Auto Accidents

Video Transcription: Yes, the minimum requirements under Florida law state that, you must have property damage and personal injury protection on your policy. Often times we find that people think that they have full coverage when they have just property damage and personal injury protection on their policy. Now, in order to truly be fully covered I'd recommend you add bodily injury and uninsured motorists to your policy because what happens is, someone that has the minimum requirements if they crash into you and you sustain serious injuries and you rack up a lot of medical bills. You may be left paying those bills if they don't have bodily injury on their policy.

Video Transcription: If you were reimbursed for lost wages under your policy entitled Personal Injury Protection Benefits, those proceeds are taxable income. If you obtain a settlement from the at-fault driver's insurance company or your uninsured motorist policy usually you'll sign a general release in which case those proceeds are not taxable income.

Video Transcription: Yes, there are. Many cases are settled prior to a lawsuit ever being filed. The attorney that represents you will generally compile your medical bills and your medical records along with a police report, property damage photos, and any other evidence that demonstrated your claim and can begin negotiating with an insurance company. If that insurance company makes a satisfactory settlement offer, the case can be settled, and a lawsuit need not be filed. This happens quite often.

Video Transcription: Yes, there are. Many cases are settled prior to a lawsuit ever being filed. The attorney that represents you will generally compile your medical bills and your medical records along with a police report, property damage photos, and any other evidence that demonstrated your claim and can begin negotiating with an insurance company. If that insurance company makes a satisfactory settlement offer, the case can be settled, and a lawsuit need not be filed. This happens quite often.

Video Transcription: Yes you can be found liable. However, there's a presumption under Florida law that the person who rear-ends you is at fault. The courts have carved out a few exceptions to this rule. The main exception is that in order to rebutt that presumption if the person stops suddenly and unexpectedly at a time and place where they're not reasonably expected to do so, then that presumption can be overturned. An example of this would be if there's a green light and instead of traveling though the intersection, that person suddenly slams on their brakes. Well, that wouldn't be a reasonable time to stop when there's a green light. If you rear-end that person, they could potentially be held liable for stopping at that time and place unreasonably.

Video Transcription: Yes, you can. A lot of times the insurance company will send you to their repair facility that they're under contract with in order to save them money, but under Florida law you're entitled to bring your vehicle to any repair facility of your choice. You can bring it to the dealership you bought the vehicle or repair facility that you're familiar with.

Video Transcription: Yes you can, but there are many things that attorneys know that you do not. For instance, do you know whether or not you should provide the at fault party's insurance company with a recorded statement? Many times we see releases, general releases sent to our clients that give the insurance companies access to all sorts of medical records that they're not entitled to. In addition, sometimes these releases contain clauses that further allow them to divulge those medical records to whomever they see fit. So while yes you can represent yourself, I would highly recommend consulting with an attorney before you decide to do so.

Video Transcription: Yes. Florida operates under a no fault system, meaning that you are entitled to 80% of your medical bills and 60% of your lost wages regardless of who was at fault for the car accident. This is paid under your insurance policy.

Video Transcription: The answer to that is yes and no. You are required under your policy with your insurance company to provide them with a recorded statement at some point in time. However you are also permitted to be represented by an attorney before doing so and I strongly suggest an attorney before providing your insurance company with a recorded statement. You are under no obligation to provide the insurance company representing the at-fault driver with a recorded statement and I strongly suggest you do not do so. Either way if you've been involved in a car accident I would recommend an attorney before speaking with any insurance company.

Video Transcription: Listen, the insurance companies don't make billions of dollars every year by paying out claims. It's as simple. In fact, they have a system designed specifically to minimize the amount that they pay out through claims. While they may be cooperating upfront and they may even be friendly, remember that's just a person on the other end of the phone. At the end of the day you could be doing serious damage to your potential claim. I would highly recommend contacting or at least consulting with an attorney before accepting any settlement offers made by an insurance company.

Video Transcription: If you're able to do so, absolutely, but before the police arrive it's imperative that you also document as much as you can. Take photos of the vehicle, if you can get the license plate, take a picture of that. Take a picture of the driver. Sometimes in between the time that the accident and those police arriving that driver might decide to leave. You want to document as much as you can if you're able to do so before the police arrive. Take a picture of the VIN number, sometimes I've seen police reports that have the name and insurance company and insurance policy number but that's not related to the person that was actually at the scene that was driving the vehicle. Get a picture of that VIN number, get a picture of the driver's license, and document all property damage as much as you can.

Video Transcription: Yes you do. Under your insurance policy, you are required to notify them when you've been involved in an accident. On that initial call, provide them with general details about the car accident, and information about your injuries. However, on that initial call you're not required at that time to provide them with a recorded statement. Before you do provide a recorded statement, I strongly suggest consulting with an attorney.

Video Transcription: Quite simply, the insurance company will input the year, make, model, mileage, and condition of your vehicle at the time of the accident. They'll send that information off to 3 or 4 different car evaluation companies and come up with a fair market value.

Video Transcription: Yes, Florida has a law entitled the Dangerous Instrumentality Doctrine. What that law says is even if you weren't driving, if you're the owner of the vehicle that is involved in an accident and the driver of your vehicle is determined to be at fault, the owner, you, are going to be liable as well for any damages sustained by the injured party.

Video Transcription: Florida is a loser's pay state. If you lose that trial, you may be required to pay some or all of the defendants costs.

Video Transcription: Yes. If the employer was operating the vehicle within the course and scope of his employment, then the employer is also responsible, under the theory of respondeat superior. Also, if the employer owns the vehicle, then under Florida's dangerous instrumentality doctrine, they're also responsible for any damages caused by the driver of their vehicle.

Video Transcription: We've seen recently two things occur. If you call 911, they sometimes ask if anyone is injured. Sometimes your adrenaline is rushing, you might not feel any injuries at the time, you say no. They say, "We are not sending anybody, exchange information, thanks for calling." Two, a police officer does arrive on the scene but decides not to fill out a long form traffic crash report. Instead, they provide you with a driver's exchange of information which includes contact information, insurance information, and that's it. There is no report as to who did what during the accident. At this point I would highly suggest either requesting the long form traffic crash report insisting it be done and if you can't do that, document everything yourself. Photographs of the incident, photographs of skid marks, photographs of property damage. Take pictures yourself of the license plate. The driver, the vin number. If you can't get the driver to admit if they were at fault via some short written document you can do yourself or you've got a smartphone, record them with their permission. Because often times if you don't have this documentation it becomes a he said, she said and it's very difficult to prove without any other evidence besides your word.

Video Transcription: Generally speaking, you're responsible for any damages in excess of those policy limits. Now, depending on what transpired during the entire process you maybe entitled to a claim against your insurance company for bad faith. For failing to protect you.

Video Transcription: There are many people driving around without insurance in Florida. God bless America, you can sue anyone. However, if you go to court and you obtain a judgment, collecting on that judgment can be very difficult. We found that collecting a judgment against a non-insured person is virtually impossible. This is why I tell everybody that if you can afford it, add uninsured motorist coverage to your policy, that way, you know you're protected.

Video Transcription: Well, when you hired that attorney you were provided with a statement of clients rights and in it you the client have the ultimate decision making authority on whether or not to settle your case. As far as proceeding with trial, if your attorney is not willing to proceed with trial you should and can seek a second opinion.

Video Transcription: You should obtain the name of the driver, their insurance company, their insurance policy number. If you can, get the license plate number, the VIN number, and document as much as you can at the scene, including the property damage, skid marks, the position of the cars on the road. If you can, get a picture of the driver as well.

Video Transcription: The first thing you should do is make sure that there aren't any injured parties with severe injuries that require immediate medical attention. If so, you need to call 911 and get an ambulance there immediately. The second thing I would do is call 911 and request the police show up at the scene. If you're able to, begin documenting everything; document the property damage, take photos of the license plate of the at-fault car, take photos of the driver of the at-fault vehicle, their driver's license, their insurance card, if you can take a photo of the VIN number. A lot of times I've found that people at the scene of a car accident admit liability and they say, "I'm sorry. Oh, I wasn't paying attention. This was my fault." If you can, ask them if you can record them admitting fault, see if they will sign a document, shorthand, "I am at fault for this accident." Because a lot of times, once they leave the car accident scene, they change their tune. They realize that, "Hey, if I'm at fault for this car accident, I'm going to be paying a lot more in premiums to my insurance company," then they change their story. A lot of times without any independent witnesses, this can lead to a he said/she said, so document as much as you can. If you can, try to obtain some form of documentation from the at-fault party admitting liability. That would help your case tremendously.

Video Transcription: I have good news. Personal injury attorneys in Florida usually operate under a contingency fee agreement, meaning they obtain their fees based off of a settlement. If there's no settlement recovered, generally the attorney gets nothing. In family law and criminal law, sometimes they charge an up-front fee known as a retainer, and they bill against that retainer. In personal injury law, you don't need anything to hire a personal injury attorney.

Video Transcription: I would recommend you do the right thing, because so many people are witnessing accidents and just going about their day, not realizing the headache it's creating for the poor person who's a victim of a car accident that's not their fault and trying to proceed with their claim when it's a he said, she said. Sometimes, these at-fault drivers, they'll make up anything to avoid responsibility for what they've done. Under Florida law, their insurance company is entitled to believe their insured, so, again, the only evidence of the accident is what the at-fault driver is telling their insurance company and what the injured party is saying happened. Without that third individual who is an independent witness, who doesn't have a dog in the fight, coming forward to tip that scale, it can be a real nightmare for the injured party.

Video Transcription: Simply put, I would not speak with the at fault party's insurance company, and I would not provide any documentation to the at fault party's insurance company until I'm able to consult with an attorney regarding my claim.

Video Transcription: Generally speaking there's 2 ways to go about having your car repaired. You can go through the at-fault party's insurance company who through the property damage portion would pay for the repairs to your vehicle, or you can proceed through your car insurance collision policy and then your car insurance would seek to be reimbursed from the at-fault party.

Video Transcription: Your case may be affected. You're under no obligation to provide the at-fault driver's insurance company with a recorded statement at all, and it's my opinion that you do not do so.