South Florida Personal Injury & Accident Attorneys

Chalik & Chalik Law Offices

10063 Northwest 1st Court
Plantation, Florida 33324
USA

(954) 476-1000 or(800) 873-9040

www.floridapersonalinjury.com

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Law Firm Overview FREE CONSULTATION

Chalik & Chalik Law Offices is an experienced law firm serving all of Florida including Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and surrounding communities. Our firm provides legal representation in personal injury, car accident and other accident and injury matters.

We have the knowledge and experience to fight the big insurance companies and protect our clients’ rights.

The firm was founded on the principles of honesty, integrity and a commitment to the rights of the injured. With our talented team of Florida accident attorneys, our clients have the benefit of years of personal injury experience on their side. Our lawyers have spent years studying, investigating and fighting for those who have been injured through no fault of their own. Choose our law firm and we will fight for you.

At Chalik & Chalik, we understand the pain that you and your loved ones endure when you've suffered an injury that's not your fault. We will handle your case with compassion and care, bringing our experience, dedication, and resources to advocate on your behalf. Our personal injury attorneys know how to take on the insurance companies, and we will fight to protect your rights and make sure you receive the full compensation to which you are legally entitled.

Areas of Law

Additional Areas of Law: Dog Bites; Swimming Pool Accidents; Parasailing Accidents; Hair and Beauty Salon Accidents; Drunk Driving Accidents; Tire Date Coding & Safety; Tire Defects; Silicosis; Welding Rod Injuries; Fork Lift Accidents; Industrial & Commercial Cranes; Parasailing Accidents; Trip & Fall Accidents; Injuries to Children.

Areas of Law Description

- Personal Injury

Our personal injury lawyers handle:

• Premises Liability/Slip And Fall Accidents

Men, women and children who are injured on someone else's property are protected by premises liability laws. Under these statutes, private land owners or management companies must live up to their duties to ensure safety on their property. Private owners may include homeowners, business owners, and owners of other types of property. A South Florida Slip and Fall Lawyer is qualified to help families determine liability when a loved one suffers personal injury on someone else's property.

• Nursing Home Abuse

For many senior citizens in need of long-term medical care, assisted living is a reality. Family members forced to deal with suspected elder abuse or neglect is almost unthinkable. Family members who choose for their loved one what they think of as a professionally run nursing home cannot imagine that their father, mother, grandmother, or uncle might be harmed or neglected, or face degrading treatment of any sort. Statistics show up to 1.6 million nursing home residents face harm each year.

• Wrongful Death

A wrongful death situation arises when a preventable death occurred as a direct result of another’s actions or failure to act. A wrongful death claim may be brought against a doctor or other medical worker, hospital, driver of a vehicle, or person whose violent action resulted in death. Family members of the deceased may be able to collect money damages; including pain and suffering, lost income, mental anguish, medical bills, burial expenses and other costs with the help of an experienced wrongful death attorney. Under most statutes, the immediate family members are allowed to file suit.

• Product Liability

Thousands of deaths and millions of injuries occur each year due to faulty or defective products. While public product recalls attempt to get products off the market and out of homes before injury occurs, many product defects are not identified until a severe injury or death occurs. Items involved in product liability suits include automobile parts and tires, toxic chemicals, children’s products, appliances, tools, safety equipment, and defective drugs. A product can be rendered defective or harmful if it poses an excessive risk to consumers, fails to warn consumers of any inherent risks, causes injury with intended usage, uses false marketing claims, contains defective or dangerous packaging, or posts incomplete instructions.

• Toxic Torts

Companies that utilize dangerous substances such as lead paint, pesticides, toxic waste, asbestos, chemical solvents, and other materials have a duty to handle and dispose of them in a responsible manner. When workers fail to prevent harmful situations involving these substances, families can suffer devastating injuries. Toxic tort law is a special area of law that involves environmental toxicity as a result of exposure to harmful chemicals. Toxic tort clients suffered injury as a result of exposure to harmful substances through no fault of their own.

• Pharmaceuticals

Injuries that occur as the result of the use of prescription drug products or over-the counter supplements simply should not happen. Consumers who are directed by their physicians to use a specific pharmaceutical product trust that the medication will improve their condition, not worsen it. And many patients do not realize that they are putting their bodies at risk by consuming FDA-approved drugs.

• Dog Bites

People love their dogs. More than ever before, dogs of every conceivable breed, mix, shape and size have become a part of the American family. However, increased popularity of dogs has led to irresponsible breeding and over breeding, often resulting in unstable, aggressive dogs, sometimes with tragic results.

• Swimming Pool Accidents

A home with a swimming pool is often the most popular house on the block. This is particularly true in Florida, where an abundance of homeowners have a swimming pool where family, friends, and neighborhood kids can cool off. With that luxury comes an enormous responsibility to keep everyone who goes in or around the pool safe. Public pools are also popular here, and communities and management companies, like homeowners, are responsible for pool users' safety and lives. When pool owners fail to acknowledge this responsibility, accidents happen. If a neighbor, acquaintance, or public pool owner fails to take precautionary measures to protect children and adults from accidents--injury and even death can result.

• Boating & Personal Watercraft

Florida has among the most registered pleasure boats and personal watercraft in the nation. It also has among the most boating accidents involving damage, injuries and death nationwide. Liability or cause related to boating accidents often rests with others or surrounding circumstances: Other boaters, faulty or poorly maintained equipment, or construction project or other debris or apparatus in, near or unreasonably close to boating channels.

• Parasailing Accidents

Parasailing - the recreational use of a parachute deployed from the back of a moving motorboat - is a popular vacation adventure. It also can be a dangerous or even deadly exercise. Each year in vacation destinations throughout the U.S. and abroad, tourists are killed or injured while enjoying parasailing.

• Hair and Beauty Salon Accidents

While most Florida consumers have some awareness of their rights regarding medical responsibility and medical liability when they go to the doctor or hospital -- many don't think twice about their health and safety when they go to get a haircut, manicure and pedicure, or eyebrow and bikini wax.

- Vehicle Accidents

Auto accidents are so common that chances are, everyone in your family will be involved in one or more during their lifetime. Auto accidents are one of the most preventable sources of injury and death in the United States. Over 40,000 people are killed in approximately five million motor vehicle accidents annually, most of which could have been prevented. If you or member of your family have been injured, or suffered a fatal injury as a result of a car crash, you need experienced, compassionate legal representation. Chalik & Chalik fights for injured clients involved in car, truck, motorcycle, drunk driver, and motor vehicle / pedestrian accidents, as well as bicycle, boat, plane, train and bus accidents.

• Car Accidents

Millions of Americans are injured or killed in motor vehicle accidents every year. Even more tragic is the fact that the majority of accidents involving cars, trucks and SUVs could have been prevented if proper driver safety was applied. An automobile accident can cut your life short or steal away someone you love. In a blink of an eye, it can completely alter your life and impair your physical and mental health.

• Truck Accidents

Even seasoned highway commuters might hold their breath for a few tense seconds when a big rig rumbles by or roars up in the rear-view mirror, like a small freight train. These enormous 18-wheelers dwarf regular passenger vehicles. And when a large truck and a car are involved in an accident, the results can be catastrophic.

• Motorcycle Accidents

Motorcycle riders are the most vulnerable people on the road. In the event of an accident, motorcycle drivers and passengers face far more risk than those in cars and trucks. At Chalik & Chalik Law Offices, we understand the complexities of defending injured cyclists, and the need for fair and just compensation.

• Drunk Driving Accidents

Over one-million people die or are severely injured each year due to alcohol-related automobile accidents. Every 32 minutes, an American is killed in a fatal car accident because an intoxicated person chose to endanger himself and others on the road. So how can drivers protect themselves against drunk drivers? Chalik & Chalik aims to bring the problem of drunk driving to light and hold drunk drivers accountable for the devastating results of their actions. If you or a loved one was injured or killed after a collision with a drunk driver, find out what your rights are.

• Pedestrian Accidents

The caring attorneys at Chalik & Chalik have successfully advocated for clients who have been seriously injured in Florida pedestrian - car accidents. We have secured the compensation they need and are entitled to by law to cover their medical expenses, lost wages, and in some cases, recover damages.

• Bicycle Accidents

Like motorcycle riders, people riding bicycles are physically more exposed and therefore more vulnerable to serious injury in traffic accidents. While helmets offer some protection, injuries to the head, neck, and spinal column can and do occur, causing disabilities that may require years of costly medical treatment and physical therapy.

• Boat Accidents

Florida residents know all too well how devastating a boating accident can be. With hundreds of miles of coastline, thousands of boats and watercraft, and year-round boating and water activities, boating accidents are an unfortunate and ongoing reality. But what is being done to minimize boating risks? Too many boaters operate their crafts recklessly and fail to take necessary safety precautions. Drunk driving is one of the most preventable causes of boating accidents, and operator negligence or error frequently lead to injury or death. If you or a loved one has suffered severe or fatal injury after a boating accident, let us help you investigate why. You may be entitled to financial compensation.

• Tire Date Coding & Safety

Degradation caused by old or aging tires generally occurs in tires older than six years of age. Tires degrade over time, with the aging process accelerated and made worse in Florida's hot, humid climate. Such long-term chemical degradation occurs within the tire and is invisible to the consumer. As the rubber breaks down, the chance of tread separation increases as adhesion between belts is lost. The result, in a worst-case scenario, is "catastrophic tire failure" often occurring normal or high-speed driving, leaving the operator to keep the vehicle under control to avoid an accident. This can occur on tires that show normal or even like-new tread wear and use.

• Tire Defects

Whatever you drive on Florida's roadways -- car, truck, mini-van, or SUV -- your tires are a critical component of your vehicle's driving safety. Tires are, quite literally, the rubber that comes between you and the road. Consumers pay a lot of attention to vehicle safety features and ratings. That's all important. But the importance of tire quality, integrity, and performance in preventing serious and fatal highway accidents should not be overlooked.

- Medical Malpractice

While doctors and surgeons commit to many years of education and training, mistakes can and do happen. Even a small mistake in making a diagnosis, prescribing medication, performing surgery, or delivering a baby can have dire, even deadly consequences for the patient. The Florida medical malpractice attorneys at The Law Offices of Chalik & Chalik have the know-how and resources to properly investigate your claim and document the true cause of your injuries, your child's injuries, or a loved one's death. We will work with our medical experts, who will help us determine exactly what caused your injuries and who is responsible.

• Birth Injuries

Infants are the most precious little patients, and their medical care starts before they are even born. Obstetricians receive special training to monitor and care for expecting mothers throughout the course of their pregnancies, to when they finally go into labor and delivery their babies, and shortly beyond. Chalik & Chalik handle the following types of birth injuries:

■ Erb's Palsy Injuries
■ Shoulder Dystocia
■ Brachial Plexus Paralysis

• Medical Misdiagnosis

Medical misdiagnosis occurs when a physician or other medical professional fails to diagnose a patient's condition or makes the wrong diagnosis. This type of medical error can occur when treating infants, emotional or behavioral conditions, digestive problems, rare diseases, or other ailments whose symptoms are vague or may be confused with other conditions. The wrong diagnosis or a missed diagnosis can lead to the wrong medication or treatment, which in turn can cause harm to the patient.

• Surgical Mistakes

Surgical procedures are often complex and subject to various errors. Administration of surgery can also lead to errors. In some cases, there are known complications or risks of surgery that are often unavoidable, because any type of surgical procedure has risks. And though it is absolutely essential in making surgical procedures on people possible, anesthesia also comes with risks (too much, too little, improper monitoring). Some of the surgical mistakes that can occur include:

■ Failure to suspend other medications before, during or after surgery
■ Too much or too little anesthesia
■ Complications from surgery
■ Infections from surgery, called “iatrogenic infections”
■ Wrong patient surgery
■ Wrong site surgery
■ Wrong organ surgery
■ Wrong blood type transfusion
■ Equipment left inside the patient

• Medication Errors

Physicians are charged with the responsibility of not only knowing the human body inside and out, but knowing how to treat a diseased or injured body effectively. This means knowing the right medications and exact dosages to treat a constellation of diseases and symptoms in babies, children, adults, and seniors of all backgrounds. It's a tall order but we expect nothing less from our health care providers.

- Work Related Claims

Some jobs are inherently risky by nature. Workers' Compensation laws exist to protect employees who get hurt at work and in the course of performing their jobs. The laws also allow for holding other negligent individuals and/or businesses accountable that may have played a role in causing the worker's injury to occur.

• Maritime Law

Florida's coasts, bays, and waterways provide work opportunities for those who love the sea. However anyone who's worked as a professional fisherman, shipping or dock laborer, or other maritime tradesperson is well familiar with the risks of a life at sea.

• Railroad Accidents

An alarming every 90 minutes, a train collides with another object or derails! With 20,000 locomotives traveling on 600 railroads, severe injuries and fatal statistics are a very real problem. Unfortunately, the high railroad accident statistics could most likely have been lowered if railroad manufacturers and workers exercised proper caution. National statistics indicate that factors like unprotected railroad crossings, improperly maintained cars and tracks, mechanical failures, failure to adhere to safety regulations, and driver error cause accidents that could have been prevented.

• Asbestos Injuries

Asbestos is a harmful material that was widely used in construction until it was regulated in the early 1980s. Exposure to asbestos has been shown to cause a number of health problems, including mesothelioma, an aggressive and fatal lung disease. Asbestos fibers, after inhalation, attach themselves to the throat and are then spread into the lungs, abdomen, and heart. Malignant, pleural or peritoneal mesothelioma are all forms of mesothelioma which can result from asbestos inhalation.

• Silicosis

If you or a family member were exposed to dangerous levels of silica dust while on the job, and now suffer from the respiratory disease Silicosis, you may be entitled to financial compensation. Silica dust is a naturally occurring component that can be harmful when inhaled. Miners, glassworkers, sandblasters, and construction workers have an increased risk of injury due to silica inhalation. Because Silicosis has a latency period of 10 to 15 years, workers may not even realize they have suffered injury until years after exposure.

• Welding Rod Injuries

When two metals are welded together, a harmful emission of manganese, carbon monoxide, and other substances occurs. Manganese is a toxic substance and has been shown to cause serious injury in a short amount of time. Welding rod fumes have been linked to severe and irreversible brain damage including paralysis, the disease Parkinsonism, and manganese poisoning called Manganism in exposed workers. Welding rod manufacturers and companies who failed to take safety measures to protect welding rod workers may be held financially responsible for these injuries.

• Workers' Compensation

When an employee is injured on the job or performing job duties, he assumes he is protected and will receive compensation for lost wages and medical costs in the event of an injury. When an employee suffers fatal injuries, his or her family should be able to collect a number of benefits. However, this is not always the case. Employers or insurance companies may deny benefits or be unwilling to pay out immediately in order to save money. In addition, Florida law does not require your employer to hold your position for you until you return, if you have been injured on the job.

• Construction Accidents

Construction is an inherently dangerous job, and the construction companies have a hefty responsibility to provide their employees with minimal risks by utilizing safety precautions. Construction employers are required by law to thoroughly inspect work sites and identify any potential hazards. They are also required to educate their employees on the dangers and how to minimize risk. When a construction employer fails to provide adequate safety measures, workers face severe and fatal injuries. Construction premises liability law aims to show that workers suffered preventable injuries resulting from another's negligence.

• Fork Lift Accidents

In the industrial and warehouse setting, forklifts and powered pallet jacks are among the most commonly used equipment for loading, unloading and transferring heavy materials. Though necessary in the appropriate settings, they can be hazardous without proper training and safety protocols in place.

• Industrial & Commercial Cranes

From New York City to Miami, accidents involving mobile or construction cranes designed to lift large loads atop high rise towers under construction have risen in kind. Between 1992 and 2002, the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries reported 719 deaths involving mobile cranes. In most instances, accidents - including tip over, boom collapse, and workers struck by uncontrolled hoisted loads or crane parts - were avoidable, if standard maintenance, operation, safety and security protocols were followed.