Fort Lauderdale Personal Injury Lawyers Recover For Plaintiffs with More Than One Defendant; Families and Sometimes Government Employees
Joint and separate liability happens in a case where two or more defendants – who could be working together or not – are responsible for plaintiff’s injuries and it is unclear which defendant caused which of the injuries, the defendant can be charged jointly and separately liable for damages. South Florida personal injury lawyer explains that a plaintiff has the right to collect damages from the defendant’s jointly or separately depending on the plaintiff’s preference. For example if a defendant was hit simultaneously by two cars causing multiple injuries and it could not be determined that the injuries came from one or the other of the cars involved, then each defendant would be liable.
In wrongful death lawsuits it means a person has died from a defendant’s tortious acts. A Fort Lauderdale injury lawyer says that the descendents survivors and estate may bring a lawsuit for the wrongful death; survivors include the descendant’s spouse, children and parents. Each survivor may recover for the loss of the descendents services or support. In addition, the surviving spouse, minor children and all children, if there is no spouse could recover from the loss of the descendents protection and companionship. They may also recover for that all-important pain and suffering. The estate can recover for lost earnings from the date of injury until the date of death, and funeral, medical occurrences paid to by estate.
Government employees are sometimes exempt from tort regulations, which means a person cannot sue the government for torts committed by government employees explains Fort Lauderdale personal injury lawyers. This form of immunity has been largely waved by state and federal governments, including Florida which means Florida is now liable for its employee’s tort offenses to the same extent as a regular employer. A person can not sue the fire department for failing to put out the fire at their house because there is no duty of care concerning how the state exercises its unrestricted authority to enforce their laws.
There is a statute of limitations, which means there are limits to the time a person can file a lawsuit in if the person fails to file the lawsuit within a timely manner, the time set forth by the laws, then the person forfeited their right to any compensation under the law.