AMPUTATION INJURY LAWYER Jacksonville

Why Phillips, Hunt & Walker for Your Amputation Injury Case

Amputation is catastrophic. In one moment, your life changes forever — and so does the life of every person who depends on you. At Phillips, Hunt & Walker, we have recovered $495,123,680 in verdicts and settlements, including the largest jury verdict in Jacksonville history. Lead attorney John M. Phillips is Board Certified in Civil Trial Law by The Florida Bar and has represented catastrophic-injury survivors for 25+ years. He began his career defending Fortune 500 corporations and their insurers — Coca-Cola, Hertz, State Farm. He knows their playbook cover to cover. Now he uses it against them.

We charge no upfront costs, no copy costs, and no interest on litigation expenses. Many competing Florida personal-injury firms pass typical interest charges on every expense advanced back to the client. We do not. Your recovery is yours.

Types of Amputation Injuries We Handle

Amputation cases fall into two broad categories, and the legal proof in each is different:

Traumatic Amputation

The limb or digit is severed at the scene of an accident — common in heavy-equipment crashes, industrial-machinery incidents, motor-vehicle collisions, and boating accidents. Evidence preservation in the first 30 days is decisive.

Surgical Amputation

The limb is surgically removed days, weeks, or months after the initial injury because crushed tissue, infection, or inadequate medical care has made the limb unsalvageable. These cases often involve both the party that caused the original injury and a medical provider whose treatment failed to prevent the loss.

We represent clients who have lost fingers, toes, hands, feet, arms, and legs — as well as partial amputations, crush injuries resulting in loss of function equivalent to amputation, and the ongoing complications that follow limb loss: phantom-limb pain, chronic wound infection, and prosthetic-failure injuries.

Common Causes of Amputation Injuries

In our 25+ years of trial practice across Northeast Florida and eight states, we have handled amputation claims arising from:

• Trucking and commercial-vehicle collisions
• Motorcycle and pedestrian accidents
• Industrial machinery — presses, conveyors, saws, agricultural equipment
• Construction-site incidents, including crane and scaffold collapses
• Boating and propeller-strike injuries
• Defective products — including power tools, heavy equipment, and medical devices
• Electrical burns causing non-salvageable tissue damage
• Medical malpractice — delayed diagnosis of compartment syndrome, untreated infections, surgical errors, and negligent post-operative care
• Nursing-home neglect causing untreated pressure ulcers, diabetic complications, or infection

Florida Law That Controls Your Amputation Case

Florida law changed significantly under HB 837 (March 2023). Every Florida personal-injury claim accruing on or after March 24, 2023 is governed by the new rules. The statutes that matter most in amputation cases:

Statute of Limitations — Fla. Stat. § 95.11

Negligence claims accruing on or after March 24, 2023 must be filed within two years (shortened from the prior four-year period). Medical-malpractice amputation claims remain governed by the two-year rule in § 95.11(4)(b), subject to a statute of repose. Missing the deadline bars the claim entirely.

Modified Comparative Negligence — Fla. Stat. § 768.81

As of 2023, a plaintiff found more than 50% at fault recovers nothing. A plaintiff 50% or less at fault recovers a proportionally reduced award. This makes accident-scene evidence, vehicle data, and eyewitness preservation decisive in amputation cases.

Permanent Injury Threshold — Fla. Stat. § 627.737

Florida’s no-fault (PIP) statute limits the right to sue the at-fault driver’s insurer unless the injury is permanent within a reasonable degree of medical probability. An amputation is permanent by definition and satisfies the threshold, opening access to full tort damages including pain and suffering.

Workers’ Compensation Schedule — Fla. Stat. § 440.15

If the amputation happened on the job, the Workers’ Compensation schedule pays fixed compensation for loss of specific body parts plus lifetime medical and impairment benefits. Workers’ comp is usually the exclusive remedy against your employer — but a separate tort claim against a non-employer third party (equipment manufacturer, subcontractor, driver) is often available and is where the larger recovery typically lies.

Punitive Damages — Fla. Stat. § 768.72

Where an amputation was caused by intentional misconduct or gross negligence — for example, a DUI driver or an employer that concealed a known equipment defect — punitive damages may be available after the court finds a reasonable evidentiary basis.

We interpret these statutes for your specific facts in a free case evaluation. Do not rely on a general summary as legal advice for your case.

What Your Amputation Case May Be Worth

There is no formula. Every case is valued by its own evidence and by the damages Florida law allows the jury to consider. For amputation survivors those categories usually include:

• Past and future medical expenses — emergency care, surgeries, rehabilitation, and the lifetime cost of prosthetics. A modern lower-limb prosthesis typically requires replacement every 3 to 5 years, and a lifetime prosthetic and maintenance plan is frequently the largest single line item on the damages board.
• Lost earnings and loss of earning capacity — not only wages missed during recovery, but the diminished career trajectory proven by a vocational expert.
• Home and vehicle modifications — wheelchair ramps, widened doorways, accessible bathrooms, hand-control vehicle conversions.
• Pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life — including phantom-limb pain and the psychological weight that follows catastrophic loss.
• Loss of consortium for the injured person’s spouse.
• Punitive damages in qualifying cases under § 768.72.

What to Do After an Amputation Injury

The first 30 days after an amputation are the most important for both your medical recovery and your legal case. Practical steps:

• Focus on medical treatment. Follow every post-operative instruction and keep every follow-up appointment — gaps in care are the first thing defense insurers look for.
• Preserve physical evidence. If machinery, a vehicle, or a product caused the injury, tell us before anything is repaired, scrapped, or returned. A spoliation letter has to go out fast.
• Do not give a recorded statement to any insurer — including your own — without a lawyer.
• Document everything. Save receipts, home-modification quotes, medical-equipment invoices, and mileage to treatment.
• Call us. The statute of limitations starts running the day of the injury — not the day you decide to hire a lawyer.

Contact a Jacksonville Amputation Injury Lawyer Today

The consultation is free. There is no fee unless we recover for you. There are no copy costs and no interest on case expenses. Call (904) 444-4444 or reach us through our contact form to speak with an attorney about your case today.