Blindness, Eye Injury & Vision Loss Attorney | Orlando, Florida
Blindness Attorney Orlando Florida
As an Orlando, Florida blindness attorney, I understand and take very seriously the extreme injury of vision impairment to any degree, up to and including blindness that leads to almost or total darkness. Eye injuries may result in visual impairment of varying degrees. Thankfully, total darkness blindness is rare. But tragically for some injury victims, an accident or malpractice leads to vision loss that often leads to devastating life impact. These cases must be handled with extreme diligence and thoroughness, as there are many aspects of how blindness affects one’s life.
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What Must Be Proven During Orlando, Florida Lawsuits, Based On Blindness
As the plaintiff in an eye injury or visual impairment lawsuit, you, with the help of your lawyer, will be required to prove: (1) that someone else caused the accident, or at least partially caused the accident; (2) that the accident caused your visual impairment; and (3) all of the ways the visual impairment or blindness has impacted your life. Additionally, accidents that happen at work may have lower value, unless there is another person or company who might have caused the accident, other than the employer or co-employees. This might include product manufacturers. Plus, the person or company you choose must have assets worth pursuing or insurance. Oftentimes this includes home or auto insurance, for individuals. Larger companies generally have deep pockets, and even smaller companies often have insurance, so they are generally good as potential defendants.
Blindness Lawyers Must Prove What Caused Your Injuries
Victims may have blindness in one (unilateral blindness) or both eyes (bilateral blindness). Either loss, if caused by an accident or malpractice, may form the basis of a personal injury lawsuit. The first and most important question, in determining whether there is a case at all, is what caused your eye injury, and whether any person or corporation negligence was involved. Often blindness lawsuits revolve around accidents where there was trauma or impact on the eyes. Or medical malpractice leading to complete retinal detachment. Eye injuries are the leading cause of monocular blindness (which is vision loss in one eye).
Blindness Lawyers Must Tell YOUR Story
Assuming the fault of the other party is clear, then proving all of the ways the blindness has affected your life is one of the most critical factors in determining the amount of damages. You really need to understand that there is a HUGE spectrum of possible ways to prove the extent of your blindness injury, and how badly it has affected your life. You need to hire an attorney who appreciates the full impact of this devastating injury. Not everyone does. You also need someone who will spend all of the time needed to listen to YOU about all of the ways your life has changed. Visual impairment affects everyone in different ways, and to different degrees. So, without really listening to your story, how can any attorney possibly communicate the impact on your life in particular?
I’ll give you one example. I’m very passionate about being a distance runner. If I became blind, my running, as well as many other unique aspects of my life, would be forever altered or ended. This would have a different impact on me than anyone else who lost their vision. Others might lose other life passions, as well as a total sense of equilibrium, independence, and self.
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The Many Tragic Ways Visual Impairment May Have Changed Your Life
Someone must take the time to listen to your story, over the life of your visual impairment litigation case, to learn what exactly has happened to you. Your relationship with your family and friends has probably changed. You may need assistance just to perform normal daily activities, and have a long road ahead to re-learn how to do even the most basic life tasks, such as walking and feeding yourself, much less more complex activities like hobbies and careers. Some may be over. Others must be significantly altered. You may also find yourself very depressed, sometimes very deeply, and withdraw from people or activities. You can learn to get back some of what was lost. But the process will take time. Your lawyer must understand all of these nuances to have any hope of telling YOUR story.
You Had A Different Life Before The Accident That Caused Your Blindness
Your blindness lawyer will first need to tell the story of you before the accident. This will include your hobbies, relationships, and career. Then they need to tell the story of you after the accident, which will include how those things have all changed. They need to persuade the insurance company during settlement negotiations, or be prepared to pull the hardest possible at the heart strings of the jury during any trial. (You should know that the Most Cases Settled Without Trial, something like 98 or 99%. But the insurance companies know who is preparing your case for a good trial, which heavily influences settlement values. Trust me, those lawyers with extremely high volume practices are NOT the best choice in this regard.)
Blindness & Other Experts May Help Your Lawyer Tell Your Story
To prove the financial value of your damages, in addition to telling your story through witness testimony, your lawyer in certain blindness cases will need to hire experts such as life care economists, who can tell the jury the cost of your ongoing medical care, as well as lost income or other financial impact.
The Law Is A Creative Endeavor
But, the point you need to understand, is that lawyers have as many options for telling your story as you would have for any creative job, such as renovating your house. You could choose from thousands of possibilities, right? Well, your blindness attorney can choose, or not choose, to call witnesses who have seen the life impact of your blindness, or interview friendly witnesses who might help prove fault, or depose unfriendly witnesses who might do the same. They can request documents of all sorts to prove fault or damages. Your vision loss lawyer can also choose to call any number of experts, with varying degrees of skill or specialty.
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Quality Of Legal Representation Varies Tremendously
Beyond that, I can’t even possibly describe all of the possible tools in our belts during vision loss or really any litigation. Plus, the tools are all optional. Some attorneys file cases and do nothing behind the scenes. Others are spending the time to plan witnesses, talk to their clients when needed about their medical care of life limits, and generally plan the case. You see, during litigation, we first need to gather information, both from our clients and the other side. But we can gather a lot, or not much at all. Nothing is required or cookie cutter. But we have endless options.
Visual Impairment Continuum
You also need someone who will take the time to understand YOUR degree of visual impairment and life impact. As I’m sure you know by now, blindness, itself, is not a black or white disability. Meaning, there is a huge range of possible vision loss impact. There is actually a scale, and you may fall anywhere along the continuum. The more severe your blindness, of course, the greater the impact on your life. Additionally, people who lose their vision suddenly have more symptoms and difficulty than those who lost vision gradually, or have had no vision throughout their lives. Legal blindness is vision that is, basically speaking, 20/200, or who has 20 degrees (diameter) or less of visual field remaining. But technical legal blindness is not needed to pursue a visual impairment litigation case.
Functional Vision Assessment: Part Of Any Blindness Lawsuit
Your attorneys will also need to hire experts who will evaluate and be prepared to testify regarding your functional vision assessment (your degree and type of blindness, as well as all of the detailed ways that your life and functioning have changed). This includes a detailed report about the nature of your blindness, or vision loss, as well as things like how you walk, interact, and live. You may have problems like monocular vision, loss of depth perception, or a complete loss of vision. Depending on the type and degree, this may impact every important area of your life, such as driving, shopping, cleaning, cooking, hobbies, reading, work, and family life.
Visual Impairment Lawsuits
For more extreme vision loss, you may have lost your independence even with the most basic life tasks such as walking, using the bathroom, getting yourself ready in the morning, tying your shoes, getting dressed, or eating. Most definitely, you need vision rehabilitation or orientation and mobility training, to learn techniques for additional independence, in addition to testing and accurate diagnosis. You probably will also need various adaptive items in your home and life, to help you identify objects, and perform daily tasks more easily. Organizations such as the Braille Institute provide things like audio books, or large or braille print books. There are also technologies that may help with computer and phone usage.
The good news is that many people with visual impairment learn creative ways to function more independently, such as walking with the classic white cane with a red tip, using a guide dog, or even GPS, or other available technologies, to assist with mobility and travel.
Call Or Text 24 Hour Attorney Hotline Now! (407) 803-2139
Classifying Your Visual Impairment
One very important aspect of all visual impairment cases is classifying the type and degree of blindness. Visual impairment ranges from mild to severe, and has different types. We will ask you to visit an opthalmologist for testing, to determine where you fall on the scale. (If you haven’t yet visited a doctor, it is essential that you make an appointment quickly to get diagnosed and tested, preferably with a doctor who is “plaintiff friendly.”) But the classifications for blindness range from mild vision loss (20/30 to 20/60), to moderate vision loss (20/70 to 20/160), to severe vision loss (20/200 to 20/400), to profound visual impairment (20/500 to 20/1000) to near total blindness (more than 20/1000) to total blindness (no light perception). (These numbers are ranges for the better eye with the best possible glasses correction.) The degree of your visual impairment will be a big factor in determining the amount of your settlement or verdict in a related personal injury lawsuit.
Depending on the degree and type of blindness, we may also be able to give the insurance company during mediation, or the jury during any trial, a better sense of what you are experiencing by letting them wear goggles, or vision loss simulators.
Legal Causation In Blindness Cases
If your blindness was caused by an accident, then your vision loss attorney will need to understand every little detail of the accident, to determine who might be at fault. They will also have to analyze your role in the accident, to learn whether they can minimize any fault that the insurance defense lawyer might try to attribute to you.
If your blindness was caused by medical malpractice, such as a retinal detachment case, then your lawyer will need to consult with, and ultimately hire, an ophthalmologist to explain why another doctor, often a non-eye doctor, did not perform needed testing and treating in time to prevent complete retinal detachment.
My Practice Is Based In Orlando, Florida
Lastly, I practice in Orlando, Florida. However, I accept blindness cases all over the states of Florida and Georgia, where I am also licensed. I prepare all cases with the same degree of care and diligence, regardless of where my client is located. Additionally, if you live and were injured in another state, although I cannot personally handle the case without a local attorney as co-counsel, I would be glad to help you find who I believe to be the best lawyer near you. I would strongly caution against relying on billboards or television advertising. There are several national associations of very exceptional trial attorneys. So I am able to assist with the lawyer hiring process by contacting those lawyers on your behalf, to learn whether they might be willing to take your case. If you have a real blindness accident case, hiring your injury attorney is the most important job you will have in your own case.