Don’t settle for less than you deserve.
The first step that anyone involved in any kind of injury case needs to do is to go to a competent medical provider to start the process of figuring out what their injuries are. Over 90% of the cases we handle can involve drastic injuries, yet people do not know how injured they actually are at the time of the incident. Your attorney can help you get the treatment you need. I cannot stress how important it is to go see a medical provider and to go see someone who specializes in whatever you think or feel is wrong. Don’t just go to your primary care doctor; go to someone who specializes in this area because these injuries can be devastating. Finding the right doctor and getting the right treatment is the number one step.
How Important Is It That Medical Attention Is Sought Immediately Following My Accident And That My Injuries Are Properly Documented By Medical Professionals?
With our firm, there is nothing more important than the injured client getting medical treatment as quickly as they can. The number one thing we care about is your health. Going to a very competent medical provider who sees people who are injured in an accident is very important because injuries from accidents are somewhat unique. They involve specialized treatment, so you need someone who has treated other clients who have had similar injuries. They know the correct method to diagnose the injury and to treat it. There is literally nothing more important than quickly seeking medical advice.
The idea of having a documented medical visit is good but, quite frankly, with medical records all being electronic now, the records themselves are not the best. I would say there is 20-30% chance that the record is not going to be accurate. Doctors use point and click systems now, so they may click the wrong symptom or they may put an error in the record; it happens all the time. The records are not as important in the beginning as they will be later on.
What Should I Do If The Other Party’s Insurance Company Reaches Out To Me?
The first thing you should do after you believe you have been wrongfully injured is contact a reliable and competent personal injury attorney. After you get your medical treatment, that should be your next step. We would like to have our clients contact us before the insurance companies get a chance to communicate with them. Sometimes, that doesn’t happen. The at-fault person’s insurance company will do whatever they can to stop you from getting the full justice that you require. You should not talk to them. They are not contacting you to help you; they are doing it to save money.
How Is The Worth Of A Personal Injury Case Determined?
There are so many factors that go into the worth of any individual case. You have your own personal story and your own way this injury has affected you and your loved ones. Every case is unique to that person. The other side of the story is that there is a limit to the amount of insurance that the at-fault person has and that limit does come into play when you start talking about how much your case is worth. If you have a case but there is only a small amount of insurance, your case is somewhat capped by those low insurance limits. There are things that a lawyer can do to try to go above those limits, but they are few and far between. You need to talk to a lawyer who knows what they are doing, who can explain the elements of damages to you.
What Are The Most Common Injuries That Victims Sustain From Auto Wrecks?
The most common injuries are spine injuries. In almost every automobile accident case, the spine is going to get significantly injured. You may see herniated discs, bulging discs, and lower back injuries. It does not matter that there may be very little physical damage to the vehicles; your body still is going to go through a lot of trauma in any kind of collision.
If you know that you are about to be involved in an accident, which is going to happen in head-on collisions, you are going to see shoulder injuries from gripping the wheel. In a car accident with whiplash movement, your brain moves back and forth at very high speeds and bounces off your skull. You can have an injury to your brain, known as a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Having a lawyer who has dealt with these kinds of injuries in the past is very, very important.
If I Was Partially At Fault For The Auto Wreck That Caused My Injuries, Do I Still Have A Case In Florida?
Florida uses a system called comparable fault. What that means is each party is responsible for their percentage of fault in the accident. If you have an accident where you are 10% at fault, you are liable only for that 10%. The other at-fault party is liable for the other 90%. Having a lawyer who understands the traffic codes and can reconstruct how accidents occur is very important.
What Is PIP Insurance And Is It Required in Florida?
Personal Injury Insurance (PIP) is additional insurance that is required in the state of Florida. Every person who buys auto insurance as required in the state of Florida has to have PIP. What PIP insurance does is pays for your medical treatment, regardless of who is at fault for the accident. You can be 100% at fault for the collision and you still have that insurance coverage to pay for your medical treatment. After the accident, you have 14 days to go to a medical provider and receive what is called an Emergency Medical Condition (EMC)
The doctor has to do an evaluation on you and determine if you have an emergency medical condition. If you do, the full PIP benefits will be available to you. In the state of Florida, when you buy your insurance and you pay monthly, you actually pay more for this PIP insurance, so you most certainly should use it. You have up to $10,000 of PIP insurance. Depending on the kind of insurance you have, there may be deductibles. It is normally an 80-20 divide, meaning PIP pays for 80% of the medical payments and you are responsible for 20%.
What Potential Damages Could Be Available For A Victim To Recover After A Car Accident In Florida?
After a car accident or an injury, you get two types of damages. You get what we call economic damages, which are monetary losses. These can be from medical expenses, days lost from work, medical expenses you will have in the future, or from some kind of payment that you had to make because of the accident. It could be as simple as having to hire someone to do your yard work because you cannot do it since the accident.
The other category of damages that we have in the state of Florida are called non-economic damages. These are damages that don’t just have some bill attached. What you did lose is some kind of convenience or comfort. These damages can be very high and very hard to calculate, depending on your individual case. You could have pain that lasts you the rest of your life and means that you cannot do the things you normally would do. You could have additional aggravation to your life where every morning you wake up and it takes you 40 minutes just to get out of bed because of the pain that you have. Those all fall under non-economic damages.
For more information on Personal Injury in Florida, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (850) 220-2098 today.