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Auto Accident Cases
Motor vehicle accidents can be a life altering event. A crash can be an extremely long process that requires filing an insurance claim, determining who is at fault, and obtaining any necessary medical care and treatment. The event can wreak havoc to yourself, any passenger or property through direct or indirect contact. A person can sustain serious injuries in auto accidents depending on the incident. In severe cases, car accidents can also have permanent results such as loss of limbs, brain trauma, paralysis, eye trauma, hearing trauma and even death. An individual can also suffer psychological trauma. If you or someone you know is having difficulty in getting coverage for auto accident related damages, you or they may be entitled to file a car accident claim in order to secure appropriate compensation.
Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice is when a medical professional makes a medical error that causes injury to a patient as a direct result of that error. Medical malpractice can be a misdiagnosis, surgical errors, anesthesia errors, medication errors, birth injuries, and/or death. The malpractice can cause economic and non-economic damages, though uncommon there could also be punitive damages, and wrongful death and survival damages.
Motorcycle accidents
People say riding motorcycles is dangerous because you can be injured or even killed. It is not because riding a motorcycle itself is dangerous, it’s because the people around you can cause you harm while riding. There could be a reckless driver that comes out of nowhere and collides with you while riding, they could be distracted because they were texting or were not paying attention. The claim process for compensation can be long and determining what was the cause and who is at fault can be difficult. If you or someone you know is having difficulty in getting coverage for a motorcycle accident, you or they may be entitled to file a motorcycle accident claim in order to secure appropriate compensation. The more serious your motorcycle accident injuries are, the more severe the damages will also be.
Truck accidents
Trucking accidents or semi-truck accidents unfortunately often leads to death or catastrophic injury for the driver and passengers in the passenger vehicle. There can be many causes like impairment, speeding, fatigue, improper truck maintenance, improperly secured cargo, and driving aggressively. Due to the size of the trucks in comparison to a passenger vehicle is why the results of those types of accidents can be more severe.
Uber and Lyft accidents
Ridesharing services have become an extremely popular form of transportation. Unfortunately due to their popularity passengers being transported can be involved in a car accident. The accident can be caused by negligence on the part of the Uber or Lyft driver. It can result in injury to any occupant whether in the Uber or Lyft vehicle or other vehicle involved. If the fault was on the Uber or Lyft driver the ridesharing company’s insurance would provide coverage for liability, collision, comprehensive, personal injury protection, and even uninsured motorist. They provide compensation for personal injuries such as medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering and loss of consortium/companionship. If you or someone you know is involved in an Uber or Lyft accident, you or they may be entitled to file a claim against the ridesharing company in order to secure appropriate compensation.
Premise liability
A property owner has the basic responsibility to protect its visitors from known dangers on their premises. Not all hazards can be foreseen but property owners can be held liable for neglecting to warn its visitors about known dangers or hazardous conditions if someone does get hurt. If you or someone you know has been injured on the premises of a property, whether it was a commercial location such as an office, store, or mall you may be entitled to compensation for medical expenses, loss of income, pain and suffering and more.
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Most cases settle without the necessity to file a lawsuit. If there is a reason your case may need to go to court, our firm will explain all the options to you, so you can decide which option is best for you. Our firm will recommend which option we feel is best, but the final decision will be yours.
Most personal injury firms require that these costs be paid back out of your settlement, separate from our percentage fee.
If you do not receive any settlement or judgment, you will not be required to pay us back for the costs we paid on your behalf.
Our firm works on a standard Florida Bar approved contingency fee contract, which means that if we do not recover money for you, you owe us any attorney’s fees. If we do win your case and recover money on your behalf, our fees will be deducted from your settlement or award. You will pay nothing upfront or out-of-pocket.
If you receive a settlement that is more than $1 million, we may charge a smaller percentage of the money you get above that amount. Please see the document called Authority to Represent. That document explains our fee in detail and tells you the exact percentages which is a standard Florida Bar approved contingency fee contract.
Certain problems may delay a case. These problems can be the insurance companies not cooperating, large hospital bills or medical liens that need to be reduced, witnesses or clients moving without giving us their updated addresses or phone numbers. Our firm does everything we can to make sure your case is handled as quickly as possible.
Many factors affect how much you will receive, such as:
Our firm does many things in order to get you the best compensation or your case. We communicate with all the parties and insurance companies to find out what the insurance policy limits are and whether any additional policies are available. We request copies of your medical records to review to send to the insurance company or defendant. We send a demand letter to the insurance company or defendant. We negotiate with the insurance company or defendant until they make an offer that you approve of. We attempt to negotiate any medical bills that have not been paid already. In cases where you do not approve a settlement, we may file suit against the defendant.
Hire an expert to take everything for you. An experienced personal injury attorney who knows how to navigate through all the red tape to get you the best compensation available to you. An attorney will find all of the different types of insurance available for your claim, such as bodily injury, uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, PIP insurance, excess insurance, and employer insurance.
If we obtain compensation for you, you will not owe your doctors money. Although we can make no guarantee, we have been very successful in favorably resolving our clients unpaid medical bills.
If you owned a car at the time of your accident, you can only use your own PIP insurance, no matter what car you are in or whose fault the accident is.
If you did not have a car, but you lived with a family member who did have car insurance at the time of the accident, then you can use your family member’s PIP insurance, subject to certain policy exclusions.
If you did not have a car and your family members did not have insurance, but the car you were in during the accident has insurance, you can use the PIP insurance of the car that you were in.
If you did not have a car and your family members did not have insurance, and you were a pedestrian, you can use the PIP insurance of the car that hit you.
However, if you owned a car in Florida that was operable at the time of the accident and you did not have insurance, you cannot use anyone’s PIP insurance.
Please remember that, unless you bought extra PIP insurance, it will never pay more than a total of $10,000 in Florida.
If you own a car in Florida, by law you must purchase and your insurance company must provide you with PIP insurance benefits. PIP is also known as “No-Fault Insurance” because you get to benefit from your PIP coverage no matter whose fault the accident was.
Remember that you have the right to have your vehicle repaired wherever you choose to. The insurance company may have preferred body shops, but they will work with a repair shop of your choice in order to get your vehicle repaired.
If you have rental car coverage on your policy, you will have access to a rental car while your car is in being repaired, up to a daily and/or weekly limit set out in your policy, or less if your vehicle is appraised as a total loss.
If you decide not to rent a vehicle while your vehicle is being repaired, you are entitled to reasonable compensation for “Loss of Use”. If you rent a vehicle, please keep the receipt and forward a copy to our office so that we may submit the receipt to the insurance company.
If you do not have collision coverage, you can make a property damage claim against the responsible party’s insurance company. As long as there is clear liability, they will pay for your car repairs and a reasonable rental car. It is usually up to 30 days or less if your vehicle is being repaired or if the vehicle is appraised as a total loss, and you will not be charged a deductible.
If you have collision coverage on your policy, you can make a claim with your own insurance company. Please keep in mind you will likely have a deductible. Your insurance company will file a claim against the responsible party’s insurance company and will seek reimbursement for the deductible you had to pay. Claims made directly with your own auto insurance company are often resolved quicker than claims against the responsible party’s insurance company.
You have a duty to reduce or mitigate damages. Contact your insurance company to see if the insurance company is willing to remove the vehicle from the tow yard to their storage facility, where it will not accrue storage charges. Otherwise, it’s best to pay off the charges if you have the ability to do so.
Take photographs of your vehicle before it is repaired or before the insurance company takes possession of it, take photographs of the responsible party’s vehicle, take photographs of any visible injury you or any passengers have and this includes photographs if you are at the hospital.
Schedule an inspection of your vehicle with the property damage adjuster. Make sure that you do not discuss any aspects of your case or injuries or give the insurance companies any statements.
It is a disclosure that The Florida Bar requires all attorneys give to their clients in personal injury contingent fee cases. It is so clients may better understand their rights.
Your health insurance should not be affected.
Yes, no case is ever settled without your expressed consent. Whenever settlement negotiations are initiated by either side you will be fully informed.
Compensatory damages compensate the injured person for various kinds of losses or damages. These may also be referred to as actual damages. Compensatory damages include economic damages like medical bills and lost wages, or non-economic damages such as pain and suffering, mental anguish or the inability to lead a normal life.
A personal injury attorney will have a much more in-depth knowledge of Florida statutes and case law, particularly those related to negligence, personal injury, and personal injury protection (PIP). Our attorneys also understand how to obtain the necessary supporting documentation to prove the at-fault party’s liability.
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