Electric scooter accidents can cause serious harm. If you were injured in an e-scooter accident in St. Petersburg, FL, you may deserve compensation. An experienced St. Petersburg electric scooter accident lawyer at Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers can help you fight to recover money for medical bills, lost wages, and your pain and suffering.
Collectively, we have over 119 years of experience under our belts. We’ve used our experience and legal knowledge to help accident victims recover tens of millions of dollars since we opened our personal injury law firm.
If you or a loved one were injured, don’t hesitate to contact our law offices in St. Petersburg, Florida, at (727) 314-5988 to schedule your free consultation today.
Why Should I Hire Winters & Yonkers Personal Injury Lawyers To Handle My St. Petersburg Electric Scooter Accident Case?
When you’re injured in an accident, you deserve a lawyer who knows the law and understands the legal process.
At Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers, we’ve dedicated our entire legal practice to personal injury law. In fact, our St. Petersburg personal injury attorneys have been fighting for injured clients like you since 2001.
When you hire our lawyers to protect you, you can trust us to:
- Provide the quality legal advice you need and deserve
- Handle the investigation into your accident
- Evaluate the evidence and build your case
- Consult respected experts who can help prove your case value and establish causation
- Protect you against any blame-the-victim strategies
- Negotiate with the insurance companies for a full and fair settlement award
Many people shy away from hiring a lawyer because of the cost. Our St. Petersburg personal injury lawyers work on a contingency fee basis so you can get the legal advice you need without the risk. When you hire us, you won’t pay attorney’s fees upfront. Instead, we take our payment as a percentage of your settlement or verdict.
Bottom line? You only pay if we recover compensation for you. If you’re ready to learn more, call our law firm to schedule a free case review today.
How Common Are Electric Scooter Accidents in Florida?
Electric scooter rentals have become extremely popular in the St. Petersburg area. Renting an e-scooter is as simple as downloading an app, paying a few dollars, and unlocking a scooter for the day.
Electric scooters are both convenient and cost-effective. That said, they aren’t always safe. According to some reports, e-scooter injury rates are worse than motorcycle accident injuries.
One 2020 study found that about 14,651 people were injured in electric scooter accidents during 2018, when e-scooters first became popular. Another study published by the Consumer Product Safety Division found that about 50,000 e-scooter accident victims visited emergency rooms across the U.S. between 2017 and 2019.
Sadly, electric scooter accidents also have the potential to be deadly. Some of those fatal e-scooter accidents have even happened here in St. Pete.
How Much Is My St. Petersburg Electric Scooter Accident Case Worth?
Before our lawyers can estimate your case value, we’ll have to examine the unique facts and circumstances of your accident. Even if you suffered the same injury as someone else, that injury will impact you differently. You deserve a lawyer who will pay attention to the details.
The value of your personal injury claim will depend upon:
- The long-term consequences you will face because of the injury
- Whether you can work during recovery
- Whether you’ll be able to earn a living after you reach maximum medical improvement
- The cost of your medical treatment, considering your need for future care
- The extent of the physical pain and suffering you experience
- How the accident and injury impact your mental health
- Whether you share fault for the accident
- The strength of the evidence to support your case
You can learn more about how much compensation you may be entitled to receive by scheduling a free consultation with our St. Petersburg electric scooter accident attorneys. We’re always available to take your call.
What Types of Compensation Can Electric Scooter Accident Victims Recover?
In St. Petersburg, you can seek compensation for economic and non-economic losses. These damages are designed to compensate you for your full financial costs. They also attempt to compensate for things that money can’t buy–like your mental health and quality of life.
Examples of the types of compensation you may be entitled to receive include:
- Current medical expenses
- Anticipated future medical costs
- Lost wages
- Loss of earning potential
- Rehabilitation
- Property damage
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Physical disfigurement or scarring
- PTSD and fear
- Diminished quality of life
- Loss of consortium
You can count on our legal team to evaluate your case and determine the types of damages you deserve. Call Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers to schedule your free case review today.
The Insurance Company is Blaming Me for an Electric Scooter Accident. Can I Still Recover Damages?
Florida now follows modified comparative negligence laws. If you’re partly responsible for an accident, you can recover damages if you’re less than 51% responsible for the accident. Your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault.
However, once your percentage of fault reaches 51%, you’re completely barred from recovering compensation–even if another party was partially responsible for the accident.
This is one reason why hiring a personal injury lawyer to represent you can make a significant difference; an attorney can advocate for your interests and aim to ensure you aren’t assigned undue blame.
Our Team Will Fight To Recover Compensation for All of Your Electric Scooter Accident Injuries
Since e-scooters were introduced in U.S. cities, emergency rooms have seen a dramatic increase in electric scooter accident injuries.
The severity of those injuries will depend on the circumstances of the accident. E-scooter victims who are involved in car accidents are most likely to suffer severe injuries even when wearing a helmet.
Some of the most common types of e-scooter accident injuries include:
- Head injuries, including traumatic brain injuries and concussions
- Dental injuries
- Facial injuries
- Broken bones
- Injuries to the arms, legs, shoulders and hips
- Soft tissue damage
- Spinal cord injuries
- Neck injuries
- Back injuries
- Burns and road rash
- Crushing injuries
- Amputations
- Paralysis
Severe electric scooter accident injuries can be catastrophic or even fatal. If you lost a loved one in a fatal e-scooter accident, contact our wrongful death lawyers in St. Petersburg for help today.
Why Do So Many Electric Scooter Accidents Occur in St. Petersburg, Florida?
The City of St. Petersburg has published safety guidelines designed to keep e-scooter riders and others safe. E-scooters are permitted in bike lanes and can share the road on streets with speed limits of 30 mph or less. All e-scooter drivers must be at least 16 years old and have a valid driver’s license.
Despite these rules, St. Petersburg motor scooter accidents keep happening, often because of:
- Speeding
- Inexperienced scooter operators
- Distracted driving
- Violating traffic laws
- Failure to yield the right-of-way
- Riding the e-scooter while using drugs or alcohol
- Riding e-scooters on sidewalks
- Parking the e-scooters in unsafe locations
- Riding double on the e-scooter
- Potholes and crumbling pavement
- Lack of dedicated bike lanes and other infrastructure
- Poorly maintained e-scooters
- Mechanical failures, problems with the steering mechanisms, or brake problems
If you were injured in an electric scooter accident, call our lawyers in St. Petersburg today. We have the tools to help you prove that someone else was responsible for your accident.
How Do I Know Whether I Have a Successful St. Petersburg Electric Scooter Accident Case?
To successfully recover compensation for your injuries, you must have evidence to prove that someone else was responsible for the accident.
Examples of the parties who may share blame for an e-scooter accident include:
- The e-scooter driver
- A negligent driver in a motor vehicle
- Pedestrians or bicyclists
- The e-scooter rental company
- The manufacturer of a defective electric scooter
- Government agencies
Most accident and injury claims are based on negligence.
To recover damages in these cases, you must prove that:
- The defendant owed you a legal duty of care
- They breached the duty of care in some way
- The breach of duty directly caused your accident
- You suffered damages, or injuries, due to the accident
On the other hand, strict liability theories may be relevant if your accident occurred because of a defective e-scooter. Manufacturers of defective e-scooters can be held strictly liable for damages when they sell defective products.
How Long Do I Have To File a Lawsuit if I Was Hurt in an Electric Scooter Accident in Florida?
Under Florida law, the statute of limitations in personal injury cases was recently reduced to two years. The new statute of limitations applies if your injury occurred on March 24, 2023 or after. If the accident happened earlier, you have four years to file a personal injury lawsuit.
The clock starts to run on the date of your accident. Once the deadline passes, you lose your right to file a claim for damages. However, there are exceptions in some cases; reaching out to an experienced personal injury attorney is the best way to confirm the timeline for your specific circumstances.
Contact a St. Petersburg Electric Scooter Accident Lawyer To Schedule a Free Consultation
You deserve to hold the person responsible for your e-scooter accident injuries accountable. An experienced St. Petersburg electric scooter accident lawyer can help you do just that. Contact our team at Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers to learn more about your legal options today.
