South Florida Law, PLLC | Hollywood Florida, Personal Injury Lawyer

If you or a loved one was hurt in an accident in the Hollywood, FL area, call Jared Newman, Esq. and the Hollywood, FL injury lawyers at South Florida Law, PLLC. Our attorneys offer free legal consultations and professional, compassionate legal representation for injury victims throughout South Florida. For a free legal consultation on your potential case, call our offices today at (954) 932-7877.

FILING A PERSONAL INJURY CASE IN HOLLYWOOD, FL

When you are injured because of something that someone else did or failed to do, you could be entitled to file a claim against them. In many cases, there are insurance policies that work to compensate injury victims, such as the car insurance that every driver in Florida is required to carry or the liability insurance that most businesses carry to cover accidents in stores and restaurants. However, these policies do not always pay full damages, and victims may need to file a lawsuit to get their injuries compensated.

Insurance companies work to deny claims and avoid high payouts to protect their bottom line. Most insurance policies are limited and do not cover 100% of damages. Most policies also explicitly exclude coverage for pain and suffering and other “non-economic” damages, which could be a large portion of your damages.

To get your case compensated in full, you might have to file a lawsuit against the at-fault party or parties in a court of law. When you take your case to court, you must prove four elements to win your case:

*The at-fault parties owed you a duty.
*They breached that duty.
*The breach of duty caused your injuries.
*The accident led to injuries and damages the court can order compensation for.

In most cases, the duty involved is the duty to act reasonably under the given circumstances. For instance, property owners have a duty to their guests to make sure that their property is reasonably safe and that hidden dangers are cleared or there are proper warnings posted. Another example is the duty that drivers must operate their vehicles in a reasonable manner. Some other duties are more explicit, such as the duty not to drive while intoxicated or the duty to make sure a workplace follows local building codes and OSHA standards.

EVIDENCE AND PROOF REQUIRED IN PERSONAL INJURY CASES IN HOLLYWOOD, FL

To win your case, you will need to prove each of those four elements listed above. The proof you provide in your case – the evidence – will come in many forms. If your evidence meets the “burden of proof,” then the judge and jury should rule in your favor and order compensation for all of the damages you can prove were related to your accident.

TYPES OF EVIDENCE

The most common form of evidence is the testimony. Witnesses can testify to what they saw happen, telling the jury how the accident occurred and what specific acts or omissions led to the injuries. Witnesses cannot usually give their opinion or testify to what other people thought or said, but observed facts are often enough to help prove what happened. Victims can also testify as witnesses in their own cases, explaining what happened from their viewpoint.

Documentation, video evidence, photos, and other records can also provide evidence in many cases. If your injury case involves physical items, such as defective products that injured you, you can produce those items as well.

Many times, evidence does not explicitly explain what happened but instead hints at the circumstances surrounding what happened. Contrary to what they say on court TV shows, this “circumstantial” evidence is often essential, especially when you need to prove things that you do have direct evidence of, such as someone’s intent in an assault and battery claim.

BURDEN OF PROOF

Personal injury cases are a type of civil case, and they use a lower burden of proof than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard used in criminal cases. Instead, the plaintiff – the victim in an injury case – needs to prove that it is more likely than not that their claim is true and that the injuries happened how they say they did. This burden of proof is called a “preponderance of the evidence” standard.

Fault can also be proven to rest with multiple parties. If any party shared responsibility for the accident and your evidence meets the burden of proof, they can also be held liable and would share the cost of the damages with other at-fault parties.


Financial records, pay stubs, medical bills, and other pieces of documentary evidence are essential in proving economic damages like medical bills and lost wages. Other “non-economic” damages like pain and suffering, mental anguish, and emotional distress are commonly proved through your testimony about how the injuries affected you and what deeper repercussions the accident caused in your life.

CALL OUR HOLLYWOOD, FL PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY FOR A FREE LEGAL CONSULTATION

South Florida Law, PLLC’s Hollywood, FL personal injury lawyers represent injury victims and the families of those killed in accidents throughout the Hollywood area. For help with your potential injury case, call our lawyers to set up a free legal consultation where we can give you more information about our services, how we can help in your case, and what kinds of damages might be available. To set up a free case consultation with our Hollywood, FL Personal Injury Attorney, call us today at (954) 932-7877.