Each year, approximately 500,000 tourists visit Belize. These are mostly visitors from the United States who make up an increasingly important part of the Belizean economy, alongside agriculture, banking and certain industrial sectors. After United States citizens, Europeans and Canadians are the second and third most common visitors to Belize, with thousands more visiting from other areas. The vast majority of these visitors have a safe and memorable stay, enjoying the beautiful weather, friendly hospitality, and world class beaches. Unfortunately for others, their experience in Belize results in life altering injuries, permanent disability, or even death.
International Team of United States and Belize Attorneys Focused on Assisting Tourists and Other Guests
If you are seriously injured, or have a loved one who dies, while vacationing in Belize, our experienced personal injury attorneys at Urban Thier & Federer, P.A. can help you. We have established relationships with Belizean colleagues and have handled many cases with our cross boarder attorney colleagues. Being a former British colony, the Belizean legal system is largely based upon the common law system
Most cases are handled on a contingency/No Win No Fee basis. This means that if we agree to accept your case (which is done via a written Legal Representation Agreement), we will advance all case-related costs and our team is only paid from any actual recovery we achieve on your behalf. In other words, our compensation is based purely on a percentage of funds actually recovered on your behalf. If we fail to recover funds, we are paid nothing and we write off the costs we advance. As a result, you can rest assured that our legal team’s interests and goals are the same as yours – to ensure the maximum compensation for your injuries and loss.
Why is it so important to hire an international legal team if my case involves an injury or death in Belize?
We are not aware of any other law firm with offices in the United States and Europe which has handled as many international injury or death cases as Urban Thier & Federer, P.A.. In our experience, most United States-based firms will try to force a strategy, often unsuccessfully, that seeks to hold some American-based entity responsible or liable for the injury or death. We have also seen individuals try to locate and work with a Belizean or other foreign law firm directly only to be frustrated by, at best, cultural, language, and legal system differences, and, at worst, corruption, exploitation and incompetence.
Urban Thier & Federer, P.A.’s team ensures that our trusted and proven Belizean attorney colleagues advance your case through the Belizean Courts. At the same time, we provide a local presence to ensure accountability and accessibility to our clients, to handle client communications, evidence collection, medical records, translations, apostilles, recording custodian affidavits, expert reports, and other support to ensure that damages (the economic and non-economic losses caused by the injury or death) are compiled, analyzed and properly authenticated to ensure admissibility in the Belizean Courts.
Examples of personal injury and death cases suffered by United States resident tourists visiting Belize
- Negligent security incidents such as assaults, robberies, murders, rapes, and other violent crimes committed on hotel and resort premises against guests and other business invitees
- Poorly designed and/or maintained premises such as slippery surfaces resulting in falls, balcony collapse, malfunctioning automatic doors, and many other avoidable injuries caused by a defect in the premises
- Injuries incurred while participating in tourist excursions such as fishing, diving, boating and other excursion activities
- Car and other vehicle accidents occurring while using taxi and other transportation services or while driving or a passenger in a rental vehicle
What do I do if I am injured or a loved one dies in Belize?
If you are injured, or a loved one is killed, while a guest at one of the many Belizean resorts or hotels, Urban Thier & Federer can help you. If you are injured while a paying guest, patron, or business invitee, at an excursion, night club, or other activity, we can help you. The first step is to immediately contact us via our Contact Us form, Chat Assistant, or by calling our office. We will immediately start gathering data about your specific matter to promptly determine if we can be of assistance. Under the applicable Belizean law, time bars/prescription periods for bringing a lawsuit are no more than 3 years from the date of the incident. This means that it is important to act promptly.
This article and this website are for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. This information provided should not be used as a substitute for obtaining legal advice from an attorney licensed or authorized to practice in your jurisdiction. You should always consult a suitably qualified attorney regarding any specific legal problem or matter and not rely on the content of this article. Nothing on this site is intended to create an attorney-client relationship and nothing posted constitutes legal advice. We cannot guarantee that the information is accurate, complete or up to date.