Personal Injury Lawyers in Vero Beach, FL

If a doctor treated you for anything beyond scrapes, usually yes, and finding out costs nothing because the consultation is free. The insurer staffs every claim with trained adjusters whose job is to resolve it for less. An attorney documents your treatment, finds every layer of coverage including your own underinsured-motorist policy, and protects your filing deadline. When you call, our intake team tells you on the phone whether this is something we can help with. When there's potential, you meet an attorney who gives you an honest answer about your case. And if what you have is a minor property-damage claim, we tell you that honestly too.

For newer car accident claims, Florida uses a modified comparative negligence rule. If you're found more than 50 percent at fault, you recover nothing. If your share is 50 percent or less, you still recover, but your award is reduced by your percentage of fault. Whether the new rule or Florida's older rule applies to your case depends on timing questions courts are still sorting out, and different rules apply to medical malpractice claims and claims involving intentional conduct, so ask us about your situation. That's why fault arguments on SR 60 and along US-1 are worth settling with evidence in the first weeks rather than with argument a year later.

The consultation costs nothing. Injury cases run on a contingency fee set in a written fee agreement under Florida Bar rules, and you owe no attorney fee unless we recover for you. At Douglas R. Beam, P.A. there is no attorney fee if no recovery. Clients can be responsible for costs if there is no recovery. Three things come out of any settlement before money reaches you: the attorney fee, case costs, and repayment of medical bills or liens, like hospital or health-insurance liens. The number that matters is your net, which is why lien reduction is real legal work; negotiating medical liens down often changes your net more than any other single step. Ask any lawyer you interview to walk through that math.

For most Florida crash and injury claims caused by someone else's carelessness, you generally have two years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit. Florida shortened that deadline from four years to two, and the change applies to crashes after March 24, 2023. If your crash happened on or before that date, the older four-year deadline may still apply, which means a 2022 crash may be viable into 2026 and a crash from early 2023 may be viable into 2027. Deadlines also work differently for claims against a city, county, or state agency, which require written notice to the agency before any lawsuit, and for wrongful death and defective product claims. Do not assume a child's claim gets extra time, because in most Florida injury cases it does not. Don't assume you're too late either. Call us and we'll check your date for free.

A second clock runs on your own insurance. Florida's no-fault law requires your first medical visit occur within 14 days of the crash to use your PIP benefits. Miss that window and your own insurance can deny the coverage you already pay for. PIP pays 80 percent of covered bills, up to $10,000 in combined medical and disability benefits when a qualified provider finds you had an emergency medical condition, and only up to $2,500 when no one makes that finding. The 24/7 emergency room at Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital on 36th Street, a walk-in urgent care, or your own doctor all count. Go get checked, even if you feel okay.

These timelines cover car crash and other injury claims based on someone's carelessness. Medical malpractice, wrongful death, claims against government agencies, and claims involving a defective product follow their own separate rules and deadlines. If your situation is one of those, call us and we'll tell you which deadline applies.

Right here in Vero Beach. Serious injury claims over $50,000 are filed as circuit civil cases, and in Indian River County that means the Indian River County Courthouse at 2000 16th Avenue. Indian River County belongs to Florida's Nineteenth Judicial Circuit along with Martin, Okeechobee, and St. Lucie counties, each of which has its own courthouse, so your case does not travel to Stuart or Fort Pierce. This county keeps everything in one building: civil, family, felony, juvenile, traffic, and misdemeanor divisions and the clerk's court counters are all at that address. The Clerk also runs a service office in Sebastian, but court is not held there. Most cases settle before a jury sits, and we prepare every one as if a jury will see it.