How will COVID-19 affect my personal injury case or law suit?

How will the COVID-19 virus affect my personal injury case or law suit? 

Representing clients around the globe and across the United States is a reality for Moody Law as local virtual legal representation becomes the norm.

You probably have heard the cliché that tough times build character. At Moody Law, P.A., we understand this principle and hence, we immediately adapted to the newly COVID-19 imposed court rules and court orders to ensure that our clients’ cases are continuing to move forward for early resolution.

Our staff is showing that nothing, not even a global pandemic, will diminish our commitment to represent our clients. And it is through this pursuit of excellence—the striving for it—that we become our best selves. Because lawyers are defined under the law as essential workers, we continue to follow CDC safety and social distancing procedures and appear live in the office 8am–5pm, Monday through Friday.

Florida’s Chief Justice Charles Canady, formerly of Lakeland issued COVID-19 orders and Best Practice Guidelines for remote court proceedings in the pandemic. 

The US Supreme Court has selectively heard some cases this month (May 2020) of which a live audio feed of the arguments is provided to Fox News, which is the network which includes The Associated Press and C-SPAN. The participant parties are not allowed in the Courtroom.

In the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals hearings are being conducted remotely this May and no in -person hearings are being allowed now.

In the Federal Middle District of Florida, which includes Polk County, Lakeland, Winter Haven, Tampa and Orlando, anyone who may have been exposed to COVID-19 are not allowed in any courthouse.  All jury trials are postponed until after June 30, 2020 for criminal cases and odds are civil cases will probably not occur until sometime next year in 2021.

Florida State Courts are postponing all trials until after June 30, 2021, with limited virtual hearings and court appearances.  A civil personal injury case trial will probably not be heard until next year. For more information on the latest court closures and restrictions, visit Law360.com.

Theses novel times necessitate change. There are fewer face-to-face interactions meaning we’re all connecting in new ways. Since March, in this new normal, Moody Law, P.A. has embraced the virtual reality and moved towards web-based platforms and away from in-office consultations. What this means is if you are a new prospective client wanting legal advice, you do not need to come into our office to sign and review documents.  We provide new remote sign ups and have signed up new clients from around Polk County, including the communities of Lakeland, Winter Haven, Haines City and Bartow. With new soft-ware, you are provided the electronic contract or document to review and then if you agree, you are prompted where to sign with an arrow and then you simply click on your signature.  It’s really amazing how easy it is to use electronic signatures and how common it has become for the signing of legal documents.  So, whether you are in your home, office or hospital we are happy to virtually consult with you regarding your personal injury case and then, if you wish for us to represent you we can send the authority to represent agreement to you for you to sign electronically without the need to come into our office. 

It’s now becoming routine for us to virtually consult with clients, appear virtually at depositions, attend virtual hearings and virtual mediations.  In fact, we have effectively mediated a case, locally across town and all the way around the globe. Just last week we mediated a case where our client lives in Perth, Australia, our co-counsel was in Newport Beach, California, the defense lawyers were in New Jersey, with the mediator/judge in San Francisco.  The mediation for us started at 4:00pm at night EST and my client’s start time was at 4:00am in the morning in Perth, Australia.  The mediation ended in the late hours around midnight for us, but on a happy note the virtual mediation resulted in a settlement for the parties.

The technology is now so advanced that we felt like we were all in the same room even though we were literally scattered thousands of miles around the world.  There were no delays or lag time in either audio or video.  It is clear to me this is the new wave of the future for conducting business and in some small degree one of the good things the that has resulted from the bad COVID-19 virus pandemic. People have been forced to and will benefit from conducting virtual conferencing and virtual litigation in the future.

We hope this will give you comfort in knowing that your case will continue to be handled by Moody Law, PA, professionally and virtually adapted to protect the rights of those who have been wrongfully injured. 

http://www.jud10.flcourts.org/sites/default/files/adminOrders/AO_1-53.3.pdf