That sounds like a strange thing for a lawyer to admit. It is actually the most important thing you can know about how I practice.

Every week, people call my office about injury cases. Fender-benders. Minor slip-and-falls. Soft-tissue claims that will resolve in a few months with a modest settlement. These are real injuries and real cases — and most of the time, I decline them and refer them to capable colleagues who handle volume practices.

Why? Because my personal injury practice is built for one kind of case: the catastrophic case. The case where a family’s entire future is on the line. The case the insurance company assigns to its most experienced adjusters and its best defense firms. The case that cannot afford to be one file among four hundred on a paralegal’s desk.

What “Catastrophic” Actually Means

Catastrophic injury is not a legal term of art so much as a practical reality: an injury that permanently changes how a person lives, works, and cares for their family. In my practice, that means cases involving:

Why Selectivity Is Your Advantage, Not Mine

Here is what most people never see from the outside: a catastrophic injury case is not a bigger version of a small case. It is a fundamentally different animal.

• The defense is different. When the exposure is seven or eight figures, insurance carriers do not send form letters. They hire biomechanical engineers, retain their own neurologists, conduct surveillance, and staff the file with senior trial counsel from day one.
• The proof is different. A catastrophic case is built on life care planners, economists, neuropsychologists, accident reconstructionists, and treating physicians — a coordinated team that has to survive expert challenges and cross-examination.
• The stakes are different. A soft-tissue case that settles low is a disappointment. A catastrophic case that settles low is a lifetime of unfunded medical care, lost income, and a family carrying a burden the responsible party should have paid for.

What Florida’s New Legal Landscape Means for Serious Cases

Florida’s 2023 tort reform (House Bill 837) rewrote the rules for injury cases — I covered the full overhaul when it passed in my analysis of Florida’s bad faith and comparative negligence reforms. Two changes matter enormously for catastrophic claims:

• Modified comparative fault. If a jury finds you more than 50% at fault, you recover nothing. Defense lawyers now build their entire strategy around pushing blame across that line — which makes early investigation and evidence preservation more critical than ever.
• A shorter clock. The statute of limitations for most Florida negligence cases is now two years, not four. In a catastrophic case — where experts must be retained and records assembled — two years is far less time than it sounds.

These changes punish delay. Families dealing with an ICU stay understandably put “call a lawyer” last on the list. The defense is counting on that.

What Working With Me Looks Like

Because I limit the number of catastrophic cases I take, every client gets what high-stakes litigation actually requires: direct access to the attorney — not a case manager — a fully developed damages presentation built with credentialed experts, and a case prepared from day one as if it will be tried, because insurance companies pay trial value only to lawyers who are genuinely prepared to try the case. And when a case falls outside what I handle, I will tell you honestly on the first call and point you to the right lawyer for it — at no cost to you.

That is the whole philosophy. Fewer cases. Bigger stakes. Full attention. You can see exactly what my practice covers — and the answers to the questions families ask most — on my Miami catastrophic injury attorney page.

Para las familias que prefieren informarse en español: visite nuestra página de abogado de lesiones personales en Miami.

This article is attorney advertising and is provided for general educational purposes only. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different; past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Deadlines described are general statements of Florida law that may not apply to your specific situation — consult a licensed Florida attorney promptly about your case. Dennis Gonzalez Jr., P.A., 11401 SW 40th Street, Suite 250, Miami, FL 33165.