Practice Areas

The Fort Myers personal injury lawyers at Garvin Injury Law, 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
• Medical Malpractice
• Elder Abuse
• Wrongful Death
• Product Liability
• Boating Accidents
• Florida Class Action Lawsuits
• Bad Faith Insurance
• Brain Injury
• Spine Injury
• Hotel and Resort Injuries
• Hospital Bill and Lien Resolution

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 do not have to tackle this alone. Further, when you hire an injury lawyer from Garvin Injury Law, you do not pay any upfront attorney’s fees; this is known as a contingency fee arrangement. It means we do not 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 an incentive for personal injury attorneys in Fort Myers and elsewhere 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 for behaving 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. 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 vehicles. 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 have suffered significant / permanent loss of a bodily function;
• You have 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 does not have adequate insurance to cover serious injury damages.

If you are involved in a bicycle accident or pedestrian accident in South Florida (an all-too-common occurrence), you obviously are not 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 is 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 the facility.

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

Wrongful death is caused by the wrongful act, negligence, default or breach of contract of another person, or entity. In these cases, the estate of the decedent can file a civil lawsuit in court for remedy. Florida's 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 and when they can file along with what type of damages they can pursue. An experienced personal injury lawyer in Fort Myers can help guide you through the process.

Product manufacturers are responsible for ensuring 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). Most are against large-scale corporations, such as pharmaceutical companies, vehicle manufacturers, or medical device makers.

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

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