If you’ve been shot in Miami you will find yourself in a roller-coaster of police, medical providers, pain, suffering, and medical bills. Most people who are shot in Miami know that there will be a criminal investigation, and hopefully the person who shot them will be held accountable in the criminal justice system. Other than that, most people do not know what other remedies are available to them if they are shot in Miami.
Here are some things that you should know if you’re shot in Miami.
The police and prosecution can only help you as far as the criminal justice system goes
The prosecutors and the police will do what they can to help you get justice in the criminal justice system. In laymen terms that means that they will prosecute the person who shot you and try to put them in jail for what they did to you. While that is definitely a helpful measure of justice, that will do nothing to help you regain your mobility, pay your medical bills, and compensate you for the pain and suffering that you went through and may continue to go through. This is because the criminal justice system isn’t set up to make you whole, it is set up to punish the person who injured you. In the best of cases in the criminal system you can expect that the person who shot you will be punished to some extent, and nothing more than that. Your medical bills, your loss of employment, your lack of mobility, and every other aspect of your injury will be something that you would have to deal with, without any help from the police or prosecutors. The system is just not built for that.
If you were shot in Miami on private property, the property owner may have to compensate you for what happened to you
All is not lost, however. If you were shot in Miami while on private property, like for example, a Walmart or McDonald’s, or even a housing complex, the property owner may have to pay you for your losses. This is because Florida law requires that property owners take reasonable measures to keep these kinds of incidents from happening on their property. If you’ve ever been somewhere and you’ve seen security guards, prominently displayed cameras, lighting, etc., you have witnessed the kind of reasonable measures that property owners are expected to take. The most common example is that of a night-club or bar where you have one or more bouncers to ensure the safety of the customers.
Unlike the criminal system, the civil justice system is perfectly equipped to hold the property owner accountable for his/her failure to provide adequate security. Under the civil system you are entitled to receive money for pain and suffering, medical bills, and lost wages. This means that if the property owner’s failure to establish reasonable security measures contributed to you being shot, you should receive money from the property owner to make you whole.
Your shooting was likely preventable and avoidable, if the property owner had done the right thing
Unfortunately, the great majority of shootings in Miami could have been avoided or prevented had the property had the property owner put on reasonable security measures. There are way too many shootings happening on or around the same properties. If these property owners spend some of their business profits to add security guards, cameras, and proper lighting, a lot of these shootings would never take place in their property.
Most property owners do not do the right thing when it comes to protecting their patrons and tenants
Most property owners, however, do not do the right thing when it comes to protecting their patrons and tenants. This is because additional security measures affect their bottom line. If they have to pay a security guard, that is money that has to come out of the business profit margin. More money for security means less money in the pocket of the property owners. It is sad that we live in a world where people and companies are willing to risk people’s life and limb in order to save a couple of bucks, but that is the world we live in. This profits-over-people mentality leads to countless deaths and shooting injuries.
While the prosecution and police are there to hold the shooter criminally accountable, there is no government body that is set up to help you hold the property owner civilly accountable
If you’ve been shot in Miami, you know that the police and prosecutors are available to help. In fact, those two bodies are designed for the purpose of investigating and prosecuting crimes. But you’d be surprised to learn that there is no government body that is set up to help you hold the property owners accountable if you are shot in Miami. There are no government civil prosecutors or police for that. You’re literally on your own.
But that’s not entirely accurate. While there are no government bodies that are set up to help you get the money that you deserve for your loss, there are civil lawyers who sue on behalf of people who are injured in shootings. We at Cornish Hernandez Gonzalez handle these kinds of injury cases and have recovered millions of dollars for our clients.
If you find yourself in the unfortunate position of being shot while on private property, we can help. Do not hesitate to give us a call or fill out the form.
