Since 1976 Daniel L. Hightower has been standing up for the rights of people against those that caused them injury. Many times the at-fault party is represented by an insurance company, or the injured party is seeking benefits from their own insurance company. You do not have to, and should not, go it alone against the insurance companies, even if the insurance company is your own. The attorneys at Daniel L. Hightower, PA have years of experience in successfully representing the interests of their clients and obtaining recoveries on their behalf.

Each lawyer in the Personal Injury Department has years of experience prosecuting personal injury and wrongful death claims of people and families in the courts of central and north Florida. Each attorney is assisted by teams of top-notch paralegals, investigators and support staff that help to investigate each claim and vigorously prosecute each case to a swift resolution.

Many of our clients have been seriously or catastrophically injured and proving such a case often demands the coordination of various resources, including accident reconstructionists, engineers and economists. We have the professional and financial resources to properly litigate these cases.

Client satisfaction is of utmost importance to Daniel L. Hightower, PA and we feel strongly about frequent communication with our clients and keeping them informed of the status of their case every step of the way.

When Daniel L. Hightower, PA undertakes the legal representation of a client, we make a commitment to the client to see their case through until justice is obtained. From the beginning of the case, the legal professionals at Daniel L. Hightower, PA fully investigate the case, develop trial strategies and aggressively pursue a just resolution of the case, be it by settlement or by jury verdict. All of the attorneys in the Personal Injury Department are proven trial lawyers that will take your case to trial for you if necessary.

The vast majority of our cases are handled on a contingency fee basis which means that we never charge any fees or costs unless we make a recovery for you. If you have a potential personal injury claim, please feel free to contact us. Prior to representing any client, an attorney will meet with you personally to discuss your case at no charge to you.

Below is a list of some of the types of claims the Personal Injury Department handles:

Wrongful Death

Wrongful death is any death that results from the misconduct or negligence of another person or entity. Wrongful death can be the result of an auto accident, a work accident, a dangerous product or the negligent acts of others.

Many times families are so stricken by pain and grief that they may not realize that the death of their loved one was due to the negligence of another. Their loved one is no longer there to tell them what happened to them. It is through the work of attorneys with access to forensic experts that preservation of previously undetected evidence can be preserved to prove the case. For instance, a person may be involved in an automobile accident and may be ejected because, the police report says, the person was not wearing their seatbelt. However, upon closer inspection by an engineering expert with special knowledge concerning seatbelt latching mechanisms, it can be determined if there was a failure of the seatbelt latch during the collision, resulting in the ejection of the passenger.

While no amount of money can make up for the loss of a loved one, if a death was caused by the negligence of another person or entity, the law provides for compensation to the survivors: the spouse, child or parents of the loved one. Such recovery may help with funeral and medical bills, as well as lost income. The survivors may also be entitled to compensation for the loss of love, support and services of the deceased.

It is important to note that the statute of limitations, the time within which you must bring a wrongful death lawsuit, is only two years.

If you suspect that wrongful conduct may be to blame for the death of a family member, you must move quickly to protect your legal rights and preserve the evidence. Please contact us to schedule your free initial consultation today.

Automobile/Motorcycle Collisions

In a split second, an automobile or motorcycle collision can change the lives of you and your loved ones forever. A traffic crash occurs somewhere in Florida every two seconds. Most crashes are caused by the negligence or carelessness of a driver. If you are injured in a collision, you may have a claim against the at-fault driver and your own insurance company, and it is important to consult with an attorney right away.

To receive the full compensation that you are entitled to by law, it is important to retain an attorney experienced in the aggressive prosecution of these claims. At Daniel L. Hightower, PA the professionals in the personal injury department quickly secure and retain evidence, document damages and aggressively pursue your claim. Failure to secure evidence or properly document injuries or damages can severely affect the value of your case.

Additionally, you may be asked by the involved insurance companies to give recorded statements. It is important that you obtain legal counsel before giving any recorded statements to assure that your legal rights are being protected.

If you have a potential automobile/motorcycle injury claim, please feel free to contact us.

Highway Design

Some vehicle collisions are not caused by the negligence of drivers, but are caused by the negligent design or maintenance of the road where the accident happened. If you suspect that you were involved in a motor vehicle accident due to the negligent design of the roadway, a downed stop sign, a non-functioning traffic signal or the like, it is important that you retain an attorney who is experienced in these types of claims so that it may be handled properly.

As a general rule of law, any repairs to the roadway that are made after your accident will not be permitted as evidence in your trial. Therefore, it is important that you, or your legal representatives, secure evidence of the roadway defect as soon as possible.

Depending on who owns, controls or maintains the roadway, the time within which you may bring your claim may be drastically reduced. Therefore, it is important that you seek legal counsel right away.

If you have a potential highway design claim, please feel free to contact us.

Premises Liability

Premises Liability is a general term that includes claims for injuries or death resulting from dangerous conditions that existed or activities that happened at a particular location. For instance, premises liability cases can arise from a trip and fall in a home or restaurant, falling merchandise in a store or warehouse, dangerous conditions that are not readily apparent on a sidewalk or in a pool; injuries caused by insufficient lighting, negligently designed stairways or handrails; or negligent security at a particular location.

As a general rule, property owners are responsible for injuries which occur as a result of a dangerous condition on their property, which the owner knew about, or should have known about and failed to warn others about.

Premises liability cases can be complicated because many different entities may own, lease, maintain or control the premises. Additionally, there can be different policies of insurance that may cover the incident. It is important to obtain legal advice and promptly investigate the claim and secure evidence early on because if the dangerous condition is fixed, you may forever lose the evidence that you need to prove your case. Prompt investigation of a premises liability claim is also important because if it involves a government entity, the time period in which you have to pursue your claim is substantially less than the four-year period for most personal injury actions.

If you have a potential premises liability claim, please feel free to contact us.

Products Liability/Car Defects

When products, including cars, are placed into the stream of commerce, the manufacturers, distributors and retailers of those products have a responsibility to the consumers to meet accepted standards of health and safety, to warn consumers of any hazards their products may pose, and to remove dangerous products from the market. Unfortunately for us all, they don’t always uphold their legal responsibilities and innocent users of their products can be seriously injured and sometimes even killed.

Products liability cases include crash worthiness, airbag or seatbelt litigation. They can also include cases involving other heavy equipment like construction equipment and scaffolding. Finally, when ordinary household products like baby seats, appliances and electronic devices injure you or a loved one, it may be the result of substandard products or failing to be properly warned about hazards posed by that product.

Unfortunately, too many of the governmental entities that are supposed to police the manufacturers of products are too underfunded, understaffed or overworked to do so. Often manufacturers, distributors and retailers are most concerned with the bottom line of their business and not the safety of the consumer. That is why it is important there are lawyers like those at Daniel L. Hightower, PA that have the knowledge and the dedication to their clients to aggressively pursue their claims and try to right the wrongs committed against these unsuspecting consumers.

If you or a family member has been injured because of a defective product or design, please feel free to contact us.

Negligent Security

A person may have a claim against a landowner or property manager if they sustained an injury due to the failure of the landowner or property manager to protect the injured person from foreseeable crimes on or near the property. It is important to seek legal counsel qualified to handle the specific type of investigation needed to establish that the landowner or property manager knew, or should have known, that such an event was foreseeable. Victims can sustain injury from assault, battery, robbery, rape or any number of other crimes committed by individuals that exploit the insufficient security or lighting of the premises. Negligent security cases may be brought against hotels, shopping centers, malls, schools, office buildings or nightclubs.

If you or a loved one was the victim of a crime due to the negligent security of another, please feel free to contact us.

Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is caused by a blow or jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the normal function of the brain. Over 1 million people sustain a TBI each year in the United States and twenty percent of those cases are caused by automobile crashes. You do not have to be traveling at a high rate of speed to suffer a head injury, nor do you have to hit your head on an object to injure the brain. Experts suspect that much of the damage in a TBI happens when the brain’s soft, delicate tissue slams up against the hard, corrugated interior walls of the skull. Nerve fibers can also stretch and rip during the sudden accelerations or decelerations that occur in a car accident. Tiny tears in nerve fibers can lead to cell death days after the original brain injury. Cells that don’t die may never function properly again.

Medical experts refer to TBI as “the silent epidemic” because most of the available statistics underestimate the size of the problem. A TBI can do significant damage without leaving any visible outward signs on the victim, or even on a brain scan. Often the family and loved ones of an accident victim are first to notice the tell-tale signs of TBI. Some of the signs and symptoms of TBI are:

Persistent headaches or neck pain
Difficulty in remembering, concentrating or making decisions
Slowed thinking, speaking, acting or reading
Getting lost or easily confused
Loss of energy and motivation
Mood changes
Change in sleep patterns
Dizziness
Nausea
Blurred vision

Many people who sustain TBI in a car crash don’t know that they have a brain injury, they just know that they “feel different.” Mild to moderate TBI, which can be extremely debilitating to the victim, often does not show up on a typical brain scan that is conducted at the emergency room. Because their brain scan is “normal,” they think that it must be all in their head, or emotional.

Although TBI can not be reversed, there are many medical resources available to help the person better cope with their symptoms and adapt to the person they are now. Medical professionals, such as neurologists, neuro-psychologists and neuro-psychiatrists, with specialized training in TBI offer resources to diagnose and treat TBI.

If you suspect that you or a loved one sustained a traumatic brain injury as a result of the negligence of another it is important to seek legal advice from an attorney experienced in presenting these complex, significant claims to insurance companies and juries. Please feel free to contact us.

Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

How will I pay for my legal fees?

We take cases on a contingency fee basis. That means that you pay no fees or costs unless and until we make a recovery for you.

How do you decide whether or not you will take my case?

Once we receive initial information from you about your case, you may be asked to schedule an appointment with an attorney in our firm to meet and further discuss your case. During that free initial consultation we will ask you to bring all documentation concerning your accident, such as a police report, policies of insurance, photographs and medical records and bills (if you have them). We will review the documentation and gather further information from you regarding the facts surrounding your accident. We will also answer your questions at that time. We review each case on an individual basis. Unfortunately, we do not have the resources to take every case. However, if after meeting with you and reviewing your case, we feel we can be of service to you, we will take your case. If we can not take your case, we may be able to refer you to other lawyers we know who can help.

If I am in an automobile accident, what should I do?

Florida law requires that you remain at the scene of an accident until the police arrives to help in the preparation of an accident report. Report the accident to your insurance company as soon as you get home from the scene, or as soon as possible. In order to prove your case, you have the burden of presenting evidence to establish your claim, therefore, preservation of evidence is crucial. Such evidence may consist of documentation of the physical evidence at the accident site, of the vehicles involved in the accident and of your medical injuries. You may not know the legal requirements necessary to prove your case and therefore, we recommend that you contact an attorney immediately to be advised of your legal rights.

Who will pay to fix the damage to my vehicle?

That depends on what type of insurance coverage you have or the insurance coverage of the person that caused the accident. Call the other driver’s insurance company and request that your car be fixed. Only discuss property damage issues with them. Do not give any statements or discuss how the accident happened or your injuries. Check your policy to see whether you have rental car coverage, towing and what deductibles apply. It may be in your best interest to retain the services of a lawyer with experience in handling auto accident claims as they are familiar with the terms of different insurance policies and regularly negotiate the resolution of property damage claims with many different insurance companies.

Who will pay my medical bills and lost wages?

There may be many sources from which to get your medical bills paid and, depending on the types of insurance, they each take different priority. For instance, in Florida, you are required to carry personal injury protection (PIP) insurance. This is generally in the amount of $10,000 and may have different deductible amounts. This money is available to pay for medical bills and/or lost wages. However, unless you instruct your insurance carrier to reserve your PIP for your lost wages, they will pay it to the first medical bills they receive. There may also be other insurance available to pay for your medical bills including medical payments coverage, health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid or disability insurance. If you are in an automobile accident, you should contact an experienced personal injury lawyer to discuss how the relevant state laws and policies of insurance apply to recover damages for your injuries.

What if the person that caused the accident does not have insurance?

Unfortunately, nearly 20% of Florida’s drivers do not have any form of automobile insurance. If you purchased Uninsured Motorist Coverage from your insurance carrier, you may look to your own insurance company to pay you for the damages caused by the negligence of the uninsured motorist carrier. We caution you, however, in negotiating your claim with your insurance company yourself as, even though they are your insurance company, (to pay the least amount of money out on claims) their interest is directly opposite to what is in your best interest, (to obtain a just settlement to compensate you fairly for all of your damages). We recommend you obtain legal counsel before attempting to negotiate your claims directly with your own insurance company.

The insurance company wants to take my recorded statement. What is that?

We do not recommend that you give a recorded statement to anyone, other than your own insurance carrier. Many insurance policies require the insured (you) to “cooperate” with their investigation of the accident. This recording can and will be used as evidence against you if you pursue a claim regarding your accident, therefore, we would advise you obtain legal counsel before giving any such statement.

How much is my case worth?

The value of each case is different and must be evaluated separately. We have over 30 years of experience handling accident and injury cases and take a great deal of time to properly evaluate your case. A person who has been injured through the negligence of another may recover for past and future medical expenses, past and future lost wages, and, in many cases the value of your past and future pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life and other non-economic damages. Additionally, if you have a spouse and/or children, they may have a claim in their own right for their loss of your consortium (companionship, services, comfort) due to the injuries you suffered. However, you must know that there is never any guarantee of any recovery.