Practice Areas

Injury attorneys at The Garvin Law Firm in Fort Myers are committed to top-tier legal representation for personal injury clients. We fight for the rights of people seriously injured by the acts or omissions of individuals, companies and government entities with a legal responsibility to conform to a higher standard of conduct.

Our legal Practice Areas reflect some of the more common personal injury claims filed in Southwest Florida, as well as those in which our legal team has an extensive history of proven success.

These include:

• Personal Injury
• Car Accidents
• Truck Accidents
• Motorcycle Accidents
• Bicycle Accidents
• Jet Ski Accidents
• Premises Liability (slip-and-fall)
• Medical Malpractice
• Elder Abuse/ Nursing Home Negligence
• Wrongful Death
• Product Liability
• Boating Accidents
• Class Action

We believe in holding negligent parties accountable and fighting for the maximum possible compensation for clients who have suffered so greatly as a result of someone else’s wrongdoing.

Our compassionate, skilled injury attorneys recognize the aftermath of a serious accident can leave you emotionally reeling and financially strained. You don’t have to tackle this alone. Further, when you hire a Fort Myers injury lawyer from The Garvin Law Firm, you do not pay any upfront attorney’s fees. This is what’s known as a contingency fee arrangement. It means we don’t collect fees unless and until we win your case. If we do prevail, a percentage of what you are awarded will go toward covering your attorney fee. (This structure provides incentive for injury attorneys to be selective about the cases they take on, and to fight aggressively when they do sign on.)

Florida personal injury lawsuits arise when there is a dispute over compensation after a person is injured (or in wrongful death cases, killed) by the wrongful conduct of someone else who was legally responsible to behave differently, or as a reasonable person or professional would under the circumstances.

These cases are referred to as “torts,” which translates to “wrongful conduct” in Latin. Personal injury claims are handled within the civil justice system, and unlike the criminal courts, wherein the government files the case on behalf of “the people,” civil cases are filed directly by the victim or someone representing the victim.

Our lawyers have more than four decades of experience both in settlement negotiation and jury trials in civil tort claims. Our law firm has helped secure multi-million dollar verdicts for clients injured in complex personal injury cases.

Reports of car accidents in Fort Myers and surrounding communities occur each day. Every motorist has a duty of care to fellow road users to exercise reasonable care in driving their vehicle. That means obeying traffic laws (including speed limits), being attentive, sober and aptly cautious behind the wheel.

Failure to do so, resulting in an accident, can be grounds for a claim. Florida is a no-fault state when it comes to auto accidents, which means you must first pursue compensation through your PIP (personal injury protection) insurer, which will provide up to $10,000 for medical bills and lost wages.

Claimants can step outside this no-fault system to pursue damages from the other driver if (per F.S. 627.737):

• You’ve suffered significant / permanent loss of a bodily function;
• You’ve suffered permanent injury;
• You have been significantly scarred / disfigured;
• Death.

Motorcyclists are not required to carry PIP, but many riders carry medical coverage, plus bodily injury liability coverage (if they cause the crash) and UM/ UIM (uninsured/ underinsured motorist) benefits, which are important if the other driver doesn’t have adequate insurance to cover serious injury damages.

If you’re involved in a bicycle accident or pedestrian accident in South Florida (an all-too-common occurrence), you obviously aren’t required to carry PIP, but you can collect PIP coverage from the driver who struck you. You may also be able to pursue damages from the driver’s bodily injury liability insurance carrier. If you do have UM/UIM coverage on your vehicle, you may tap into that coverage as well because many insurers consider bicycle and pedestrian accidents to be “vehicle accidents” because a motor vehicle was involved.

Many boating accidents and jet ski accidents have to do with operator error and inexperience. Just like drivers of motor vehicles, operators of boats and jet skis off the shores of Southwest Florida have a duty to passengers, swimmers and others sharing the water to use reasonable care. Failure to do so can result in personal injury.

Defendants in these cases may include:

• Boat operator / Jet Ski operator;
• Owner of the vessel;
• Operator of boat rental / Jet Ski rental company;
• Manufacturer of the vessel (if evidence parts were defective, unreasonably dangerous or lacked adequate warning). This is a type of product liability case.

We trust our doctors, nurses and other caregivers to rely on their skill, training and available tools to provide us with essential health care. However, when a health care provider fails to provide care that a professional with the same background would consider adequate for the circumstances and the result is patient harm, this may be grounds for a medical malpractice lawsuit. Hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and other health care facilities also may be held to account when their policies or oversight was sorely lacking.

All medical malpractice claims require plaintiffs to rely on expert witness testimony – from someone with a similar level of background and training as the defendant – willing to assert the provider’s care fell below the applicable standard for that specialty or region.

Nursing home neglect, nursing home abuse and nursing home negligence can sometimes be a form of medical malpractice, but not always. It’s an important differentiation to make because it will impact the statute of limitations, as well as the kind of evidence that must be presented. Nursing home abuse and neglect may involve:

• Physical abuse;
• Sexual abuse;
• Financial exploitation;
• Neglect of basic grooming, bathing, personal hygiene and diet;
• Patient wandering from facility.

Poor policy development or oversight and lack of staffing are major issues in many Florida nursing homes, and it’s our most vulnerable residents who suffer most.

A wrongful death is one caused by the wrongful act, negligence, default or breach of contract of another person or entity. In these cases, the estate of decedent can file a civil lawsuit in court for remedy. Florida wrongful death lawsuits must generally be filed within two years of the date of decedent’s death.

Florida’s Wrongful Death Act is outlined in Florida Statute Chapter 768.

There are stringent rules in wrongful death cases about who can file, when they can file and what type of damages they can pursue. An experienced personal injury attorney can help guide you through the process.

Product manufacturers are responsible to ensure their products are not unreasonably dangerous, or if there is some known danger, they provide adequate warning to consumers.

Defects in manufacturing (mistakes in construction) and design (an inherent flaw as created) can be grounds for a product liability lawsuit.

If you have been injured by a dangerous or defective product, we can help. These can include defective vehicles, defective medications, defective toys or defective household products.

Class action litigation involves consolidated cases by numerous plaintiffs who have suffered harm. Such claims can be weighed in either state and federal court (though most are federal) and most are against large-scale corporations, such as pharmaceutical companies, vehicle manufacturers or medical device makers.

The experienced personal injury attorneys at The Garvin Law Firm are committed to fighting for rights and best interests.

Contact our Fort Myers personal injury attorneys at The Garvin Law Firm today at 239.277.0005 or online for a free case review.