Personal Injury

Tampa Personal Injury Attorneys Fighting for the Compensation You Deserve

Tampa personal injury attorneys know that an injury caused by someone else’s negligence changes more than your health. It affects your ability to work, your finances, and your peace of mind. This often happens while insurance companies are working just as hard to minimize what they pay you. At the Law Office of Michael P. Maddux, P.A., we handle the legal fight so you can focus on recovering. We build a claim that accounts for what you’ve actually lost, not just what an insurance adjuster wants to offer.

Automobile Accidents

Car, truck, and motorcycle accidents are among the most common personal injury cases we handle, and also among the most contested. Insurance companies routinely dispute fault, downplay injuries, or delay payment. We gather police reports, medical records, and, where needed, accident reconstruction evidence to establish what really happened and hold the responsible party accountable.

Premises Liability

Property owners have a duty to keep their premises reasonably safe. When they fail to do so, injured parties can hold them liable for the injuries that result.

A slip-and-fall might seem like a simple accident, but proving a business is legally responsible for it is anything but simple. Florida law puts a real burden on the injured person. They must show the business actually knew, or should have known, about the hazard that caused the fall. If you slip and fall on a transitory foreign substance, something like a spilled liquid, a dropped food item, or another temporary hazard, in a business establishment, you have to prove the business had actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition and should have done something about it (Fla. Stat. § 768.0755(1)). This is a meaningfully higher bar than simply showing a hazard existed. You have to connect the business to knowledge of that specific hazard.

Proving Constructive Knowledge

Since businesses rarely admit they knew about a hazard, Florida law allows plaintiffs to prove constructive knowledge through circumstantial evidence in one of two ways.

First, the condition may have existed long enough that the business should have discovered it through reasonable care. For example, a spill that had clearly been there for an extended period, evidenced by footprints through it, changes in its appearance, or witness accounts of how long it had been on the floor (§ 768.0755(1)(a)).

Second, the condition may have happened regularly enough that it was foreseeable. This means the business had a pattern of similar hazards recurring in the same way, which should have prompted better prevention measures (§ 768.0755(1)(b)).

Building this kind of circumstantial case often depends on surveillance footage, incident reports, employee schedules and cleaning logs, and witness statements gathered quickly before evidence disappears or footage gets overwritten.

This statute specifically addresses transitory substances. It doesn’t eliminate or replace whatever common-law duty of care a property owner or business otherwise owes to people on their premises (§ 768.0755(2)). Florida’s broader premises liability principles still govern other premises hazards, like structural defects, inadequate security, or inadequate lighting, rather than this specific transitory-substance standard.

Because so much of a slip-and-fall case depends on evidence that can disappear fast, security footage gets overwritten, spills get cleaned up, and incident reports get filed away. Getting an attorney involved early to preserve evidence and establish exactly how long a hazard existed can make or break a claim.

We also investigate the condition of the property, prior incident history, and maintenance records. This helps us build a case that holds the owner accountable in premises liability claims beyond slip-and-fall, including inadequate security and other hazardous conditions the owner knew about and ignored.

Wrongful Death

Losing a loved one because of someone else’s negligence is one of the hardest things a family can face. Florida law allows surviving family members to pursue compensation for their loss. We handle wrongful death claims with the sensitivity these cases require, while still pursuing the full extent of damages available, including lost income, funeral expenses, and the loss of companionship, depending on who the surviving relatives are.

Sovereign Immunity Claims

Injuries caused by a government entity, such as a car accident involving a government vehicle or a hazardous condition on public property, are handled differently than claims against private individuals or companies. Florida’s sovereign immunity laws limit when and how much you can recover. They also come with strict notice requirements and shorter deadlines. We navigate these procedural requirements to protect your right to pursue a claim against a government entity. Many attorneys avoid these cases due to the limited compensation caps and rigorous defense tactics government entities employ.

What Your Case Is Really Worth

Insurance companies calculate settlement offers based on their own bottom line and faulty algorithms, not on what will actually cover your medical bills, lost wages, and ongoing care. As Tampa personal injury attorneys, we work with your medical providers, review your full course of treatment, and account for both what you’ve already dealt with and what you’ll still face going forward. This ensures any settlement or verdict reflects the real cost of your injury.

Talk to Tampa Personal Injury Attorneys Today

If you’ve been injured because of someone else’s negligence, don’t let an insurance company decide what your claim is worth. Contact the Law Office of Michael P. Maddux, P.A. to talk through what happened and what your options are.