Help for Hollywood families after a life-changing injury
Recovery has become a family job. The legal work can be ours.
A severe injury can leave you planning care, missing work, and asking whether home will be safe. Miller & Jacobs helps people hurt in Hollywood and their families. We look into what happened and seek payment for losses the facts support.
You can contact us while treatment is still underway. Tell us what you know, what the care team is saying, and what your household is facing. Our headquarters is in Pompano Beach.
Free consultation. No attorney fee unless we recover compensation for you.
Headquarters Serving Hollywood
Combined Legal Experience
Combined Jury Trials
Consultation About Your Next Steps
A claim can begin before recovery is clear
“Catastrophic injury” describes severe harm that may change a person’s independence, ability to work, or daily life for years. It can include a brain injury, spinal cord damage, loss of a limb, or extensive burns. The diagnosis alone does not establish a claim. We also need evidence of responsibility and the losses caused by the injury. Our Hollywood burn injury guide explains how care, scars, work, and the incident record fit a burn claim.
Once hired, we handle claim calls and letters, seek records with your consent, and track legal deadlines. Send us insurer letters, requests for a recorded statement, and proposed releases. We explain what the papers mean. You should know what a document would do before deciding whether to sign it.
A crash, unsafe property, worksite event, or faulty product may involve more than one party. We review reports, witnesses, video, and insurance. Our product liability guide explains some issues when a tool, machine, or other product may have caused harm.
A chart may name a problem without showing what it means at home. We ask who helps with dressing, travel, meals, safety, and work. Those details help us explain the need for care and what it costs. Tell us what a usual day was like before the injury, too.
From hospital care to the next setting
Before leaving the hospital or rehabilitation unit, ask for the written care plan and whom to call with questions. A family may be taking on tasks it has never done before. Keep instructions, referrals, and equipment orders together. The medical team should guide care; we use the records to understand its practical and financial impact. For cord damage and help with transfers or home access, see our Hollywood spinal cord injury guidance.
Keep a simple log of tasks, time, and who helps. Include paid care and help from family. Save the care team’s notes and your receipts. Do not use the log to choose treatment or assume the claim will pay for every hour. The need for help and its value still require proof.
Ask the care team about doors, stairs, bathrooms, beds, and any equipment you may need. Keep their written advice and cost quotes for each item. Explain what the person could use before the injury and what is hard now. Note who suggested a change and why.
Save visit dates, referrals, work limits, and travel receipts. Tell providers if cost, travel, or a lack of help may keep you from a visit. Keep a note of the barrier and whom you told. That context can help explain a gap in the care record.
The household behind the medical record
Perhaps someone now needs help showering, cannot return to a familiar job, or tires before a family outing is over. A spouse may have changed shifts to provide care. Tell us about those ordinary moments. They help us understand the person and the support the injury now requires.
Looking beyond the first hospital bill
The cost of a severe injury can grow over time. We review care records, provider advice, pay records, and other proof. When needed, experts can help explain future care or limits on work. We separate needs the facts support from those that remain unclear. A sound claim should make that distinction clear.
Treatment, equipment, and assistance
Hospital care, therapy, later procedures, equipment, and help at home may be part of a claim. To seek future costs, we need proof of the care, how long it may last, and its reasonable price. Keep cost quotes linked to the care team’s advice. Save receipts as bills arrive.
Income and the ability to earn
Pay records and facts from your employer can show work already missed. A loss of future earnings takes a closer look. It is more than current pay times a number of years. Job tasks, work limits, training, and the jobs a person could still do may all matter.
Pain and changes in everyday life
Pain, scars, physical limits, and loss of enjoyment may matter alongside bills. Describe real changes: a task you can no longer do, an outing you avoid, or help you now need. Tell us how often a problem arises and how you cope. No lawyer can promise a value from a diagnosis alone.
Log family care even when no bill is sent. Whether a claim can include its value depends on the facts and law. We also review insurance, claims about fault, and amounts that may need to be repaid. Those issues can affect what a recovery means for you.
Legal work while care continues
We explain which records are missing, what we are seeking, and which choices need your input. No fixed schedule fits every serious injury claim. Care, disputed facts, and the court schedule can each affect the next step. Ask us what is pending if you are unsure.
Give us the date, exact place, report number, and witness contacts you have. We seek video and other proof before it is lost. Keep damaged tools or other items when it is safe to do so. Do not return to a dangerous site to gather facts yourself.
We compare care records with work limits, help at home, and bills. Experts may be needed to explain a disputed cause or future care. A care forecast should say what it assumes. We review those assumptions as the medical facts change. Let us know when the care plan changes.
Before settlement, we discuss the release, future losses, fees and costs, and known repayment issues. The offer’s headline amount is only part of that review. We negotiate and prepare for court as needed. The client with legal authority decides whether to settle.
A discharge plan, insurance letter, or early offer may leave you unsure what to do next. Tell us what happened in a free consultation. You can begin with the information you have.
Helping an injured adult
If the injured person can make decisions, their wishes guide the case. We can include family with permission. Trouble speaking or feeling tired does not by itself mean a person cannot decide. Tell us what makes a call easier and what help is needed.
Bring any power of attorney or guardianship papers. We review what they allow and whether another legal step is needed. A spouse, parent, or adult child should not assume the family tie alone gives the right to bring or settle a claim. We can discuss the question before claim work begins. For an injured minor, our Hollywood child injury guide explains parental authority and settlement safeguards.
Check these rules early
Florida generally gives two years to file a negligence action. We must check the date, claim type, defendant, and any exception. Other claims can follow different rules. Care, insurance talks, or a report should not be assumed to extend the time to file. Ask for review before relying on a deadline.
Read Florida’s filing-period statute ↗Under Florida’s comparative-fault rule for covered negligence claims, your share of fault can reduce recovery. A person found more than 50% at fault for their own harm cannot recover under that rule. The law excludes medical-negligence claims from this greater-than-50% bar. We check which rule fits and review the proof of fault.
Read Florida’s comparative-fault law ↗Guides for particular injuries
A crash or other event may cause more than one severe injury. We consider how they affect the person together. The claim should reflect the full care picture. These firm guides can help you prepare questions about a type of injury.
Read about changes in thinking, behavior, fatigue, and daily function in our brain injury guide.
Explore claims about moving, help at home, and changes that make a home easier to use.
Read about care, scars, and who may be at fault after a serious burn.
Limb loss, loss of sight, organ damage, and several severe injuries may also change care and work needs. Tell us what the person could do before the event and what has changed. The care record helps us understand why.
Meet the firm’s partners
Miller & Jacobs serves people injured in Hollywood from its Pompano Beach headquarters. Mark J. Miller and Rick S. Jacobs bring backgrounds in prosecution and jury trials. Their biographies explain their experience and roles at the firm.
Partner
Mark has worked as a prosecutor and in insurance defense. His biography explains his career and work at the firm.
Read Mark’s biography
Partner
Rick served as a Miami-Dade prosecutor. Read his biography for his trial background and work at the firm.
Read Rick’s biographyThe experience and jury-trial figures above reflect the partners’ broader careers. They are not catastrophic-injury verdict counts. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Questions before the first call
These answers are a place to start. We need to review the facts to advise on care costs, who can act, insurance, and the legal options.
Yes. Tell us where the injury happened, what you know about the care plan, and which documents you have. You do not need to wait for discharge or a final prognosis. We discuss permission and legal authority before taking steps that require acting for your relative.
We use the recommendations available now and identify what remains unknown. Later treatment records or qualified expert opinions may clarify the needs. We should not fill a gap with a guess. Before a final settlement, discuss the release and how it would affect claims for care that later becomes necessary.
No. The bill is one part of the proof. We may also review future care, work limits, pain, help at home, fault, insurance, and amounts that must be repaid. The losses still need support. A large bill does not promise a certain payment or a quick settlement.
Your relative may need to give sworn answers, attend an exam, or take part in court even if trial is uncertain. Tell us early about limits on speech, movement, or stamina. We can explain what is required and ask for arrangements that address those needs. Approval depends on the facts; we cannot promise that all steps will be waived.
