west palm beach car accident lawyer

Serving West Palm Beach Residents

West Palm Beach has a population of over 110,000 people. Its major streets are Okeechobee Blvd, Belvedere Road, Palm Beach Lakes Blvd and Clematis Street.  It is known for its entertainment, beaches, nightlife, recreation and its many neighborhoods. There is a lot to do in West Palm Beach such as, visiting the Norton Museum of Art, Mounts Botanical Garden, the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts and South Florida Science Center and Aquarium. With so much traffic, it is only natural for West Palm Beach residents and tourists to be involved in many West Palm Beach car accidents. 

Injured in a West Palm Beach Car Accident? 561-588-2781 Free Consultation. 

Why Hire Bottari & Doyle Attorneys at Law?

We have over 50 Five-Star Reviews on Google. This is what some of our clients have to say about us:

How much does a West Palm Beach car accident lawyer cost? 

Our West Palm Beach car accident lawyers do not charge any upfront fees to you to begin working on your case.  We even advance any costs for you, such as expenses for medical records and police reports.  Our fees are only recovered if we settle your case or achieve a favorable verdict for you at trial. 

Common Car Accident Injuries 

  • Whiplash
  • Broken Bones
  • Neck Strain and Sprain
  • Knee Pain
  • Back Pain
  • Shoulder Tear
  • Arm Pain
  • Bruises
  • Tinnitus

Car Accident Settlements Palm Beach County

Some of our settlements include: 

$250,000 settlement for a woman who required shoulder surgery and back surgery after being rear-ended by a driver in Palm Beach County.  We obtained the maximum amount of money from the at-fault driver's insurance policy, as well as from our client's underinsured motorist policy. 

$125,000 settlement for a woman who was injured while riding in the back of a taxi cab. The taxi cab driver was driving recklessly on interstate 95 and crashed into another vehicle. Our client was taken to the hospital. She did not need surgery. We obtained the maximum amount of money for our client from the taxi-cab insurance policy. 

$120,000 settlement for a man who required knee surgery after being hit by a driver who caused minimal property damage to our client's vehicle. Our client required surgery to fix his right meniscus. 

*All cases are different. Settlement amounts are the gross amount, and do not account for the attorney fee percentage taken from the settlement. 

west palm beach car accident attorney

You May Be Entitled to Compensation for Your Injuries in West Palm Beach

As a victim of a car accident, you may be entitled to compensatory damages and punitive damages.

Compensatory damages are intended to repay you for any losses you have suffered as a result of your injuries, and they fall into two categories.

First, there are “economic damages,” which are meant to reimburse you for any money you have lost due to your accident. These should replace a loss of income if you were not able to work, but they can also reimburse you for hospital stays, doctors' bills, prescription drugs, and other expenses. Importantly, economic damages include both future earnings (e.g., if your injuries will require you to take an earlier retirement) and anticipated expenses (such as long-term physical therapy).

The second category of compensatory damages is “non-economic damages.” Generally speaking, non-economic damages compensate you for the impact of your injury that goes beyond what you've financially lost. Non-economic damages include those relating to the physical suffering and the psychological trauma you have gone through during and since your accident.

Non-economic damages cover how the accident and your injuries impact your life in ways that are harder to quantify than adding up a pile of medical bills. They are to repay you for the pain and the fear you've been feeling—the evenings you couldn't stroll down Clematis Street or the days you couldn't spend with your family at the Aquarium because you were in too much agony to go out. Our West Palm Beach car accident attorneys can help you to recover the economic and non-economic damages that you are entitled to recover under Florida law. 

However, in the case of car accidents, Florida limits the availability of non-economic damages. They are only available if at least one of these apply:

  1. You've had significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function.
  2. You have significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement.
  3. Within a reasonable degree of medical probability, you have a permanent injury that goes beyond scarring or disfigurement.
  4. The injured party died as a result of the accident.

Additionally, Florida law does allow you to receive punitive damages. Unlike the other awards intended to make you whole, punitive damages are intended to punish the wrongdoer. While punitive damages are rarely awarded, it is possible to receive them if circumstances warrant them. If you have been injured by a drunk driver, you are entitled to more money than you would have been had you not been hit by a drunk driver. 

Injured in a West Palm Beach Car Accident? 561-588-2781 Free Consultation. 

What Is Negligence in a West Palm Car Accident? 

A person who commits negligence acts carelessly towards you and causes some type of injury. In the context of a car accident, a person who commits a traffic infraction and hits your car acts negligently by violating traffic laws.  The violation of the traffic law causes an accident and results in your injury.  Therefore, the driver has committed negligence.  For example, a driver who rear-ends another driver has acted negligently by failing to observe the vehicle in front of him or her.  As a consequence, you have been injured.  The driver has committed negligence against you and under Florida law, you are able to sue the driver.  Our West Palm Beach car accident attorneys fight for the rights of injured victims of negligence.  

Can I sue a driver if I was a passenger in the car? 

Yes, an injured passenger has the same legal rights as a driver who is injured by a negligent driver. The passenger can file a car accident lawsuit against the driver and the owner of driver's vehicle, if the driver is a different person from the owner.  You should not be dissuaded from filing a lawsuit if you know the driver of the vehicle. The driver likely has an insurance policy that is meant to cover him or her in case they are at fault in an accident. Our West Palm Beach car accident lawyers can help you to find a source of insurance coverage to help pay for your medical bills and pain and suffering.

Can I obtain any video of my traffic accident? 

Our West Palm Beach car accident lawyers can use any video evidence to your advantage if you were not at fault in the accident. Any dash cam footage would be great evidence to have in your case. This is because we can then see exactly how the accident occurred.  This is especially important if the insurance company is disputing liability.  Unfortunately, the traffic cameras at intersections simply monitor traffic. The cameras do not have the ability to record.  

Do I have a case if a tourist was responsible for causing the accident? 

Yes, tourists driving rental vehicles are insured through their own car insurance. This means that an out of state insurance carrier will pay for any medical expenses above and beyond $10,000, your future medical bills, lost wages and any pain and suffering that you experience as a result of the car accident in West Palm Beach. 

Where do accidents occur in West Palm Beach? 

The West Palm Beach intersection of Okeechobee and North Military Trail has had, in recent years, the dubious distinction as being one of the most dangerous intersections in all of Palm Beach County. With cars having to make their way through the more than two dozen through and turn lanes at that crossroad, there are usually well over a hundred accidents at that intersection each year. In fact, it's often found to be one of the deadliest stretches of road in all of Florida. But it doesn't matter if your accident occurred there, or if some lost tourist hit you near the airport, or if your accident happened on some quiet residential street in El Cid.

What does matter are the steps you take after it has happened.   

No one plans on being seriously injured in a car accident. And the accident itself is only the beginning of the pain that you may be going through. This is why you need a West Palm Beach car accident lawyer to help to navigate the civil justice system. 

First, there's the immediate pain of your injuries and the treatment. Next, there is the stress and strain of recovery. Then, as you're trying to regain some sense of normalcy—that's when the medical bills and everything else start showing up. And normalcy seems nowhere in reach.

It's understandable if you feel overwhelmed and alone, but you don't have to be. The lawyers of Bottari & Doyle, P.A. are here to fight for you and get you the compensation you deserve. 

Injured in a West Palm Beach Car Accident? 561-588-2781 Free Consultation. 

Florida's “No-Fault” Insurance Law Does Not Prevent You From Suing the Responsible Driver

Florida is a “no-fault” state when it comes to car accidents: According to state law, motorists must carry at least $10,000 in “personal injury protection” insurance coverage. If an accident does occur, the insured motorist's insurer pays for the damage, regardless of who is responsible for the collision. Because of this, many people believe they can't sue the driver who is responsible for the accident. That's wrong.

You can sue the responsible parties, and the “No-fault” insurance law does not prevent you from doing that.

For example, you may be able to sue a driver for negligence—arguing that they failed to take due care while operating a motor vehicle, and that is what caused the crash and your resulting injuries.

And statistically speaking, negligence—that failure to exercise due care— probably is a cause of your accident. Studies suggest that driver distraction—when a driver is on their phone or texting, when they're eating, changing the radio, and so on—may cause between 25-50% of car accidents. In 2019, Palm Beach County had 2,509 distracted driving crashes, the fifth-highest rate in all of Florida. Of these, 134 resulted in serious injuries, and three were fatal.

The negligence argument is particularly forceful if the other driver was “driving under the influence” of either alcohol or drugs (DUI) at the time of the accident.

Under Florida's “dangerous instrumentality rule,” a car is considered a dangerous tool capable of inflicting great harm. Therefore, if someone was drunk when they got behind the wheel, that driver knowingly put others at risk and must bear the consequences of their actions.

Injured in a West Palm Beach Car Accident? 561-588-2781 Free Consultation. 

At Bottari & Doyle, P.A., we focus on personal injury law, particularly when it comes to car accident injury compensation. We also know how much this case matters to you and your life. You've been through enough already, and we're committed to making the legal process as painless as possible while getting you the compensation you deserve. 

We have represent Floridians in car accident lawsuits and injury-related insurance claims. The types of cases we handle include:

With three West Palm Beach locations where we are available for consultation, we are here to help. Call today for a free consultation at 561-588-2781.