According to the CDC, Drunk Driving and DUI in Florida results in an average of approximately 8500 deaths every 10 years. The data also presents the sobering fact that these types of instances occur so often in Florida, they top the national average. 2016 resulted in nearly 45,000 DUI arrests and almost 28,000 convictions.
Far too often, innocent people become victims of these tragic events and have to endure injury, property damage, and even the death of loved ones. And unfortunately, the DUI driver's insurance company is NOT interested in helping victims receive adequate compensation for their losses.
You Don't Have To Deal With This Alone
Florida Statute Section 316.193.3C1 provides for enhanced penalties for any driving under the influence case that causes or contributes to property damage or non-serious personal injury of another. DUI with property damage or non-serious personal injury is a first-degree misdemeanor. DUI cases involving the serious bodily injury (as opposed to non-serious injury) can be charged as a third-degree felony. Contact an experienced personal injury attorney; they can help uncover the best course of action to protect your rights.Why Do I Need an Attorney if I'm a victim of a DUI resulting in injury or property damage from a drunk driver?
- Car Insurance Companies are Not Obligated to Pay Punitive Damages
- Insurance Defense Lawyers Argue Drunk Driving Facts will Anger the Jury too Much
- Insurance Defense Lawyers Also Argue the Accident Didn’t Cause Your Injuries and Damages
- Insurance Defense Lawyers Tell the Judge Alcohol has No Relationship to Your Injuries
Criminal DUI Penalties
In Florida, criminal charges are brought on behalf of the people by the Florida government. Criminal penalties are designed to punish the defendant for engaging in behavior that society deems unacceptable, like drunk driving. As such, the penalties often involve jail time, probation, and fines. The legal blood alcohol limit (BAC) in Florida is 0.08%. If someone is caught driving with a BAC of over 0.08%, they may be charged with DUI and Florida will begin criminal proceedings against them. The criminal consequences of a first DUI in Florida are up to six months in jail, a fine of $500-$1,000, suspension of driver’s license up to one year, and possibly an ignition interlock device being installed in their car (at their expense). However, those are the penalties simply for being caught driving with a BAC of over 0.08%. The state of Florida enhances jail time penalties if there are aggravating circumstances surrounding a DUI, including:- Nine months for a BAC of 0.15% or more
- Nine months for having a passenger under 18 years old
- One year if there was an accident involving property damage or minor injuries
- Five years if there was an accident involving serious bodily injury
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 Frank Fernandez is known for his dedication to his clients and their causes that has earned him a reputation of meeting or exceeding their expectations in many different types of personal injury cases over the years.
Mr. Fernandez has appeared on behalf of his clients in Federal and State courts throughout the State of Florida. He is proud to have developed his practice primarily through the referrals of former clients and professional colleagues.
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The Civil Consequences of a Florida DUI
There is no such thing as a “civil DUI.” Instead, there are a number of civil consequences that can follow from the same incident that lead to a DUI conviction. While the purpose of a criminal prosecution for DUI is to punish the offender, the purpose of civil cases against a drunk driver is to compensate any victims for their damages. Civil cases against a drunk driver can follow a criminal prosecution or occur simultaneously. The most common civil consequences of a DUI include:
Punitive Damages: Punitive Damages are allowed in a case when the at-fault person does something intentional or reckless without having any regard for the consequences of their actions. Punitive damages are also a form of punishment for the wrongdoer. Another phrase for punitive damages is “exemplary damages.”
Punitive damages are only allowed in or after a trial. In most cases, it is a jury trial. After the main claim is presented and a verdict is found by the jury, the judge then has a second mini-trial with the same jury. This time they are asked to decide if the defendant should be punished by being ordered to pay punitive damages on top of the compensatory damages they just awarded.
The judge tells the jury that they should award punitive damages if they find by “Clear and Convincing” evidence that the defendant was either guilty of “Intentional misconduct” or “gross negligence,” which was a substantial cause of damages to you.
Civil suits by victims of the accident or their representatives: If bodily injury or property damage is involved, insurance companies normally provide compensation. However, if the damage was severe, if someone died, or the damages exceed the driver’s insurance policy limits, the victim or their representatives can bring suit directly against the driver for any remaining damages.
Insurance issues: A DUI is a serious offense and makes the offender a high risk for his or her insurance company. As such, a drunk driver’s insurance company will either raise their rates or drop them from their policy entirely. This can make it hard to afford insurance or to find a new insurer willing to take on the risk.
Suspension or revocation of driver’s license: Driver’s licenses are issued and controlled by Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles; thus, it is a civil administrative agency. However, the agency will revoke or suspend your driver’s license if ordered to do so by the court.
How Much in Punitive Damages are Allowed to be Awarded?
The court will tell the jury to consider an amount that will act as a deterrent to others, and they should consider:- The nature, extent, and degree of misconduct;
- Whether the wrongful conduct was motivated solely by unreasonable financial gain;
- If the unreasonably dangerous nature of the conduct, together with the high likelihood of injury resulting from the conduct, was actually known by the defendant;
- Whether at the time the defendant had a specific intent to harm;
- And the jury is to consider the financial resources of the defendant, but not award an amount that would financially destroy the defendant.
Call or Text us today at 813-489-3222 for a FREE consultation and case evaluation.
Content authored by Gaston Fernandez
Taxi accident claims are common in Tampa, and have seen an increase due to new rideshare services such as Uber and Lyft. Our team of Personal Injury Lawyers have decades of experience handling all types of claims against taxi services and are ready to work aggressively on your behalf if you've been injured.
Many automobile insurance policies may not offer protection for these types of accidents. While the State of Florida requires every driver to carry some form of personal injury protection (PIP) coverage, it is not always adequate or present - particularly in Uber and Lyft cases.
Florida law has excluded taxi services from the state's no fault insurance law, therefore, anyone is able to file a claim based on physical damages or injuries sustained without proving whether or not the victim has been permanently injured or disabled as a result of the accident.
If you or a loved one has suffered a severe or disabling injury while riding a taxi, it is important to contact an experienced taxi accident lawyer immediately following any taxi crash.
We put not one, but multiple attorneys on your case in order to give it the extra attention it deserves. Our lawyers are also authorized to practice in federal courts, a distinction fewer than 10% of Tampa lawyers share. Let us put our experiences and resources to work for you today, and you can expect to get the results you deserve.
Our attorneys are very experienced and fully prepared to litigate aggressively on your behalf. There are no up front fees or costs unless we win and our consultations are always free. And we make it very easy to reach us - by phone, email, our quick contact form, and even live chat right here on the website. And if you're still unsure, have a look at some of the 
Fernandez Law Group has been selected for the 2017 Tampa Small Business Excellence Award in the 
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The spinal cord is a fragile and delicate bundle of nerves that runs through the backbone of the human body, transmitting sensation and controlling movement throughout the body. If the spinal cord becomes damaged, loss of mobility and feeling below the injured area can often occur. Often fatal, any injury to the spinal cord region is a very serious type of injury.
As many as 450,000 Americans live with spinal cord injuries. Men between the ages of 16 and 30 account for over 80 percent of all new spinal cord injuries of the more than 8,000 new cases that are diagnosed each year.
Symptoms of spinal cord damage can include weakness, paralysis, numbness, tingling, poor coordination, loss of bowel or bladder control and pain. Any traumatic injury that compresses, pulls, pushes sideways, or cuts a spinal cord can often result in a spinal cord injury. Blood clots, tumors, abscesses, polio, spina bifida or Friedrich's Ataxia (an inherited disorder) can also cause spinal cord injuries.
When symptoms and factors suggest a spinal cord injury occurred, a CT scan, MRI or myelogram are often used as diagnostic tools to determine if a spinal injury occurred also help to show the extent of the damage. Immediate medical treatment focusing on the stabilization of the spine often occurs as soon as the diagnosis is made while aggressive treatment using corticosteroid drugs can help limit some of the damage.
In order to stabilize the spine of fuze the spine with metal plates or pins, surgery is often necessary. Functional improvements may continue for at least six months after the initial injury heals, however, if any remaining disability is still present at that time, it is more likely to be permanent.
Long-term treatment will involve an intense rehabilitation therapy program with continuing treatment often in the form of nutritional management, psychological counseling, careful monitoring by physicians and occupational therapy in cases where a patient is mobile enough to return to work.
Anyone who has suffered a spinal cord injury or any other severe or disabling injury should immediately contact an experienced personal injury attorney. We put multiple attorneys on your case in order to give it the extra attention it deserves. Our lawyers are also authorized to practice in federal courts, a distinction fewer than 10% of Tampa lawyers share. Let us put our experiences and resources to work for you today towards getting you proper compensation for your losses.
As a primary method of transportation for many people here in Florida, bicycle and bike related crashes and accidents are common. Large numbers of people can be seen riding their bikes every day through neighborhoods, in parks and on trails. Many of these riders navigate around vehicular traffic. Whether running errands or just trying to avoid the traffic and congestion of other vehicles, accidents involving cyclists here in Tampa are common.
The Tampa personal injury lawyers here at Fernandez Law Group understand how to work through the difficulties some victims may face in recovering compensation. Our attorneys have decades of experience in handling bicycle accident claims and work hard to represent the best interests of injury victims.
Our lawyers have a combined legal experience of over 40 years in handling all types of personal injury cases, and bicycle accidents account for a fair portion of those.
The number of bike injury victims has continued to rise here in Florida in recent years, and several hundred people are killed every year in bicycle related accidents.
Most of these crashes are the fault of other negligent drivers on the roadway who often lack respect or awareness for the rights bicyclists have. Motorists are to share the roadway, however they often fail to pay attention to their surroundings. Cyclists often face more serious injuries as they are often difficult for motorists to notice. In addition, other distractions such as speeding, texting while driving, or driving while distracted, fatigued, or intoxicated has also led to many of these accidents.
If you or a loved one has suffered a severe or disabling injury while walking or riding a bicycle, it is important to contact an experience bicycle accident attorney immediately following any bicycle crash.
We put not one, but multiple lawyers on your case in order to give it the extra attention it deserves. Our attorneys are also authorized to practice in federal courts, a distinction fewer than 10% of Tampa lawyers share. Let us put our experiences and resources to work for you today, and you can expect to get the results you deserve.
Our attorneys are very experienced and fully prepared to litigate aggressively on your behalf. There are no up front fees or costs unless we win and our consultations are always free. And we make it very easy to reach us - by phone, email, our quick contact form, and even live chat right here on the website. And if you're still unsure, have a look at some of the 
Florida is a "No-Fault" insurance state when it comes to automobile liability insurance. This can be quite a confusing topic.
Our 
Innocent people who are involved in a DUI related accident are protected by statutes which may allow victims to file a civil lawsuit against those who profited from the drunk driver.
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