What Constitutes A Personal Injury?

Common Personal Injuries Cases

In Florida, personal injuries tend to revolve around motor vehicle crashes. This includes cars, rideshare vehicles like Uber and Lyft, trucks, tractor-trailers, motorcycles, and golf carts. Bicycle and pedestrian crashes, typically involving motor vehicles, also fall into this category.

Beyond motor vehicle accidents, there are many slip-and-fall and trip-and-fall cases. A common accident scene in personal injury cases is uneven sidewalks with more than a half-inch difference in elevation, creating a tripping hazard. Many cities and municipalities must regularly identify these areas and rely on residents to report them. Uneven or poorly maintained walkways, whether due to sinking sidewalks or slippery surfaces that need to be adequately maintained, are also common culprits.

Slip and fall cases also often occur in stores, as do other premises liability cases. These require proving that the property owner knew or should have known about the dangerous condition. For example, if someone slips on a wet floor in a store, we must show how long that hazard was present. A classic example is a brown banana peel on the floor, indicating it had been there long enough for the store to have noticed and addressed it. Dog bite incidents, medical malpractice, and other personal injury claims are also common.

Physical And Psychological Personal Injuries

Injuries encompass a wide range. In Florida, physical injuries are tangible and involve direct harm to the body. These injuries manifest as pain and suffering and often include:

• Loss of mobility
• Movement impairment
• Herniated discs
• Broken bones
• Torn ligaments
• Muscle strains and sprains

These injuries are easier to prove because they can be seen and measured through medical imaging, such as X-rays and MRIs. The evidence of these injuries is often straightforward and can be documented by medical professionals.

Psychological injuries, on the other hand, involve mental and emotional harm that is not visible on the outside. These injuries include:

• Mental anguish
• Emotional suffering
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Fears and phobias

Psychological injuries are more challenging to prove because they don’t appear on medical tests. You may seem fine on the surface, even with a smile, but suffer significantly internally. These injuries affect a person’s mental state and emotional well-being, which can be just as debilitating as physical injuries.

Micah Longo of The Longo Firm in Florida is a dedicated personal injury attorney with extensive experience handling a wide array of injury cases, from motor vehicle accidents to slip and fall incidents. His deep understanding of both physical and psychological injuries equips him to advocate effectively for clients seeking justice and compensation. Micah’s proven track record in managing complex personal injury claims ensures that he is well-prepared to navigate the intricacies of Florida’s legal landscape and secure favorable outcomes for those who have been harmed.

If you need expert legal support, contact The Longo Firm today to discuss your case today.

Psychological injuries are often underreported or untreated. While society is gradually becoming more accepting of mental health issues, many people still grin and bear it without seeking professional help. This makes it challenging to document and prove psychological injuries compared to physical injuries.

Inconvenience damages also fall under the category of psychological injuries. These refer to the mental toll of dealing with the practicalities of an injury, such as repeatedly visiting doctors. Each visit involves waiting, undergoing various procedures, and dealing with the logistics, which can consume a lot of time and cause significant mental strain and frustration. This inconvenience can contribute to the overall psychological burden of an injury.

Fortunately, in Florida, psychological injuries and the significance they hold are recognized by courts, and juries are instructed to consider mental anguish and loss of enjoyment of life when awarding damages. This underscores the importance of acknowledging personal injuries’ physical and psychological aspects.

Determining Liability

Liability, or fault, is about determining negligence in a personal injury case. In Florida, negligence is defined as the failure to use reasonable care. Put in more plain terms, not doing something that a reasonably careful person would do under similar circumstances – or doing something that a reasonably careful person would not do.

Determining what is reasonable involves conforming to an established standard or set of rules. These rules help define a reasonable person’s actions in a given situation. At our office, we refer to these as the Rules of the Road. These rules help educate the jury and judge about the principles required to resolve the dispute in our favor. These are the rules:

• Identify The Requirement: The first step is establishing a requirement that the defendant did or did not do something based on the reasonable care standard. This helps set the foundation for showing negligence.
• Simplify For Understanding: The rule should be something people can easily understand and apply broadly.
• Defend The Rule: The rule should be one that the defense cannot reasonably dispute without appearing foolish or evasive. It should be a rule that the defendant violated, which is important enough to increase the chance of getting a favorable verdict.

In the context of a motor vehicle crash, an effective Rule might be:

• Drivers Must Not Needlessly Endanger Others

This is a broad and straightforward rule. If a driver needlessly endangers others, they are acting unreasonably. During testimony, you can ask a defendant if they agree with this principle. If they say no, they would appear foolish. If they agree, they admit to the rule, making it easier to prove they violated it.

• Drivers Must Maintain Attention at All Times

This is another clear and straightforward rule. Suppose a driver was texting and not paying attention. In that case, you can ask them if they agree that drivers must always maintain attention. Their agreement can then be used to show that they violated this rule by not paying attention.

Now that that’s been established, we’d move to prove negligence. To do so, you’d need to show that the defendant’s actions did not conform to the established Rules of the Road. This involves:

• Focusing on presenting evidence that the defendant violated a reasonable safety rule. This could be through witness testimony, expert opinions, or physical evidence.
• Getting the defendant or their witnesses to agree to the rules of the road and then showing how they violated those rules.
• Providing a thorough summary of the case to the jury by highlighting how the defendant’s actions were not reasonable and violated established safety rules can do the trick here.

For instance, if the defendant admits that they were texting while driving, you can argue that they violated the rule of maintaining attention and needlessly endangered others.

For more information on Personal Injury Claims, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (954) 546-7608 today.