Drunkenness, impairment, and distraction while driving causes thousands of motor vehicle collisions in Fort Lauderdale and Broward County, resulting in hundreds of fatalities.
Families who have suffered the loss of a loved one may have a legal right to seek compensation. If you’re grieving a loss or have sustained life-threatening injuries in a collision, you need the assistance and experience of a local attorney to handle the process of securing a fair settlement for your losses.
Consult Englander Peebles to speak with an experienced Fort Lauderdale fatal car accident lawyer at (954) 500-4878. We’re ready to serve your needs with care and compassion during this difficult time.
Why Choose Englander Peebles Fatal Car Accident Lawyers?
At Englander Peebles, we understand that while money cannot replace what you’ve lost in a fatal car accident, it can help ease the burden of navigating the aftermath of losing a loved one.
Families shouldn’t endure uncompensated income losses during their grieving periods or bear the costs of their deceased loved one’s medical and funeral expenses. We are ready to do everything within our legal power to secure a full financial settlement on your behalf.
Free and Confidential Consultations
Our car accident attorneys provide free consultations for families navigating wrongful death following a fatal car accident in Fort Lauderdale and Broward County.
We understand the sensitivity of sharing your situation and ensure that everything you disclose during our meeting remains confidential.
We offer no-pressure consultations to address your legal concerns. You are not obligated to retain our services after receiving your free case assessment from a trusted Fort Lauderdale fatal car accident lawyer.
Personalized Legal Strategies
Not all fatal car accidents in Fort Lauderdale are the same. Thus, we address each case according to its unique circumstances to achieve the best possible resolution.
Englander Peebles creates personalized legal strategies as we begin to understand the details of your case. Let us create a strong plan for obtaining a settlement for the wrongful death of your loved one.
Contingent Fee Arrangements
Our firm strives to be trusted advocates while families take the time to process and grieve their loved ones.
At Englander Peebles, we work within contingent fee arrangements to ensure no upfront or out-of-pocket costs for our clients. These arrangements assure that we only get paid if and when we win your wrongful death case, which means there is no financial risk in hiring legal counsel to represent you.
Thorough Case Investigation
We thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding the fatal car accident to determine liability (fault) and prove negligence in your loved one’s wrongful death.
Our firm examines all potentially liable parties and holds them accountable for your damages to ensure maximum compensation. Depending on the nature of the collision, liable parties may include other motorists, trucking companies, rideshare services, pedestrians, bicyclists, and government entities.
To ensure that all parties are held accountable, we investigate:
- Evidence Collection: Solid evidence is critical to establishing liability. Our team will work swiftly to recover and preserve relevant evidence, including the police report, photos of the accident scene, video footage from traffic and dashcams capturing the collision, and witness statements.
- Interview Witnesses: Our team will identify and track down key witnesses to the fatal accident to corroborate the physical evidence at the scene while gathering valuable testimony that further verifies negligence and liability.
- Expert Consultation: Englander Peebles uses a network of professional experts to consult regarding medical records and accident scenes and to help evaluate certain damages. Experts we may collaborate with to obtain insight and testimony include medical professionals, economists, highway safety experts, and vocational rehabilitation specialists.
- Accident Reconstruction: When cases warrant a need, we work with accident reconstructionists to recreate the conditions of the collision. These professionals combine mathematics and scientific principles to create compelling computer simulations and 3D models of the crash. Accident reconstruction can pinpoint negligence and secure valuable testimony to recover maximum compensation following a fatal car accident in Fort Lauderdale.
Contact Englander Peebles at (954) 500-4878 for your free consultation with a reliable Fort Lauderdale fatal car accident lawyer. We are standing by to help families pursue the compensation they deserve. Our office is conveniently located in the Cypress Creek Medical Pavilion:
Englander Peebles
2122 West Cypress Creek Road, Suite 206
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309
You deserve experienced and caring legal advice to address your concerns and protect your rights.
Fatal Car Accident Compensation
In Florida, the personal representative named in the decedent’s will is the estate’s executor and can file a wrongful death claim or lawsuit. If the deceased didn’t have a will, the probate courts will select a personal representative from the surviving family who files for such rights.
How much you may receive for a fatal car accident depends on various factors, including fault allocation and the victim’s age and life expectancy before the crash.
When determining wrongful death damages, our wrongful death attorneys carefully calculate the economic losses that the decedent and claimant suffered due to the collision before valuing the non-economic damages of both parties.
Economic Damages
The economic or pecuniary damages in a wrongful death claim or lawsuit constitute the injury-related monetary losses your loved one suffered and the financial burdens their untimely passing caused you. Our team substantiates all monetary losses verifiable by paper.
Examples of economic damages we may pursue in a wrongful death claim after a fatal car accident include:
- Medical Expenses: All healthcare costs relating to your loved one’s fatal car accident are recoverable economic losses. These include ambulance transport, emergency care, surgeries, medical treatments, pharmaceuticals, nursing home facility services, and hospice care.
- Property Damages: We strive to recover compensation for all property damages incurred in a fatal car accident in Fort Lauderdale. This often includes reimbursement for vehicle damage but also covers all property losses, such as jewelry, portable electronics, and other valuables in the vehicle at the time of the collision.
- Final Arrangement Costs: Families should not be burdened by the final arrangements of their loved ones after a negligent motor vehicle collision. Our wrongful death attorneys include the costs associated with the funeral, memorial service, burial, or cremation when valuing the economic damages of your claim.
- Lost Income: Income losses can include those incurred by the deceased from the moment of their injuries until their death following a collision, such as lost income, healthcare benefits, pension, and retirement. Our firm may also pursue income losses experienced by the claimant during their mourning period.
- Lost Earning Capacity: Englander Peebles collaborates with economists and vocational experts to configure the decedent’s lost earning capacity when valuing your claim. The process involves determining the potential future income of the deceased, factoring in current salary, job title, work history, anticipated career growth, work-related benefits, and inflation, before deducting potential future employment-related costs, such as job training.
- Lost Prospect of Inheritance: When appropriate, our legal team may pursue compensation for a loss of inheritance. This refers to the current value the decedent would have added to their estate (with reasonable probability) and passed on at natural death to the statutory wrongful death beneficiaries, but for the fatal car accident that caused the premature death.
Economic damages are attached to a paper trail of proof, making them easy to quantify and demand reimbursement from liable insurance companies.
Please keep and provide our Fort Lauderdale fatal car accident lawyers with all documents demonstrating financial losses, such as invoices, billing statements, bank statements, and receipts. We will verify their calculations when assessing the overall value of your fatal car accident claim.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages are intangible losses that are not as easily quantifiable following a fatal car accident. Our legal team thoroughly assesses the non-monetary losses the decedent and claimant suffered before drafting and sending our demand letter to liable insurance companies.
Potential non-economic damages we may recover compensation for after a fatal car accident in Fort Lauderdale include:
- Pain and Suffering: We may secure compensation for the pain and suffering of the deceased from the time of the accident to their death (when applicable) and the pain and suffering of surviving family members. These damages cover their physical pain, emotional suffering, and diminished quality of life before passing, as well as your grief, sorrow, and mental anguish.
- Loss of Services and Support: Also known as loss of consortium, a loss of services and support compensates for the intangible relationship benefits lost due to a fatal car accident. These benefits cover a loss of companionship, love, affection, physical intimacy, and shared activities. We may also pursue compensation for lost household services, such as chores, cooking, managing finances, child-rearing, and other practical contributions the decedent can no longer assist with.
- Loss of Parental Guidance: In Florida, the biological, adopted, and stepchildren of the deceased may recover compensation for loss of parental guidance when the personal representative files a claim on their behalf. This non-economic damage compensates for the loss of a parent’s support, care, instruction, love, and emotional support. Our car accident attorneys may also seek compensation for the loss of a parent’s nurture and physical, intellectual, and moral training.
At Englander Peebles, we understand the challenges of proving non-economic losses and will advise you on how you can help document them. Keeping a journal documenting your mental anguish, grief, and sadness can help establish your personal pain and suffering.
Florida does not have damage caps on economic or non-economic damages in fatal car accident cases. We ensure comprehensive claim valuation to recover maximum compensation.
Punitive Damages
Although rare, punitive damages can be awarded in some fatal car accidents to punish the defendant for egregious actions, deter similar future conduct, and protect the public from willfully reckless behavior.
In contrast to economic and non-economic damages, punitive damages are paid directly by the defendant, not their insurers. Additionally, they are only granted by juries in civil lawsuits. Attorneys and insurers settle most fatal car accident cases out of court.
Where Do Fatal Car Accidents Occur in Fort Lauderdale?
Fatal car accidents occur at dangerous intersections in Fort Lauderdale, such as Broward Boulevard and U.S. 1, Sunrise Boulevard and Andrews Avenue, and Oakland Park Boulevard and Powerline Road.
Fort Lauderdale also experiences fatal traffic collisions on rural roadways and interstates. A traffic study monitoring two decades of fatal crash data discovered that America’s deadliest mile is in South Florida’s own Broward County, between the I-595 interchange and Marina Mile Boulevard on I-95.
Englander Peebles Fights for Fair Compensation
We understand that monetary justice will never replace what was taken from you. Still, we will fight hard to secure reasonable compensation to offset the financial burden and other hardships caused by a fatal car accident and the loss of a loved one. Insurance companies significantly undervalue claims and deny those they can get away with to maximize their company profits.
At Englander Peebles, we are prepared for their usual tactics and will not back down from advocating for fair compensation on your behalf.
We protect clients from insurers:
- Misrepresenting their policy language and terms to their financial benefit
- Devaluing fatal car accident claims
- Requesting excessive documentation to delay the claims process
- Denying or refusing to pay valid fatal car accident claims
- Advising you that you do not need an experienced Fort Lauderdale fatal car accident lawyer to navigate your claim
When insurers harass you or make threatening statements after retaining our services, they may face consequences for employing bad-faith insurance tactics. Our attorneys will help file essential complaints, take legal action to report their unethical practices and pursue further compensation for their emotional distress.
Speak to a Fort Lauderdale Fatal Car Accident Lawyer Now
Families grieving the negligent loss of a loved one deserve a compassionate attorney who genuinely cares about achieving monetary justice for their situation.
Contact Englander Peebles at (954) 500-4878 for your free consultation with an experienced fatal car accident lawyer. We are committed to helping the surviving victims of wrongful death obtain compensation for their losses.