If you are involved in a personal injury lawsuit, it can be helpful to know some of the tactics the defense may try to use. Understanding some common personal injury defense tactics can also help you determine whether or not your case will hold up in court. For that reason, today’s blog post is all about the legal concept of “assumption of risk.” Picture this scenario: A man is looking for his lost dog. There is an … [Read more...]

Car accidents are terrifying, regardless of the severity. In a bad accident, you may be seriously injured, or someone else may be, and you can go into panic mode. In less serious accidents, the fear you feel is still extreme because it makes you realize how dangerous roads can be and how easy it is to make a mistake or be injured as a result of someone else’s mistake. If you are in an accident, it is important to do … [Read more...]

It is comforting to think of doctors as magical beings who are incapable of making errors, but the truth is, they’re human too. Unfortunately, that means they’re not immune to making mistakes. At the Law Offices of Patrick L. Goss, we often represent clients who have been hurt as the result of medical malpractice. We’re sad to say we’ve seen time and time again just how much a doctor’s mistake, whether its caused by … [Read more...]

Although it’s an easy knee jerk reaction to say, “This is all your fault!” when you’ve been injured due to the negligence of another, it is not always quite that cut-and-dried. Sometimes the injured party may share some of the blame in the eyes of the law. For example, perhaps you were in a car accident caused by another driver cutting you off. But maybe you were speeding, and your speed contributed to the severity … [Read more...]

How do you put a price tag on your pain and suffering? If you’ve been injured, you know that no amount of money can erase what you’ve experienced or undo the damage to your long term happiness and wellbeing. Still, it is the hope of the legal system that financial compensation can  help you cope a little better with your new reality. When settling a personal injury case out of court, you and your lawyer will work … [Read more...]

Our law firm represents seriously injured accident victims on a contingency fee basis under guidelines approved by the Florida Bar. This means the client pays no attorney fees unless and until a financial recovery is made on the client's behalf by our law firm. The contingency fee is sometimes referred to as "the poor man's key to the courthouse." Regardless of how rich or poor an accident victim may be, we … [Read more...]

Most people do not want to spend money on professional services unless they feel they must. I know I feel that way. Before I spend my hard earned cash on a professional carpenter or electrician or plumber for a home project, I have often tried to first take care of things myself. After 30 years as a Do-it-myself homeowner/Full-time Attorney, I am finally ready to admit that when acting alone on home repairs I … [Read more...]

General Motors (GM) recently recalled millions of its cars to fix a faulty ignition switch that caused a number of crashes. The evidence shows that GM had known about the problem for years but had hidden it to avoid having just such a recall, just as a decade ago Firestone hid knowledge that the tires it put on certain vehicles were dangerous. Although the GM and Firestone cases may be particularly outrageous, they … [Read more...]

Since 2005, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a federal agency involved with overseeing hospitals and nursing homes, has posted quality ratings on its website, allowing patients to make important decisions about where to seek treatment. In 2011, the CMS also posted information about eight different “hospital acquired conditions” (HACs), injuries to patients likely caused by the care they received. … [Read more...]