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For our lesbian, gay, bi, and trans friends in Pinellas County, finding a lawyer who will work hard for you without judgment is important. While having a strong personal injury attorney in your corner is necessary to get what you deserve, there are some great attorneys who are not friendly to LGBTQ+ clients. You deserve representation from a Pinellas Park LGBTQ friendly personal injury lawyer who treats you with respect and understanding.
In an ideal world, being part of the LGBTQ+ community would have no impact on your right to fair compensation. But as we all know, reality is far from ideal. While parts of Florida are very accepting and encouraging of the LGBTQ+ community, other parts are hostile. Attitudes and beliefs also differ considerably within each community.
In practice, bias can find its way into the process. Here are some of the ways it can show up:
Some jurors may hold personal biases against LGBTQ individuals. This can quietly influence how much they believe your story or how much compensation they think you deserve.
Insurance companies are businesses looking to pay out as little as possible. Adjusters may make unfair assumptions about your lifestyle, relationships, or credibility, then use those assumptions to reduce your settlement offer.
Defense attorneys sometimes try to shift focus away from the facts of the case. In cases involving LGBTQ clients, they may attempt to bring your identity into the conversation to distract or discredit you.
Damages simply means the compensation you are owed for things like medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering, and more. Bias can lead insurers or opposing attorneys to downplay your suffering or dismiss certain losses altogether. They may also try to use broad stereotypes to claim or imply that you were partly or mostly to blame for your own injuries (we discuss this in more detail in the next section).
Negligence means someone failed to act responsibly and caused your injury. Some LGBTQ individuals hesitate to come forward out of fear that they won’t be treated fairly. That hesitation can hurt your case.
We understand these concerns, and we take them seriously. Our attorneys know how to recognize bias and shut it down. Examples could include carefully screening jurors, pushing back against bad-faith insurance tactics, and keeping the focus where it belongs: on the facts of your injury and what you are owed. When you work with our team of LGBTQ friendly personal injury lawyers in Pinellas County, you do not have to contend with bias on your own. We will be strong advocates in and out of the courtroom.
Florida’s comparative negligence rule could impact your personal injury case. In plain terms, the rule means that if you were partly responsible for your accident, your compensation gets reduced by your share of the blame. If a jury decided that you were more than 50 percent at fault, you would not be eligible for any compensation.
This law is meant to be fair, but it can be misused. Defendants and insurance companies sometimes look for any angle to shift blame onto the injured person. For LGBTQ plaintiffs, that risk can be heightened. Defendants in the case may rely on stereotypes about the LGBTQ+ lifestyle to make you seem irresponsible or immoral.
Here is what that might look like in practice:
We know these tactics exist and how to fight them. We build strong, fact-based cases that keep the focus on what actually happened. Our Pinellas Park injury attorneys’ goal is to protect your full recovery and make sure an LGBTQ+ bias never costs you the compensation you deserve.
This happens too often: You are sore, you have questions about your treatment, getting around, changes in your life, hobbies, work, your future, and how you are going to pay for it all.
If you hire a lawyer to represent you for your injuries, they should spend the time it takes to explain this to you.
At Herman & Wells, one of our lawyers meets all clients in person for the initial meeting and throughout the claim.
We invest a lot of time walking our clients through the process. Obtaining insurance coverage of the person responsible, witnesses, security footage, monitoring medical progress, answering questions about property damage, drafting letters to the insurance carrier, and, if necessary, filing suit and going to trial. We believe everyone deserves a lawyer and staff who treat clients with respect during this process — and that is sadly not always the case. That’s why we are committed to respecting, learning from, and listening to our LGBTQ+ clients.
We invest a lot of time walking our clients through the process. Obtaining insurance coverages of the person responsible, witnesses, security footage, monitoring medical progress, answering questions about property damage, drafting letters to the insurance carrier, and if necessary, filing suit and going to trial. We believe everyone deserves a lawyer and staff who treat clients with respect during this process — and that is sadly not always the case. That’s why we are committed to respecting, learning from, and listening to our LGBTQ+ clients.
True Board-Certified civil trial attorneys have spent thousands of hours poring over ways to convince juries to empathize with their clients.
There are only about a thousand of us in Florida. Hopefully, you choose one that has found themselves winning more and more trials and money over the years (we have).
One of the ways we have found effective in getting our clients the most recovery is to get the jury to embrace the differences between themselves and the injured plaintiffs. Find an attorney who is able to apply those skills to your case.
Find a personal injury lawyer with experience representing the LGBTQ+ community in Pinellas County and a positive reputation among insurance carriers. They will be taken seriously when your claim is made. We have handled claims against every major insurance carrier in the state of Florida, and each one knows that Herman & Wells works hard for every one of their clients.
If you have been injured or have had a loved one killed at the hands of a negligent person or company, please call Herman & Wells. You can expect us to tell you what to expect and how to go forward. The evaluation is free, and if we represent you, we won’t get paid unless we obtain a recovery for you.
We have extensive experience handling all types of personal injury claims, from car accidents to slip and fall accidents. We understand the stress and anxiety that comes with being injured, and we will do everything we can to help you get the compensation you deserve.
If you would like to learn more about your legal options and how we can help you, call (727) 821-3195 today to book a free evaluation with a Pinellas Park LGBTQ friendly personal injury lawyer. We look forward to seeing you soon.
