaintiff;
• Breach: The defendant failed to exercise reasonable care and did not fulfill the duty owed to the plaintiff;
• Proximate cause: The accident happened because of the defendant’s actions, or failure to act;
• Damages: The defendant’s negligent conduct actually harmed the plaintiff.

Typically, the injury must be bodily and/or emotional harm and/or harm to real or personal property in order to be able to seek monetary compensation.

Establishing negligence in your Miami Lakes personal injury lawsuit is vital because it determines who is responsible for paying monetary compensation for the injuries suffered. It also determines how much you will be awarded, based on the allocation of fault determined by a Florida judge and/or jury. This is because Florida law specifically reduces a plaintiff’s award of damages based on the percentage at fault he or she is found to be in the accident. This is known as a pure comparative fault doctrine.

Damages: Monetary Compensation Available

Florida law allows a plaintiff to seek monetary compensation for personal injuries. Compensatory damages are awarded in a civil case where a loss has occurred due to the negligence or unlawful conduct of another. Common damages awarded in a personal injury lawsuit by a judge and/or jury include expenses for past and/or future medical treatment, loss of past and future income, property loss, pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment, and/or loss of consortium. The goal of compensatory damages are to make the victim whole again from a monetary standpoint by putting the injured party in the same position he or she was before the accident.

In cases where the defendant’s actions or failure to act are deemed outrageously careless or particularly egregious, punitive damages may be awarded. The purpose of punitive damages is to punish the defendant for that conduct and deter the behavior from happening again in the future. If awarded, punitive damages are in addition to compensatory damages.

Help in Miami Lakes

The Law Offices of Joseph I. Lipsky, P.A. have been advocating for injured victims in South Florida, including Miami Lakes, for more than 25 years. To learn about your rights and obligations under the law, contact the firm’s personal injury attorneys today by calling 305-821-7333.