Car Accident Attorney in Kissimmee

Determining the cause of an auto crash helps your attorney build a strong enough case to prove the four elements of negligence. Reckless driving, distracted driving, and driving under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol represent the three most common factors that cause car accidents.

Reckless Driving

Reckless driving is an especially prevalent problem along the Interstate 4 corridor. Because of the high volume of traffic, far too many motorists take unnecessary risks to reach their destinations faster. Tourists stuck in traffic present a huge issue because their impatience often leads to making risky maneuvers, such as driving on a shoulder and weaving in and out of traffic that moves at a slow pace. Speeding, which kills more motorists and passengers than any other form of reckless driving, reduces the amount of time motorists have to react.

Your attorney builds a strong case of proving negligence by referring to any traffic tickets issued by a law enforcement agency.

Distracted Driving

No matter how strict the laws passed at the state level or the large number of public service announcements presented at all hours of the day, a large percentage of motorists continue to text while driving. Texting while driving diverts the attention of a driver from watching the road in front and behind, which makes it nearly impossible for a distracted driver to avoid collisions. Other types of distracted driving include eating, applying makeup, and taking in the scenery.

To build a strong case for negligence, car accident lawyers in Kissimmee try to obtain traffic camera footage shot at the scene of a car accident.

Driving Under the Influence

Long before the introduction of electronic communication devices, public service announcements promoting public safety devoted a considerable amount of time describing the negative ramifications of drinking alcohol and operating a motor vehicle. As with texting and driving, the public service announcements aired for driving under the influence do not appear to have done much good. Drinking alcohol dramatically slows a driver’s reaction time, as well as increases the likelihood of a driver making poor decisions while behind the steering wheel of an automobile.

Breathalyzers and other types of tests generate the physical evidence your attorney needs to file a personal injury lawsuit.

Another important type of legal support provided by the best car accident lawyers in Kissimmee, Florida concerns filing a personal injury lawsuit before the expiration of the statute of limitations. Every state has set a deadline for filing the proper documents to initiate a lawsuit. Most states have established a deadline somewhere between two and four years, although a few states grant plaintiffs as long as six years and as short as one year to take legal action. Florida has set a statute of limitations for filing a personal injury lawsuit at four years. The clock starts to tick for the statute of limitations on the day of the car accident. However, you might qualify to receive an extension if one or more of your injuries developed delayed symptoms.

Four years is plenty of time to build a strong enough case to win a favorable legal judgment or negotiate a settlement that avoids a costly and time-consuming trial. Nonetheless, you should act with a sense of urgency and file a personal injury lawsuit as quickly as possible after a car accident. Because of rapidly mounting medical bills, you need to receive compensation from a favorable legal judgment to prevent falling into a deep financial hole. Healthcare providers do not wait for patients to receive monetary damages from the filing of a civil lawsuit. Your attorney also wants you to act with a sense of urgency to interview witnesses. Witness accounts tend to be much more reliable the closer they are given to the date of a vehicle collision.

If you do not meet the four-years deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit in Florida, you can expect the court clerk processing your case to dismiss it.

Not every case involving the commission of one or more acts of negligence ends up with one party assuming 100 percent of the blame. Because multiple parties can assume a percentage of the fault for causing an auto crash, Florida has adopted the comparative fault rule for personal injury cases. According to the comparative fault doctrine, a judge hearing a car accident case can assign a percentage of blame to both the defendant and the plaintiff.

For example, let’s say you got involved in a car accident that resulted from another driver running a red light. Although the other driver committed an act of negligence by performing a reckless maneuver, you might have to accept some of the fault for the accident because you did not pay attention to what transpired in front of you. If the judge hearing your case assigns you 10 percent of the blame for causing the car accident, a $60,000 judgment in monetary damages drops to $54,000 because of the 10 percent blame assigned to you by the judge.

For some vehicle collisions, negligence does not play a role in determining compensation because Florida has implemented a no-fault insurance law. No-fault insurance means a victim of a car accident must turn to the victim’s insurance company to receive compensation regardless of which party should assume legal liability for causing the auto crash. The victim’s Personal Injury Protection (PIP) clause should pay for lost wages, medical expenses, and property damage. You cannot file a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages unless you sustained one or more serious injuries. Another reason to hire one of the experienced car accident lawyers in Kissimmee, FL, is to convince a judge that you sustained at least one serious injury.

A majority of Florida car accident cases fall under the no-fault insurance law.

You have several criteria to consider before selecting the right attorney to represent you during a car accident case.

Proven Record of Success

You are going to hear a lot about the importance of experience when it comes to retaining legal representation. Although the number of years matters, it is more important that the attorney you hire has a proven record of success. A proven record of success includes gaining approval for insurance claims, winning favorable legal judgments, and negotiating settlements that keep cases out of the judicial system. Morgan and Morgan has proven to have both experience and a successful track record, recovering more than $20 billion over a35-plus years period.

Responsive Communicator

From dealing with a stubborn insurance adjuster to going through a prolonged civil trial, a car accident case can generate an incredible amount of stress. The last thing you need is to hire an attorney who fails to return messages promptly. At Morgan and Morgan, our car accident lawyers in Kissimmee return emails, phone calls, and text messages within 24 hours, with a vast majority of our returned communications occurring during the same business day. Morgan and Morgan also offers a 24-hour toll-free hotline to answer general legal questions.

Legal Support from Start to Finish

You cannot afford to hire an inexperienced attorney who has not established a proven record of success. Another thing to avoid concerns personal injury attorneys who meet with clients for a free case evaluation, only to disappear for the remainder of a case. Morgan and Morgan operates on the philosophy that the attorney we assign to your case works with you from the day of the free case evaluation to the day when your case gets resolved.

Schedule a free case evaluation today and learn more about the car accident lawyers in Kissimmee at Morgan and Morgan.