Car Accident Attorney in Big Pine Key

Although every case is unique, they often unfold in a series of steps like so:

Medical Examination

After an accident, your first step should be to seek medical attention. Your health and well-being are paramount. All external injuries (e.g., lacerations, bruises) should be examined, as well as internal injuries that could lead to health complications in the future.

Investigation

It’s critical to retain a trusted car accident lawyer. Their guidance is crucial for the remainder of the process. Your attorney can conduct an investigation into your accident. This might involve:

• Reviewing accident reports and medical records
• Interviewing witnesses
• Gathering photo and video evidence of the accident scene
• Consulting medical experts

Demand Letter

Once the investigation is complete, your car accident lawyer can begin drafting a demand letter to send to the at-fault party’s insurance provider. This letter will outline your present and future losses, explain how the other party acted negligently, and request compensation on your behalf.

Negotiation and Litigation

The insurance company may offer a settlement at this point. Our attorneys can review their offer and determine if it’s fair. If not, our team is ready and eager to take your case to court.

We understand the price for pain is infinite, which is why we won’t let an insurance company bully you into accepting an insufficient settlement. The insurance companies know how tenaciously we fight for our clients, which gives us an edge at the negotiating table. You shouldn’t settle for less than you deserve, and neither will we.

The types of damages in car accident lawsuits can vary depending on the severity of the accident itself. Here are a few of the most common damages that are sought for recovery:

• Past and future medical costs
• Pain and suffering
• Funeral expenses (in the unfortunate case of a wrongful death)
• Lost wages
• Loss of earning capacity (if the injured party can’t return to work or has reduced earning capacity)

The personal injury attorney you hire must have a comprehensive understanding of the medical terms and procedures that form the foundation for filing a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages. With more than 30 years of litigation experience, the personal injury attorneys at Morgan and Morgan have handled cases that included the three most common types of injuries.

Whiplash

When you make contact with another vehicle, your body forcefully moves forward before quickly retreating into the original sitting position. The force of the movement snaps your neck and head, which can result in the development of painful whiplash. Sustaining a whiplash injury can negatively impact the quality of your life for years to come. One important note concerning a whiplash injury: The symptoms might not develop for hours or even a couple of days after a vehicle collision.

Head Trauma

Despite the advances in automobile safety technology, such as the improvement in the performance of airbags, head trauma remains a primary concern of healthcare providers who treat patients after car accidents. As with whiplash, the symptoms of a concussion might not develop until a few hours or a couple of days after an auto crash. More serious types of head trauma injuries require emergency medical care to prevent the injury from becoming a life-threatening medical condition. Victims of vehicle collisions who sustained head injuries typically have a long road to recovery, if they fully recover at all.

Fractured Bone

You can sustain a fractured bone or two just about anywhere on the body, but your limbs are the most vulnerable body part for sustaining bone fractures. Right before you make an impact with another motor vehicle, the natural physical reaction is to brace for the impact by using one or both of your arms. The strong pressure exerted can fracture the hand, wrist, elbow, and/or upper arm. Your legs are highly susceptible because many car accidents cause the legs to move into an unnatural position. The result of the unnatural position is incredible pressure placed on your feet, knees, and ankles. Compound bone fractures, which represent the most severe type of bone fracture, usually take several months to heal.  

When you sit down with one of the car accident lawyers in Big Pine Key from Morgan and Morgan, you can expect to learn about the Florida laws that apply to your case. Regardless of the type of motor vehicle accident, you should gain an understanding of the statute of limitations, comparative negligence, and no-fault car insurance.

What Is the Florida Statute of Limitations for Filing a Personal Injury Lawsuit?

One of the most important types of legal support provided by the car accident lawyers in Big Pine Key, Florida at Morgan and Morgan involves filing a personal injury lawsuit before the expiration of the statute of limitations. Each state has established a deadline for filing a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages, with a majority of states opting to set the deadline between two and four years. However, a few states grant as long as six years and as short as one year for plaintiffs to take legal action. Florida grants plaintiffs two years to file a personal injury lawsuit, with the clock starting to tick on a lawsuit on the day of a car accident. The only exception to the rule concerns injuries that develop delayed symptoms.

Waiting until the deadline to file a personal injury lawsuit is a bad idea for two reasons. First, rapidly mounting medical bills combined with lost wages can put you in a deep financial hole. Healthcare providers and other creditors do not wait for you to receive compensation before they send bills. The faster you take legal action, the faster your personal injury attorney gets you the compensation that you deserve. The second reason why it is important to be proactive when filing a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages regards the accuracy of witness accounts. Witness statements tend to lose credibility the longer they are given after a personal injury incident such as a vehicle collision.

If you do not meet the deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit in Florida, you can expect the court clerk processing your case to remove it from the judicial docket.

What Does Comparative Fault Mean in Florida?

A large percentage of auto crashes involve no negligence or negligence committed by just one party. Nonetheless, you might get involved in a car accident in which more than one party must assume legal liability for causing the collision. For example, let’s assume a driver rear-ended you at a traffic light just when the light turned green. The driver of the other vehicle assumes fault for rear-ending your car, but you have to assume some of the blame because you were texting and driving, which means you did not see the traffic signal turn green.

If you take your case to court, the judge hearing the case might determine that both parties should assume some of the fault for causing the vehicle collision. Let’s say the judge assigns you 30 percent of the blame and the defendant 70 percent of the blame for causing the car accident. If you receive a legal judgment valued at $50,000, your compensation decreases by 30 percent to $35,000. Because of the implications of the comparative negligence doctrine, it is important to retain the services of one of the car accident lawyers in Big Pine Key from Morgan and Morgan. Your attorney gathers the evidence required to file a civil lawsuit that places 100 percent of the blame on the other party.

What Is No-Fault Car Insurance?

Florida has adopted the no-fault car insurance principle for cases involving motor vehicle collisions. No-fault car insurance means that after most types of car accidents, your insurance policy under the Personal Injury Protection (PIP) clause provides you with the compensation you need to pay medical bills and cover the costs generated by property damage. In Florida, you cannot hold another party’s insurance company legally liable for paying the value of a claim unless you sustained one or more serious injuries. Your personal injury attorney determines whether your injuries qualify as serious under the legal concept called judicial precedent.

Just because PIP can compensate you for the financial losses that result from an auto crash does not mean your insurance company automatically approves your claim. In fact, another compelling reason to hire one of the car accident lawyers in Big Pine Key from Morgan and Morgan concerns retaining legal representation during the insurance claim filing process. Insurance companies love to take advantage of policyholders who do not hire a personal injury attorney. Without a lawyer providing legal support, your insurance company might deny a valid claim or approve a claim for a value well below what your claim is worth.

You have several factors to consider before hiring one of the car accident lawyers in Big Pine Key, FL. You should consider experience, as well as the record of success an attorney has compiled in getting clients the compensation they deserve. With more than three decades of experience and $20 billion in compensation recovered for our clients, Morgan and Morgan checks both boxes of experience and a proven record of success.

Do not procrastinate with filing an insurance claim and a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages. Contact one of the car accident lawyers in Big Pine Key from Morgan and Morgan for a free case evaluation.