Verdicts & Settlements
Our Results – Florida Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Verdicts and Settlements
For more than 40 years, Florida personal injury lawyer Philip DeBerard and his legal team have helped accident and injury victims throughout South Florida and the Treasure Coast. We are devoted to excellence, justice and maximum compensation for victims of serious injuries, neglect and wrongful death. We also believe strongly in providing compassionate, professional and friendly client service.
Below are some of the positive results we have obtained on behalf of our clients in their personal injury cases. These results are examples of the cases we handle. Please understand that the merit and value of your case will depend on its facts. The outcome of any case depends on many factors, and the results cannot be guaranteed.
To discuss the specific facts of your case, call Philip DeBerard, Injury Attorney, today at our toll-free number or use our online contact form. Our initial consultations are free and confidential. We charge no fee for our legal services unless we recover for you.
$4.6 Million Motorcycle Accident
A driver made an illegal left turn, hitting a motorcyclist head-on. The motorcyclist was severely injured with a fractured vertebra, fractured elbow, dislocated shoulder, broken foot, and skin and muscle injuries.
$2.6 Million Medical Malpractice
Family members took an Indiantown baby with a high fever to a local clinic’s emergency room. The baby was kept waiting for several hours. The ER staff and the physicians never performed a spinal tap. Finally, after several hours, the baby was sent by ambulance to the hospital, where he died of spinal meningitis. An expert stated that if the child had immediately been placed on antibiotics, he would have survived.
$2.4 Million Drug Injury
This settlement was awarded to our client for the wrongful death of a spouse in a case against a drug manufacturer. The details are confidential under the settlement.
$2 Million Car Crash
A vehicle running a redlight t-boned a husband and wife. Both succumbed to their injuries from the crash. All available policy limits were recovered for the family.
$2 Million Truck Accident
An Okeechobee man was a back-seat passenger in an automobile that collided with a semi-trailer that ran a stop sign. The man suffered massive injuries, including a closed-head trauma. This settlement was obtained from the semi-trailer’s insurance company.
$1.75 Million Distracted Driving Accident
A Port St. Lucie resident and mother of three was seriously and permanently injured in an auto accident because another driver was talking on a cell phone instead of paying attention to the road and crashed into her vehicle. Before the accident, our client was an active mother of three and former black-belt champion who taught karate and participated in outdoor activities with her children. Now, doctors say she will never be gainfully employed again. Employers may be held liable for an accident by someone if they supply the phone or if they encourage the driver to use it, whether or not the call is related to business.
$1.25 Million Truck Accident
An insufficiently trained novice truck driver crashed into a woman’s vehicle, seriously injuring her. The truck driver was on his first day at work when the wreck occurred. He had been driving under the speed limit in an unfamiliar city. He turned on his right turn signal and attempted to make a left-hand turn in front of the woman’s van. His truck violently struck her vehicle twice, forcing it to veer into a drainage ditch. The woman, who had both foot and leg injuries, had to undergo shoulder surgery for a torn rotator cuff and two surgeries to fuse vertebrae. Her ability to function is limited due to the accident. The trucking company settled the case at mediation for $1.25 million.
$1.2 Million Car Accident
As a result of injuries sustained in a car crash, a mother died. We obtained this confidential settlement for three adult children of a woman who died as a result of injuries sustained in a car crash.
$1,073,500 Car Accident
After a six-day trial, a jury awarded a 24-year-old Okeechobee woman more than $1 million because of multiple injuries she sustained in an automobile accident, including a shattered wrist and disfiguring facial scars. The driver who caused the accident pulled out of a private drive without making sure that traffic was clear in both directions, striking our client’s vehicle and causing it to roll over and land upside down in a canal. The jury award was one of the highest the judge had seen in a contested case.
$1 Million Motorcycle Accident
The combination of an inexperienced racetrack flagman and a lack of supervision resulted in serious injury to a teenager. The boy, an inexperienced rider, was practicing his motorcycle skills on a motocross track when an experienced rider jumped a hill, landing on top of him. The injured boy required several neck and back surgeries. He is now a quadriplegic. A settlement was reached with Lloyds of London for the policy limits.
$1 Million Child Pedestrian Accident
A 3-year-old child was riding his bicycle in his apartment building’s parking lot while his parents watched from nearby. Suddenly, the driver of a 1-ton business truck “gunned” his engine, pulled straight out of a parking space and unknowingly ran over the child, killing him. He saw the child riding his bike when he arrived at the apartment complex at 6:30 a.m., and no obstructions blocked his view. The driver’s business insurance company settled the case for the entire policy limits of $1 million.
$975,000 Truck Accident
A married couple was involved in a terrible accident when a tractor-trailer pulled out in front of their vehicle. The husband immediately applied his brakes, but he was unable to avoid crashing into the rig. Both the husband and wife were trapped in their pickup and had to be extricated with the “jaws of life.” They both sustained serious and debilitating injuries that required them to stay in a nursing home after hospitalization. This settlement was reached at mediation.
$925,000 Car Accident
A young woman was injured in a T-bone crash. The other driver wrongly said our client violated her right of way at a traffic light. Ordinarily, the driver’s insurance company would have been responsible for only the $25,000 policy limits. We argued that the insurance company failed to act in the best interests of the insured and requested it tender the policy limits promptly. The insurance company breached its contract by failing to do so, leading to a settlement on a bad faith claim in an amount 37 times the policy limits.
$900,000 Pedestrian Accident
A seasonal resident of Okeechobee was taking his morning walk along a road in an area commonly traveled by pedestrians. He was waiting on a grassy median strip for traffic to pass when a van pulled out of a gas station and accelerated into the inside lane, violently striking the man. He suffered a severe closed head injury and remained in a coma for 17 days. He now requires around-the-clock care and cannot enjoy fishing, the pastime that brought him to Florida. The driver’s Canadian insurance company settled the claim for $900,000.
$850,000 Slip-and-Fall Accident
A shopping center owner and a water company had to pay an Okeechobee woman $850,000 because of their negligence regarding safety standards and their failure to prevent hazardous conditions. Our client’s vehicle was parked behind the Okeechobee Plaza, owned by Royal & Sons, after a heavy rainstorm flooded the dark, unlit parking lot. She stepped into an uncovered meter hole and fell, causing serious neck and back injuries that left her permanently disabled. The meter’s lid had floated away because the Okeechobee Utility Authority had failed to properly attach or maintain it. The parking lot had been in an unsafe condition for a very long period prior to this incident, and the owners allegedly made no attempt to fix it.
$700,000 Truck Accident
A man was driving northbound on the inside lane of I-95 when a tractor trailer — which wasn’t even legally allowed to be in that lane — crashed into the back of his car. The man suffered extensive injuries, forcing him to give up his work in the construction industry. He also had to give up hobbies that included motorcycling, boating and golfing.
$555,000 Nursing Home Negligence
An 86-year-old nursing home patient was found by his family with severe bedsores on his heels and buttocks as a result of the staff’s failure to turn him. The bedsores were so severe that bones were protruding through his skin. After many attempts to get the attention of the staff, and after ringing the call button for hours, the man was found lying in his own urine and feces. The man died due to multiple injuries.
$475,000 Rear-End Accident
Our client, who was certified as both a corrections officer and a Florida police officer, injured her back when she was struck from the rear. The tractor trailer that hit her SUV was exceeding the speed limit, and the client had no way to get off the road and avoid the collision because of construction barriers and traffic. Her back injury required spinal fusion. She also developed TMJ.
$465,500 Vehicle Rollover
Our client was involved in a crash on a major highway. She was cut off by another vehicle, causing her car to roll multiple times before coming to rest. As a result, she sustained a significant injury to her neck, and future surgery was recommended.
$425,000 Rear-End Accident
An Okeechobee woman sustained injuries in a rear-end collision. The woman suffered severe knee injuries and a subdural hemorrhage brain injury, requiring immediate surgery. The client now has permanent short-term memory problems. Since the insurance company failed to settle in a timely manner, a lawsuit was filed, forcing the company to settle for 15 times the policy limit.
$360,000 Car Accident
An active 87-year-old driver was hit by another driver who ran a red light. The other driver was charged with failure to stop at a red light and driving without a valid license. The driver and her 89-year-old sister, who was a passenger in the car, were taken to the hospital. The sister suffered several fractures, requiring a lengthy hospital stay. It was followed by inpatient physical therapy at a nursing home. Due to her inability to walk or move around, the sister developed an upper respiratory infection and had to return to the hospital for two months. The 87-year-old driver, who sustained a fractured foot, also received $35,000 for her injuries.
$350,000 Drug Injury
After short-term use of Baycol, a statin prescribed by his doctor for elevated cholesterol, a man had to be hospitalized for a month with kidney failure. He was diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis. He has permanent side effects from the Baycol, including serious fatigue, muscle pain and partial paralysis. The man’s insurance company had required the use of Baycol because it was cheaper than other statins. Baycol has been pulled off the market.
$350,000 Truck Accident
A woman was traveling in the inside lane, slowing for traffic and nearly stopped, when a tractor trailer slammed into the rear of her car at great speed. The truck driver approached the woman and said if she didn’t give him money, he would call law enforcement. Knowing it wasn’t her fault, the woman called the police to come to the scene and investigate. Damage to the woman’s totaled car showed that she was not to blame. She suffered a back injury that required multiple surgeries. The woman was convinced that her subsequent miscarriage was a result of either the crash or the medication she was taking for her back injury.
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