Personal Injury Lawyer in Miami

As a personal injury lawyer with nearly two decades of courtroom litigation and negotiation experience, I represent injury victims throughout South Florida. This page describes my qualifications, the practice areas I handle for Miami clients, and how I help injured Floridians recover the full compensation they are entitled to under state law for medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering, and other losses.

If you or a loved one has been injured in Miami-Dade, Broward, or Monroe County due to someone else's negligence, contact me right away. Florida's two-year statute of limitations on most negligence claims means that delay can permanently bar your case. Call me at 786-522-1411 or email me at [email protected].

Nearly Two Decades of Trial Experience

I have built my career trying complex cases in front of judges and juries. That courtroom experience matters in personal injury practice, because insurance carriers track which lawyers actually try cases and which ones simply file complaints and wait to settle. The settlement values that injured clients receive correlate directly with the trial reputation of their lawyer. I prepare every case from day one as if it will be tried, and that preparation is what produces full-value resolutions — whether the case ultimately settles or not.

Florida Personal Injury Cases I Handle in Miami

My practice handles a wide range of accident and injury cases for clients throughout South Florida, including:

Motor Vehicle Crashes on South Florida Roads

Florida's no-fault auto insurance system, the 14-day PIP medical-treatment requirement, the "serious injury threshold" for stepping outside no-fault, and the new modified comparative-negligence rule all affect what your car or truck accident case is worth. I handle car, truck, motorcycle, pedestrian, bicycle, rideshare, and hit-and-run cases on highways including I-95, I-75, the Palmetto Expressway, the Dolphin Expressway, US-1, the Florida Turnpike, and Miami-Dade surface streets.

Slip and Fall and Premises Liability

Falls in grocery stores, restaurants, hotels, condo common areas, and parking lots — governed by Florida Statute § 768.0755 and the constructive-knowledge requirement that has reshaped this area of Florida law since 2010.

Construction and Workplace Injuries

Florida is one of the busiest construction markets in the country, and Miami has cranes everywhere. I handle workers' compensation claims under Chapter 440 and the parallel third-party liability claims that often produce the larger recovery.

Medical Malpractice

Florida medical malpractice cases require strict compliance with Chapter 766's pre-suit notice procedures, expert affidavits, and the two-year/four-year statute of limitations and repose. I handle surgical errors, misdiagnosis, birth injuries, medication errors, and emergency-department malpractice in South Florida hospitals.

Nursing Home Neglect and Abuse

Resident's Bill of Rights claims under Chapter 400 against Miami-area skilled nursing and assisted-living facilities, including bedsore, fall, elopement, and abuse cases.

Catastrophic Injury and Wrongful Death

Brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, amputations, severe burns, and Florida Wrongful Death Act claims for surviving family members.

Boating, Maritime, and Hurricane Claims

South Florida–specific cases including boat and personal-watercraft accidents on Biscayne Bay and in the Keys, along with bad-faith homeowner's insurance claims after hurricane damage.

How I Work With Clients

Every client who hires my firm has my direct phone number and email. You will not be passed off to a paralegal or a "case manager." I personally handle the strategy, the depositions, and the trial of every case. All personal injury cases are handled on a contingency-fee basis — you pay nothing up front, and you owe no fee unless we recover money for you. We also advance every cost of investigation, expert witnesses, court filings, and depositions.

The Four Elements of a Florida Negligence Case

Every personal injury claim in Florida that sounds in negligence requires proof of four elements: a legal duty owed to you by the defendant, a breach of that duty, causation linking the breach to your injury, and actual damages. The duty owed depends on the relationship between the parties — drivers owe a duty of reasonable care to others sharing the road, business owners owe a duty to keep premises reasonably safe for invited customers, and physicians owe a duty to meet the prevailing professional standard of care. Causation has two components in Florida — "but-for" causation (the injury would not have occurred but for the breach) and proximate causation (the injury was a reasonably foreseeable consequence). Damages must be real and provable; speculative or purely emotional harm without physical injury generally does not support a claim outside narrow exceptions.

HB 837 and How Florida Tort Law Changed in 2023

The most significant change to Florida personal injury law in decades took effect on March 24, 2023, when Governor DeSantis signed House Bill 837 into law. The statute reshaped several areas at once:

Two-year statute of limitations for general negligence under § 95.11(3), reduced from four years. This deadline is jurisdictional — miss it and the claim is permanently barred.
Modified comparative negligence with a 50% bar under § 768.81. A plaintiff who is more than 50% at fault recovers nothing. At 50% or below, recovery is reduced by the plaintiff's percentage of fault.
New medical-damages rules limiting what evidence of medical bills the jury can hear. The "amounts billed" can no longer be presented when health insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid actually paid a discounted amount.
Negligent-security apportionment requiring fault to be apportioned to the criminal actor as well as the property owner — significantly affecting hotel, apartment, and parking-garage cases.
Bad-faith reforms restricting the conditions under which a plaintiff can pursue an insurer for bad faith following an excess verdict.

These changes have made early case investigation more important than ever. Building the liability evidence quickly — before witnesses move, surveillance footage is overwritten, and physical evidence is altered — is the only way to keep apportionment of fault below the 50% bar in contested cases.

How Florida Auto Insurance Layers Work

In a typical Miami car-crash case, three sources of money may be in play. First, your own Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage under § 627.736 — $10,000 in no-fault benefits paying 80% of reasonable medical expenses and 60% of lost wages, available regardless of fault, but requiring an initial medical visit within 14 days of the crash. Second, the at-fault driver's bodily injury (BI) liability coverage, available only after you cross the "serious injury threshold" of § 627.737. Third, your own uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage if the at-fault driver had no insurance or insufficient limits. Florida law does not require BI coverage on personal auto policies — meaning roughly one in five South Florida drivers carries no liability insurance at all. UM coverage is often the most valuable protection a Miami driver can carry, and a knowledgeable lawyer can stack UM across multiple vehicles on the same policy in many cases.

What Damages You Can Recover

Florida personal injury damages fall into three categories. Economic damages cover quantifiable losses — past and future medical expenses, past and future lost wages, loss of earning capacity, property damage, household-services replacement, and out-of-pocket costs. Non-economic damages cover pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of consortium, loss of enjoyment of life, and disfigurement. Punitive damages are available only where the defendant's conduct was intentional, grossly negligent, or carried out with conscious disregard for the safety of others — they are capped under § 768.73 at the greater of three times compensatory damages or $500,000 in most cases, with higher caps for specific intent and unlimited exposure for crimes committed for financial gain.

The Typical Case Timeline

A Florida personal injury case generally moves through predictable phases. The first 60 to 90 days are spent on investigation, treatment, and evidence preservation. As you approach maximum medical improvement (MMI), we assemble the demand package — medical records, billing summaries, lost-wage documentation, and a narrative of liability — and submit it to the carrier. Pre-suit negotiation typically takes 60 to 120 days. If the case does not resolve, we file in Miami-Dade Circuit Court (or county court for smaller cases), serve the defendants, and begin formal discovery — interrogatories, requests for production, depositions, and independent medical examinations. Mediation is required in nearly every Miami-Dade civil case before trial and resolves most lawsuits. Cases that proceed to trial typically reach a jury 18 to 30 months after filing, longer for medical-malpractice and other complex matters.

Common Defense Tactics

Carriers defending Florida personal injury cases follow a predictable playbook. They argue that the plaintiff's injuries preexisted the incident (a strategy that involves subpoenas for every prior medical record going back a decade), that the plaintiff exaggerated symptoms (typically supported by surveillance video), that there were gaps in treatment showing the injury was not serious, that the plaintiff failed to mitigate damages by skipping recommended care, and that the plaintiff was substantially at fault. Anticipating each of these tactics from the outset — and building the medical and liability record to defeat them — is the core craft of plaintiff's personal injury work.

What to Do After a South Florida Accident

Call 911 and ensure a Florida Traffic Crash Report is generated for any motor vehicle incident
Photograph the scene, vehicles, visible injuries, weather, and traffic conditions
Collect contact information for every witness — phone numbers, not just names
Seek medical evaluation the same day, and within 14 days at the latest to preserve PIP benefits
Report the incident to your own auto carrier, but decline to give recorded statements to any other insurer
Preserve damaged property and clothing for inspection
Avoid posting about the incident, your injuries, or your recovery on social media
Contact an attorney before signing any release, medical authorization, or settlement document

If you are looking for a Miami personal injury lawyer who will treat your case as the most important matter in the office, I would be glad to speak with you. Call 786-522-1411 or email [email protected].