Jacksonville Boat Accident Lawyer

For those who love boating, Florida is a great place to be. We have an extensive coastline, as well as nearly countless inland waterways, lakes, rivers, and other water bodies. Combined with our wonderful weather, Florida is nearly a paradise for boating enthusiasts of all types. Jacksonville is certainly part of the attraction, with the St. Johns River providing plenty of boating opportunities without even requiring that you head out into the Atlantic Ocean. 

Unfortunately, there are many risks and dangers associated with boating that can complicate matters for even the most experienced boat operators. Like all other types of accidents, it is often the fault of an inexperienced or reckless operator, not the operator who is abiding by the rules of the waterway and acting responsibly. If you have been in an accident with someone who caused the collision due to recklessness or negligence, then you have rights for compensation as a victim of their actions. The team of Jacksonville personal injury lawyers at Fasig | Brooks is here to help.

Hire a Boating Accident Attorney in Jacksonville Today

After any catastrophic injury, the last thing that the victim should be doing is trying to fight a legal battle while trying to recover from their injuries and getting their lives back on track. The team at Fasig | Brooks offers a free initial consultation for victims of personal injuries where we can speak directly and in great detail about your situation and provide you with a sense of the type of support that we can provide you. 

During your consultation, we will be able to discuss your injuries and the impacts that they have had on your life, the steps that you have already taken, and provide you with real-life examples of past cases that we have successfully guided clients through that were in similar situations to your own. While no two cases are ever alike, it can be comforting to know that we have handled similar cases before, and have the experience to get you the money you deserve.

Read more below about boating accident claims, and contact us as soon as possible to schedule your initial consultation today. 

Seeking Compensation After a Jacksonville Boating Accident

Filing Your Claim

After any accident, a victim will quickly watch their expenses mount as their income takes a significant hit. Luckily you will likely be able to file a claim with the responsible party’s insurance company to seek compensation, but it is rarely, if ever, as simple as it sounds. Filing a claim is easy, but getting the money that you rightfully deserve will require a lot of negotiation and legal know-how, all of which can be extremely stressful for someone who is unfamiliar with tort law. This is especially true when the inexperienced person is trying to recover from serious injuries at the same time, which is why we are here to represent your case.

Claims Investigation

After you file a claim with the insurance company, they will assign an insurance adjuster who will investigate the situation in order to calculate a settlement amount for you. However, the amount that the adjuster arrives to is calculated with their employer’s, the insurance company, financial interest. If you have been working with an attorney during this time, you will be shocked to see the difference in your calculations versus the insurance company. Luckily, this is only the start of a series of negotiations.

Steps In an Investigation

During the claims investigation, you and your lawyer will go through all of the relevant details of your accident, such as the cost of your medical bills, the short- and long-term impacts on your earning, and of course, the severity of your injuries. You will likely need to submit to an independent medical exam, where a doctor who is contracted by the insurance company will examine your injuries. We will be able to advise you on how to properly handle this exam, since the doctor is essentially attempting to poke holes in your claim.

Negotiating a Settlement Agreement

Once the claims investigation has concluded, the next step is to negotiate directly with the insurance company in order to reach a settlement amount that works for YOU. Simply because you are unable to reach an agreement immediately does not mean that you will need to go to court, but these processes can be extremely frustrating as the insurance company continues to push back on a fair amount. There 

Settling or Filing a Lawsuit

In certain cases, we will decide that taking this case to court is the right decision. In other cases, we will be able to reach an agreement and you can move forward with your life. These options will become more clear as we work together, and we will continually adjust our goals depending on how the process evolves. The sooner we work together after the accident, the more time we will have before we are racing the clock in regards to the statute of limitations. 

Calculating Damages After a Boating Accident

There will certainly be damage to your personal property (including your boat) that will need to be compensated, but our main focus will be to get you the money that you deserve for your own personal suffering and financial impacts resulting from the accident. For starters, we will compile all of your medical-related expenses such as hospital bills, medications, surgeries, and any other injury-related medical costs. From there, we will calculate all of the impacts on your earnings, both short-term and long-term. These are just a few of the main economic damages. 

In addition to economic damages, you are also entitled to compensation for things like the actual pain and suffering that you have experienced, as well as the emotional trauma that this type of accident causes. These are known as non-economic damages, and while they are more abstract and difficult to calculate in terms of a dollar value, they are just as important as your economic damages. 

Frequently Asked Questions After a Jacksonville Boating Accident

How much is my personal injury claim worth?

In order to determine how much money you actually deserve after your accident, we will need to go into detail about both your economic and non-economic damages. There is no set amount that a victim deserves based on the type of injury or accident that they are involved in, and we will use the time that the insurance company is investigating your claim to reach our own understanding of the amount of money you are entitled to. 

Will I need to go to trial?

Trials are extremely rare in personal injury cases, and in some estimates only 5% of all personal injury claims ultimately make it to trial. This is not a guarantee that your own experience will be the same, but does provide a good indication of what you can expect. In most cases, our main goal will be to settle for a fair amount as quickly as possible, meaning that we hope to avoid a time-consuming trial.

Do I need an attorney to get a fair settlement?

You do not need to hire an attorney to get through a personal injury case, but that does not mean that it won’t be a very good decision for you to make. While we are fighting on your behalf, you will be able to focus on recovering from your injuries and getting your life back on track. Stress has a serious impact on physical wound recovery, and by hiring an attorney you can avoid a significant amount of stress and uncertainty.