Each year, approximately 1.5 million United States citizens visit Costa Rica, along with approximately 400,000 Canadian citizens, 100,000 German citizens, and hundreds of thousands from other countries. The vast majority of these visitors have a safe and memorable stay, enjoying the beautiful weather, friendly hospitality, natural wonders, and world class beaches. Unfortunately for others, their experience in Costa Rica results in life altering injuries, permanent disability, or even death.
If you are seriously injured, or have a loved one who dies, while vacationing in Costa Rica, our experienced personal injury attorneys at Urban Thier & Federer, P.A., can help you. We have established relationships, and have handled many cases, with our Costa Rica-based attorney colleagues.
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 with a onetime cost deposit), 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 Costa Rica?
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 Costa Rican 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 Costa Rican attorney colleagues advance your case through the Costa Rican 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, record 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 Costa Rican Courts.
Examples of personal injury and death cases suffered by United States resident tourists visiting Costa Rica:
- 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, unsafe amusement park rides, and many other avoidable injuries caused by a defect in the premises
- Vehicle accidents involving rental cars, ride share vehicles (such as Uber), tour and excursion operators, and other prearranged transportation
What do I do if I am injured or a loved one dies in Costa Rica?
If you are injured, or a loved one is killed, in a vehicle accident or while a guest at one of the many Costa Rican resorts or hotels, Urban Thier & Federer, P.A., can help you. If you are injured while a paying guest, patron, or business invitee, at an amusement park, night club, tourist excursion, 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 information about your specific matter to promptly determine if we can be of assistance. If we agree to take on your case, we will then work with you to secure medical records, economic damages documentation, and other materials and facts in support of your case and your damages claim. Under the applicable Costa Rican law, time bars/prescription periods for bringing a lawsuit can be as long as 10 years from the date of your injury, although certain claims involving insurance and other parties may need to be brough in as little as 1 year from the date of the accident. This means that it is critically 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.