personal injury attorney fees

Personal Injury Attorney Fees

Personal Injury Attorney Fees

It’s Important to Understand What Your Legal Costs Might be Upfront

Imagine yourself in one of these situations:

  • Your spouse has served you with a lawsuit asking for a divorce and wants to have custody of your children.
  • You are arrested for a crime.
  • A real estate transaction you are involved has an involved party who suddenly wants back out.
  • You are involved in a serious auto accident and you have been injured.
  • Your parent or other relative has passed away and you are in their will but you don’t understand the details.

fort lauderdale personal injury attorneysEvery one of the above dilemmas involve legal issues and so you should be concerned about knowing how to protect your legal rights. The minute people are presented with these situations their first thought is “I need legal help” and their second thought is “how much will that help cost me?”

Attorneys are experts in law, and they spent a lot of time and money on their education and proficiency to become experts in their field. Therefore, they deserve to be paid for their services.

Here are some of the ways attorneys charge for their services:

Consultation Fees: This is where you have questions, but aren’t necessarily involved in an immediate legal dispute. Attorneys may charge by the hour for their time and recommend a certain course of action. What this hourly rate is depends.

Contingency Fees: These arrangements are common with personal injury and medical malpractice attorneys. The client usually pays nothing up-front, and the attorney accepts a percentage of the final settlement or judgement. Contingency fees (percentage) can vary according to the type of case.

Flat Fees: This is usually an option if the attorney handles large volumes of a particular kind of case, allowing the attorney to drive the cases through the use of forms and standardized practices. These are usually relatively simple cases like uncontested divorces, evictions, or foreclosures.

Hourly Rate: This is a common way for attorneys to charge for their services and it certainly seems like a reasonable system. A client must understand that staying abreast of time and expenses compiled stay within the limits of their budget is important.

Retainer: This is like a deposit paid toward future fees and costs. The lawyer is paid a set fee, often based on the lawyer’s hourly rate multiplied by a certain number of hours.

Lazarus and Lazarus • Most of Our Clients Pay no Upfront Fees

For the vast majority of cases the Law Firm of Lazarus and Lazarus uses the contingency fee system, which means after a free consultation, the client pays nothing. We represent our clients for a percentage of the final financial recovery.

We believe this is the most equitable way to structure a fee agreement with our clients, many of whom have been devastated financially from an accident and injuries sustained.

If you or someone you know has been injured in any type of accident it’s important not to delay in reaching out for help. Florida law limits the amount of time victims have to seek compensation for hospital bills, property damage, and pain & suffering.

The first step is to call us – 7 days a week – at (954) 356- 0666

Personal Injury Attorneys Lazarus and Lazarus • Weston and Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Slip and Fall Incidents in South Florida

Misconceptions About Slip and Fall Cases in Florida | The Law Firm of Lazarus and Lazarus

Slip and Fall Personal Injury AttorneysDon’t Believe the Stories You Hear – Contact an Experienced Attorney

Personal Injury cases run from cuts and scrapes to paralysis, permanent brain damage and everything in between. The causes are sometimes the fault of the victim but are most often the result of someone else’s carelessness or negligence.

There is a misconception held my many that “slip and fall” accidents are mostly minor, usually don’t need any medical attention, and that filing a lawsuit for damages is a waste of time. People believe that even if they get a monetary settlement it will be small and their lawyer will take most of it.

mis·con·cep·tion: a view or opinion that is incorrect because based on faulty thinking or understanding.

Consider this case: In Apopka, near Orlando, a jury awarded $948,000 to a woman who fell after slipping on a wet bathroom floor at the Walmart in 2016. Jessica Amador was shopping with her mother and helped her mother into the restroom, which had just been mopped, the complaint said. Source: Insurance Journal

Walmart has between 220 and 250 million shoppers visit their stores each week and they have had thousands of injury claims because of their failure to maintain a safe environment. The most common places for slip and fall injuries are:

  • Sidewalks
  • Parking lots
  • Stairs
  • Escalators and elevators
  • Restaurants, grocery stores, shopping malls, and other shops
  • Job sites

We represent people who have received serious injuries, which means that the victim is in serious pain and/or has medical bills because of the incident. We will fight diligently to make sure you receive the maximum monetary settlement allowed by law.

It is the responsibility of every business owner to keep their property safe, but if you are hurt because one didn’t we can help. We’re available 7 days a week to speak with you and a call to (954) 356-0006 will put you in touch with Gary or Arleen Lazarus, bit highly experienced personal injury lawyers.

Slip and Fall Incidents in South Florida

Accident Attorneys Lazarus

Drowsy Driving is Dangerous – Here are Some Prevention Tips

Like Drunk Driving, Drowsy Driving Causes Serious Injuries and Death on America’s Roadways

Personal Injury Accident AttorneyWhen you travel by plane or train there isn’t much you can do to speed up the trip. Traveling by automobile or truck or motorcycle is a different situation and many people try to “drive straight through” instead of taking some rest stops to recharge their batteries. This is not a prudent thing to do.

Last week was officially Drowsy Driving Prevention Week but it’s something we need to be aware of all the time and we should caution others about the dangers. If you know someone who likes to drive without proper rest you may want to want to make them aware of these facts:

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration drowsy driving is responsible for an annual average of:

  • 83,000 crashes
  • 37,000 injury crashes
  • 886 fatal crashes

How does sleepiness affect drivers? Studies show that driving without adequate sleep makes drivers less attentive, affects their decision-making ability, and slows reaction time.

Preventing Drowsy Driving Accidents

  1. Get at least 7 hours of sleep before embarking on a long trip.
  2. Never take medication that might cause drowsiness before you drive.
  3. On long trips take a break every 100 miles or every two hours.
  4. If you feel your eyelids “getting heavy” it’s time to pull over and rest.
  5. If you have to roll down the windows and drink coffee to stay awake, stop and rest. Those things are short-term and won’t stop you from nodding off.

The Law Firm of Lazarus and Lazarus has seen it all in our many years dealing with serious crashes and injuries, and many cases have involved drowsy driving. If you have been involved in any kind of accident it is always best to get professional legal advice about how to proceed. We answer our phones 7 days a week so please call 954-356-0006 at your convenience.

Personal Injury Attorneys in Weston and Fort Lauderdale Florida

Impaired Driver Accident Attorneys

What to Do If You Are in an Accident Involving a Drunk Driver

Impaired Driver Accident Attorneys

New Infrastructure Bill Hopes to Prevent Drunk Driving Accidents and Injuries

Serious accidents are always difficult to investigate, but when an impaired driver is involved they are an even larger challenge because that means there is a criminal element to deal with and often the offender leaves the scene.

It’s important to understand what you should and should not do if you are involved in an accident and you believe another driver is impaired. Police recommend you do not try to detain a drunk driver from leaving the scene but call 911 and give the best description of the car and the driver you can. They will search for and hopefully find the driver.

Personal Injury Attorneys Fort LauderdaleDrivers who run afoul of the Florida Statutes covering impaired driving have for years found themselves ordered to install special equipment in their cars as a condition if they want to drive. It is a system that screens them with a breathalyzer-type device to make sure they don’t have alcohol in their system.

This year the U.S. Congress is attempting to pass a large infrastructure law that will include a requirement for U.S. automakers to install special equipment to sense if the driver is impaired. Read Car & Driver Article – Known as the Drunk Driving Prevention Technology Provision, it would not be the type of system known previously which involves blowing into a tube, but would involve some type of sensory technology. We can only hope it cuts down on drunk driving accidents.

Fact: In every state, it’s illegal to drive drunk, yet one person was killed in a drunk-driving crash every 52 minutes in the United States in 2019.  

The Law Firm of Lazarus and Lazarus has been helping drivers who are injured by impaired drivers since 1992. We work with the police and with insurance companies to make sure the rights of our clients are protected and that they receive the maximum compensation allowed by law for their damages and injuries.

If you are involved in any type of accident it is smart to seek the advice of an experienced Personal Injury Attorney. Our consultations are free and completely confidential. We’re available 7 days a week at 954-356-0006.

Fort Lauderdale Personal Injury Attorneys Lazarus and Lazarus | 954-356-0006 | Offices in Fort Lauderdale and Weston

South Florida Injury Lawyers

The Most Dangerous State • South Florida Personal Injury Attorneys

Florida Leads Other Large States in Injury-Related Fatality Rates

It’s good to be ranked number one in several different categories like Clean Air and Education, but states and communities shy away from being recognized as top banana in crime, car accidents, and poisonings.

Unfortunately, Florida ranks very high in several categories of unintentional injuries. In fact, unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death among Florida residents ages 1-44.

What are these categories?

According to the Florida Department of Health, Florida ranks higher for injury-related fatality rates than Texas, California, New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois in the following categories:

  • Drownings
  • Falls
  • Poisonings
  • Auto Accidents
  • Pedestrian Accidents
  • Suicides
  • Violence-Related Injuries
  • Bicycle Accidents

Compensation for InjuriesThe key to staying safe not only in Florida but anywhere is prevention. A little research, education, and training can put you and your family on the road to avoiding dangerous situations where injuries can happen.

For drivers, the Broward-Dade Safety Council offers tips and training to keep you safe. For motorcyclists the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicle Department can point you to skill training courses.

The Broward County Health Department offer Drowning Prevention programs.

2-1-1 Broward serves people in crisis by providing 24-hour telephone counseling, emotional support, suicide prevention and intervention, and links to community resources. Call 211 or 954-537-0211 now for help!

Often, unintentional injuries are caused because of someone else’s carelessness, recklessness, or negligence and that’s where the Law Firm of Lazarus and Lazarus can help. We have been working for victims of injuries caused by others since 1992 and our experience covers a wide range of serious circumstances.

Our primary goal is to restore our clients to the life they had before their injuries physically and financially so they can go on living productively. If you or someone you know has been injured please reach out to us at (954) 356-0006 seven days a week. Our consultations are free and confidential.

The History of Personal Injury Law – South Florida Personal Injury Lawyers Lazarus and Lazarus

Many people in America take for granted our laws, our system of justice, and our rights. They don’t understand that not long ago in our nation’s history and in other countries today, the freedoms wePersonal Injury enjoy were not and are not available. If you are tempted to complain about our legal system being slow or unfair, take a look back at history and you’ll see we have come a long way!

10,000 to 500 B.C. • In ancient times “an eye for an eye” was a widely accepted method to settle instances where one person had harmed another and the judges were in most cases incompetent, cruel, and biased. We won’t describe some of the punishments, but you can imagine.

500 B.C. to 395 A.D. • During the Classic Greek and Roman eras, the practice of bringing a companion to trial to help in a person’s prosecution or defense became the norm, and while they were not supposed to be paid for their services, they usually were anyway. The people may be thought of as the first lawyers, and in time they became specialized in understanding the rules and laws of the different cultures and geographical area in which they lived. Laws were ambiguous and were rarely applied fairly.

1490’s • As new worlds were discovered, Europeans began to export their Canon Law – based on Roman Catholic Doctrine – on new colonies they established. These laws usually favored the rich over the poor, and so if you didn’t have a lot of money, justice was very hard to come by. England, however established a system known as “Common Law” in the 16th Century and that became the foundation for most laws in North America as the British settled here. But they were still very unfair to many people.


It would be good to point out here that as legal philosophies and laws themselves advanced, criminal courts became separate from civil courts, and the concept of tort law came to exist. A tort is defined as a wrongful act or an infringement of a right (other than under contract) leading to civil legal liability.

Some legal principles such as res ipsa loquitur (Latin for “the thing speaks for itself”) became important to understand tort issues and can be described as the principle that implies “the occurrence of an accident implies negligence.”

Res ipsa loquitur is a doctrine of law that one is presumed to be negligent if he/she/it had exclusive control of whatever caused the injury even though there is no specific evidence of an act of negligence, and without negligence the accident would not have happened. Example: a load of bricks on the roof of a building being constructed by High Rise Construction Company falls and injures Paul Pedestrian below, and High Rise is liable for Pedestrian’s injury even though no one saw the load fall.


1760 to 1830 • The first industrial revolution in England saw many workers injured by improperly designed or careless operation of machinery, but the concept of paying compensation through a judgement in court had not been developed. Therefore most people were left to deal with injuries, pain, and suffering on their own.

1860 to 1940 • The second industrial revolution in the United States saw more injuries to workers and finally there were laws enacted to protect people from injuries resulting from the negligence of others. This might be seen as the beginning of personal injury law.

Modern Personal Injury Law – Believe it or not, it was a snail that ushered in the modern era of personal injury law. In 1932 the case of Donoghue vs Stevenson involved Mrs. Donoghue drinking a bottle of ginger beer in a café in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. A dead snail was in the bottle. She fell ill, and she sued the ginger beer manufacturer, Mr Stevenson. The House of Lords held that the manufacturer owed a duty of care to her, which was breached, because it was reasonably foreseeable that failure to ensure the product’s safety would lead to harm to consumers. There was also a sufficiently proximate relationship between consumers and product manufacturers. This case was the foundation for many future decisions, and modern personal injury law was born.

Through the 1900’s many attorneys began to specialize in personal injury law because it involves many unique and complicated issues. People started to move about the country and the world faster and more frequently, computers have made a major impact on society, and while medical care has advanced, the costs have skyrocketed. The goal of a good personal injury attorney is to see that a serious injury doesn’t drastically alter a person’s life as they know it, but rather try to return them to the life they had before.

Today, a network of excellent law schools in the United States graduates lawyers who understand modern personal injury law and ethics. The American Bar Association as well as local and state bar associations keep watch on attorneys so the public is assured competent, ethical representation and our courts are staffed with judges who are held accountable by voters or by other elected officials to ensure equal justice under law, as inscribed on the United States Supreme Court.

The Lawyers at Lazarus and Lazarus are very proud to represent people who have been injured because of the carelessness, negligence, or malpractice of others. We have developed a sterling reputation for giving our clients competent, personalized service and we never give up until we have exhausted every means of seeing our clients receive the maximum compensation under the law for their injuries, pain, suffering, and lost wages. Please call us at 954-356-0006 for a confidential and free consultation if you have any questions.

 

 

 

Fraud Hurts Us All

Dear Friends and Clients:

I wanted to take this opportunity to bring to your attention that recently, four local personal injury attorneys have been charged criminally for engaging in kickback schemes with tow truck drivers, tow yards and medical providers. Simply put, it is alleged that these attorneys were being paid cash for new cases, which is a clear violation of Florida’s criminal statutes. Even though the names and photos of these attorneys have been published by the Sun-Sentinel, I have decided not to name them out of respect for their families. Although these specific attorneys are innocent until proven guilty, those of us who do this for a living have known for years that these kickback schemes have been ongoing.

In fact, as a young attorney over 20 years ago, I met with a local chiropractor for lunch and he offered me $2,000 cash for each client that I referred to his clinic for treatment. Think about that for a moment. This was the first time I had met this chiropractor but he felt completely comfortable in soliciting me to commit a crime. Without hesitation, I rejected his offer and ended the lunch early. I know I will be accused of sounding self-righteous but I have always advocated that all ‘honest’ plaintiff’s attorneys have a duty to speak out when fraud is being committed. A fraud of this nature further tarnishes the reputation of injury attorneys and as we know, our reputations as a whole are already tarnished.

Other types of auto insurance fraud hurt consumers in the form of higher insurance premiums. Estimates vary greatly but the Coalition for Insurance Fraud puts the cost of fraudulent claims in the range of $80 billion dollars annually. While I think that is an inflated number presented by a group that is friendly to the insurance industry, once again, there is no denying that fraud exists and that it increases our insurance premiums. As I have always done, I am advising all clients and friends to report any incidences of attorney fraud. If you are in an accident and someone in a tow truck, tow yard or emergency room approaches you with an attorney referral, they may be engaging in a crime. If someone contacts you without your permission–either on your cell phone or home telephone line–and attempts to refer you to a lawyer, they are likely working with a lawyer who is aware of their actions. This constitutes a clear violation of the Florida Bar rules and may also be a crime.

Finally, choose your attorney wisely because it will likely mean the difference between a bad or good settlement amount. Those injury attorneys who illegally solicit patients often work on a high volume/low margin business model. They don’t care if they don’t obtain just compensation for you because they have so many cases that they earn a profit on turnover and sheer volume. Simply put, this means they will not fight for you on those cases where you deserve a higher settlement. I hope all of you have recovered from the recent storm. If you need anything at all, please do not hesitate to contact me at the office. (954) 356-0006.

Gary T. Lazarus, Esq.
1625 North Commerce Parkway
Weston, Florida 33326
(954) 356-0006
www.Lazaruslaw.us