The Most Dangerous Roads and Intersections in Riverview, FL

Do I Have to Call the Police After a Car Accident in Florida? There is nothing more inconvenient than being in a car accident. That’s why many people don’t even wait around to call the Police after one occurs. But is this legal? The answer depends on the circumstances of the crash, but understanding the legal requirements and practical implications can help you make an informed decision in an otherwise stressful situation. Florida’s Legal Requirements for Reporting Car Accidents Florida law requires you to file a police report if your crash meets any of the following criteria: · If there is any injury or fatalities · When there is property damage exceeding $500 · Hit-and-Run situations · If there is suspicion of impaired driving · The accident involved a commercial vehicle · A vehicle needs to be towed from the scene Failure to report your accident in such a case could potentially result in criminal penalties. However, although the law requires a report of the crash if any of these criteria are met, the law does allow drivers up to 10 days to file a crash report with local authorities if they did not call the police at the scene. This obviously would not apply in the case of injury or fatality, or if a driver is impaired. These should be reported immediately. Regardless of the situation, it is always best practice to call the Police after a car accident. Why You Should Call the Police Even When You’re Not Legally Required to Do So There are number of reasons why you should still call the Police after a car accident even if you don’t meet any of the criteria that would legally require you to do so. The reasons include: There is Less Chance for Conflicting Stories When information is gathered quickly at the scene of an accident by the Police, it can then be preserved and there is less chance that it can be misconstrued in the future. People also tend to be more forthcoming at the scene when talking to the Police. However, when given time to think about it, stories often change, especially if a person knows that a claim is being pursued against them. Calling the Police and getting a report can help prevent this happening. Document the Accident The Police Report is the best place to document your accident right after it happened. Unlike merely exchanging information with the other driver, having the Police obtain a statement from all parties involved as well from any eyewitnesses is crucial for any subsequent insurance claim. The Police will often also assign fault to a party, which can be useful in a subsequent claim as well. Document Your Physical Complaints The Police Report is your first opportunity to document any physical complaints that you may have, while still at the scene of the accident. This is very important, especially if you’re unable to seek medical treatment right away. In such a case, without a Police report documenting your complaints, the insurance company may question whether you were even hurt in the accident, especially if it took 4-5 days for you to get in to see a doctor. When You Might Choose Not to Call the Police Although it is always best to call the Police after a Florida car accident, there are times where it may not be imperative that you do so. One such situation would be in the case of a minor accident with no injuries. If the crash is minor and all vehicles are driveable, and nobody is complaining of any injury, waiting around for the Police to show up and take down your information may not be necessary – as long as you still take steps to properly document your accident. Those steps should include: · Exchanging Information: Take a photo of the other driver’s license and make sure to get insurance information. · Take Photographs: If you are not going to call the Police after your accident, it is even more important that you document the crash by photographs. Be sure to take photos of the scene of the accident, and of the damage to all of the vehicles involved in the crash. · Witness Statements: If there are witnesses to your accident, ask for their names and phone numbers so you can get a statement from them later, if necessary. From here, contact a lawyer if you have any questions about filing an insurance claim, or if you begin to feel pain and believe that you may have been injured. Challenges in Pursuing an Insurance Claim Without a Police An insurance company will question everything after an accident. This is especially true if there is no Police Report. Without a Police Report, there is a good chance that liability may be disputed, as there is likely to be conflicting stories from each driver. The Police will investigate the crash and determine who they believe caused the accident. This can help if there are conflicting versions of what happened. Another challenge is in proving that your injury is related to the accident, and not to something else. Without a Police report documenting your complaints, the insurance company may dispute your injuries and their relation to the crash. This is especially true if you don’t seek treatment right away. Call Florida Car Accident Attorney, Jim The Lawyer, for Legal Help Hiring an experienced car accident lawyer can make all the difference in the outcome of your Florida car accident case. If you’ve been injured in a Florida car accident, Jim The Lawyer is here to help you fight to get the maximum compensation you deserve for your injury.  Contact Jim The Lawyer, Accident and Injury Attorney, at (813)937-9907 for a FREE Consultation and Case Evaluation.

How Will My Medical Bills Get Paid After a Parrish, Florida Car Accident? The number one question that people have after a car accident is “who is going to pay my medical bills.” A lot of people think that since Florida is a “no-fault” state, that as long as they are not at fault for the accident the other driver’s insurance will automatically pay 100% of their bills. That is not the case. To understand how medical bills get paid after an accident, it is important to understand the various insurance coverages and how they work together to cover your medical costs after an accident. 1. Personal Injury Protection (PIP) Coverage After a car accident, the first layer of insurance that will be responsible for paying your medical bills is your Personal Injury Protection (PIP) Coverage. This is also commonly referred to as “no-fault” insurance. Every driver in the state of Florida is required to purchase PIP coverage, and it provides coverage for you regardless of who was at fault in the accident. So when you’ve been injured in an accident, regardless of who caused it, your PIP coverage will be the primary (or first) coverage that will be billed for your medical treatment. Here are some important points about PIP coverage in Florida: · The minimum amount of PIP coverage required by state law is $10,000; · To qualify for PIP – you must seek initial medical care within 14 days of your accident; and · PIP pays 80% of reasonable and necessary medical expenses and/or 60% of lost wages if you are prevented from working due to accident related injuries; So when you’ve been injured in an accident, your doctors will initially bill PIP under your own insurance policy before billing any other insurance (regardless of fault). With that said, PIP will only pay 80% of those bills, so the next question is “what happens with the 20% remaining?” 2. Medical Payments (MedPay) Coverage Medical Payments Coverage, or MedPay, is not required in Florida. However, if you’ve purchased MedPay it can be used to pay the remaining 20% of the medical bills PIP didn’t pay, or any bills over and above PIP to the extent of your MedPay limit of coverage. It can also pay your PIP deductible, if you have one. 3. Health Insurance Health insurance can also play an important role in paying your accident related medical bills. If you don’t have MedPay, your health insurance can be billed by your doctors to pay the remaining 20% that PIP doesn’t pay. It can also be used to pay your medical bills over and above PIP and MedPay when those coverages have been exhausted and you require additional medical treatment. However, if health insurance pays for any of your accident related medical treatment, your health insurer will have what is called a subrogation interest. Subrogation is the process by which your health insurance can seek reimbursement for any expenses it has paid for your accident related medical treatment if/when you recover from the at fault driver’s insurance company. This means that when your health insurance pays and you recover money from the at fault driver’s insurance, you will likely have to pay your health insurer back for any money it has paid for your treatment. Unfortunately, not everyone has health insurance, and not all doctors accept every health insurance provider. If you’ve exhausted your PIP and MedPay and you don’t have health insurance, don’t worry because you can still seek treatment for your accident related injuries. That’s because there are doctors that treat accident victims who, in the case of someone without health insurance (or if they don’t accept your health insurance), will defer receipt of payment until your case is over. This is called a Letter of Protection, whereby you and your attorney agree to protect the doctor’s interest and pay them when your case is over. 4. Bodily Injury (BI) Coverage Bodily injury coverage is insurance that may apply when you’ve been injured in an accident that wasn’t your fault (or you weren’t completely at fault). This is the at fault driver’s insurance that will cover you for medical expenses over and above what PIP has paid, lost wages, loss of future earning capacity, and/or pain and suffering damages. Unfortunately, Florida is the only state that does not require drivers to carry bodily injury coverage. Because it’s not required, and because of the rising costs of auto insurance, there are many drivers who choose not to have this coverage. In addition, because this coverage is not required, there are also many drivers who only purchase minimal bodily injury coverage. If there is no bodily injury coverage, or only minimal BI limits, there may not be much, if any, insurance proceeds for you to collect from the at fault driver. 5. Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage (UM/UIM) is not mandatory in Florida but it is highly recommended that you buy it. This coverage protects you if you have been in an accident with an uninsured driver (a driver that does not have bodily injury coverage), or a driver that has only minimal bodily injury coverage limits. In such a case, you can file a UM/UIM claim with your own insurer who will then “stand in the shoes” of the at fault driver. You are then able to recover any of the damages you otherwise could have recovered from the at fault driver if they had bodily injury coverage (up to the limits of your UM/UIM coverage). Call Jim The Lawyer After Your Parrish, Florida Car Accident Navigating the complex world of insurance after a Parrish car accident can be a daunting challenge. That is why hiring an experienced car accident lawyer can make all the difference in the outcome of your Parrish car accident case. If you’ve been injured in a Parrish, Florida car accident, Jim The Lawyer is here to help you fight to get the maximum compensation you deserve for your injury. Contact Jim The Lawyer, Accident and Injury Attorney, at (813)937-9907 for a FREE Consultation and Case Evaluation.

Why do I Need Uninsured Motorist Coverage After a Ruskin, Florida Car Accident? Unfortunately, the cost of car insurance has skyrocketed, especially in the state of Florida. The effect of this is that many are now only purchasing the bare minimum of car insurance coverage. In Florida, the minimum coverage required by the state is Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and Property Damage coverage. That means that there are many drivers operating without bodily injury coverage. Bodily injury coverage is insurance that can be purchased and protects you by covering others for injury in the event you cause a crash. So if you’ve been injured in a car crash, the other driver’s bodily injury coverage will pay your economic and non-economic damages caused by the crash. The problem is, Florida is the only state in which there is no mandatory bodily injury coverage. This means many people are driving without it. In fact, nearly 20% of drivers are without insurance completely, and many more have only minimal coverage limits. Because of this, it is important that you have uninsured motorist coverage. What is Uninsured Motorist Coverage? Uninsured motorist coverage is insurance that protects you when you are involved in an accident with a driver that is uninsured, or a driver who has insufficient liability limits. In such a case, your uninsured (also known as underinsured) motorist coverage will step in and cover many of the areas of damage that you could have recovered from the at-fault driver had they had bodily injury coverage, or in the event of an underinsured driver, had they had sufficient limits to cover your damages. When you’ve been injured by an uninsured/underinsured driver, your uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage will cover damages caused by the crash, such as: · Past and future medical expenses · Past lost wages · Loss of future earning capacity; and · Past and future pain and suffering When Does Uninsured Motorist Coverage Apply? Uninsured motorist coverage applies when the following criteria have been met and the driver has been determined to be either uninsured – or if they are insured, there is insufficient coverage limits to fully compensate you for your injuries: 1. The accident must have arisen out of the inherent nature of the automobile, as such; 2. The accident must have arisen within the natural territorial limits of the automobile, and the actual use, loading, or unloading, must not have terminated; 3. The automobile must not merely contribute to cause the condition which produces the injury, but must, itself, produce the injury. Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage has been found to apply in the following situations: · Get hit by a driver with no insurance or insufficient insurance coverage; · Hit and run accidents when you unable to identify the hit and run driver; · When you’ve been run off the road by another driver – no impact needed; · When you’ve been hit by a vehicle while riding your bicycle; · When you’ve been hit by a vehicle while a pedestrian; · In some cases, uninsured motorist coverage has been found to apply if you’ve been hit by an object thrown from a vehicle. · Accident involving a municipal or governmental vehicle. Given the high number of drivers who are driving without any insurance, or without bodily injury coverage, having uninsured motorist coverage is imperative coverage to have. As a personal injury attorney, I can say that there is nothing worse than having to tell a client who has been injured in a crash that there is no insurance to recover from the at-fault driver and, worse yet, the client didn’t spend the few extra dollars to buy uninsured motorist coverage. Call Jim The Lawyer After Your Ruskin, Florida Car Accident Hiring an experienced car accident lawyer can make all the difference in the outcome of your Ruskin car accident case. If you’ve been injured in a Ruskin, Florida car accident, Jim The Lawyer is here to help you fight to get the maximum compensation you deserve for your injury. Contact Jim The Lawyer, Accident and Injury Attorney, at (813)937-9907 for a FREE Consultation and Case Evaluation.

One of the biggest things people are initially concerned about after a car accident, even more so than any injury at first, is their car. People naturally feel helpless without the use of their car, and when its been damaged in an accident, there are a lot of unknowns. Questions like: Whose going to pay for the damage? What if the car is totaled? What about a rental car? How am I going to get work? These are all valid and logical questions, but for those who haven’t had to deal with insurance issues after an accident, these questions can be overwhelming, so it’s important to know what your options are depending on the different scenarios you may face. Here are several such scenarios, and the options available to you should you encounter one. Scenario #1 – You Caused the Accident If you cause an accident and your car is damaged or, worse yet, totaled, you better hope that you purchased collision coverage with your auto insurance policy. Collision coverage will cover you for any damage to your vehicle if it is involved in a collision with another object or vehicle, regardless of fault. So if the accident is your fault and your car’s damaged, your only option is to file a claim with your own insurance company under your collision coverage to get it fixed or replaced. The problem is, not everyone has collision coverage. This is because it is not a required coverage in the state of Florida, and it costs extra to add it to your policy. Given the high costs of car insurance, many people decide not to buy it. The bad news is if you don’t have collision coverage and you cause an accident, unfortunately you’ll have to come out of pocket for all of your own repairs costs, and there will be no insurance money to help. Scenario #2 - The Other Driver Caused the Accident When the other driver is at a fault for your accident, and if that driver has property damage coverage, which is required in Florida, then you can file a claim with the at-fault driver’s insurance and they will pay to have your car fixed up to the limit of that coverage which, in Florida, the law requires a minimum limit of $10,000 in property damage coverage If the repairs cost more than the driver’s limit of coverage - for example, your repairs are 12,000 and the driver only has the minimum $10,000 limit - or, if your car is a total loss and the value of your car exceeds the driver’s limit of coverage, you should then pursue your claim through your collision coverage, if you have it, as there is no limit to repair or replace your vehicle. The only downfall to using your collision coverage is that you will have to pay your deductible, if any, which will then be returned to you by your insurance company once they recover from the at-fault insurer. However, if you don’t have collision coverage, your only other option would be to go after the other driver personally for any amount over and above the policy limit and, in most cases, that’s probably not worth your time. Now it’s important to know that once the at-fault driver’s insurance accepts liability for the accident, then it’s at this point that they will also provide you with a rental car – if your car is a total loss - which you can use until the insurance company provides you with a valuation of your loss and agrees to pay your claim. However, if your car is not a total loss, a rental will only be provided for the time period that your car is being repaired. Sometimes though, it can take a few days, depending on the type of accident, for the insurance company to make a liability decision, so you may be without a vehicle during that time. If you have rental car coverage on your own policy and you’re in dire need of a car, then going your insurance for the rental car will be a whole lot faster. Scenario #3 - The Other Driver Caused the Accident and There are Other Vehicles that were Also Damaged in the Crash In this situation, when there are multiple vehicles that have been damaged, if the at-fault driver doesn’t have property damage coverage, then everyone is out luck unless everyone had their own collision coverage. However, if there is property damage coverage, the at-fault’s driver’s policy will need to be disbursed to each of the parties involved, and this will be done on a pro rata basis. Here’s an example. Let’s assume that there were three cars involved that were damaged in the crash, one being yours. Let’s also assume that the estimates for the damage to each car combined totals $24,000. Now if the at fault driver only has the minimum $10,000 limit in property damage coverage, the policy will be divided like this: You take your repair cost and divide by the combined total for each of the three cars, that will give you your percentage rate which you then multiple by the $10,000 policy limit, and then that will give you your pro rata share of the policy. You then do that for each of the 3 damaged vehicles and that is how the $10,000 policy will be divided amongst the 3. Car A $14,454/24,000= .060225 x $10,000 + $6,022.50 Car B $7,078./24,000=.029494 x 10,000 = $2,949.40 Car C $2,467.50/$24,000 = 0.10281 = $1,028.10 To sum it all up, it cannot be stressed enough just how important it is to have collision coverage given the number of uninsured drivers on the road and the minimum state requirements for property damage coverage. Although nobody has a crystal ball and can tell you if or when you might be in an accident and need it, you can protect yourself and your investment by simply spending the extra few dollars a month that it costs and, more importantly, you’ll have that peace of mind knowing that you’re covered regardless of the situation. Call Jim The Lawyer After Your Apollo Beach Car Accident Hiring an experienced car accident lawyer can make all the difference in the outcome of your Apollo Beach car accident case. If you’ve been injured in a Apollo Beach, Florida car accident, Jim The Lawyer is here to help you fight to get the maximum compensation you deserve for your injury. Contact Jim The Lawyer at (813)937-9907 for a FREE Consultation and Case Evaluation .

Driving is probably the most dangerous activity we do and for most of us, we do it every single day, and the statistics relating to driving and accidents are out of this world. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, one out of every three drivers will be involved in an injury accident during their lifetime. Worse yet, as a motorist, you can expect to be involved in an accident once every 10 years. For Florida drivers, the numbers don’t get any better. In fact, the state of Florida ranks third for total number of car accidents, behind only California and Texas. So, it’s safe to say that if you live in the state of Florida, the chances of you getting into a car accident are pretty high. The unfortunate truth is that when you’re in a car accident, your vehicle is going to get damaged and, if you’re one of the unlucky one out of three drivers that suffers an injury, you’re going to incur medical bills and other losses. The question is – who is going to pay for all of this? Well, that’s what insurance is for, if you’re lucky, because there are a lot of drivers out there that don’t have insurance. In fact, Florida currently ranks first in the nation for having the highest percentage of uninsured drivers – sitting at 26.7%. That’s more than one out of four drivers on the road that are uninsured - meaning those drivers have no insurance, whatsoever. It’s like playing Russian roulette. And here’s one more awful fact, Florida is also the only state in the country that doesn’t require drivers to carry bodily injury insurance coverage, which is insurance that protects you in the event the other driver caused the accident and you were injured. So although almost 27% of Florida drivers are totally uninsured, that percentage is a lot higher when factoring in the drivers who don’t carry bodily injury insurance coverage. As injury attorneys, there is nothing worse than having to tell a client that there is no insurance on the part of the other driver that will compensate them for their losses. What’s even worse is when the client doesn’t have the proper insurance to make up for this. For example, a recent client was involved in a rear-end accident that totaled his car. The accident clearly wasn’t his fault, because he was rear-ended. As a result of this crash, he lost his car and, to make matters worse, he also injured his neck pretty good, and he is now treating with a doctor for that injury. Come to find out that the other driver did not have insurance because their policy expired several weeks before the accident. That means that there is no property damage coverage to cover the loss of his car, and there is no bodily injury coverage to cover him for his injuries. To make matters even worse, although he had his own insurance, he unfortunately didn’t have the insurance coverage he needed to make up for what the other driver didn’t have. So, aside from his PIP coverage that will only pay a portion of his initial medical bills, he was out of luck with no insurance to recover from for his injury, or for his car. How can you prevent this from happening to you? Well, for starters, don’t look to your car insurance as a place to save costs when doing your monthly budget, as car insurance is nothing to skimp on. In fact, what we recommend is to actually spend a little more on your insurance. In Florida, the law requires you to maintain a minimum amount of insurance coverage, and I’m sure that’s true in every state. Here in Florida, you’re required to carry property damage coverage, that will protect the other driver for their vehicle damage in the event you were to cause a crash, and you’re required to carry PIP coverage. PIP is short for Personal Injury Protection and is otherwise known as no-fault insurance. PIP covers you for some of your initial medical bills or lost wages, regardless of fault for the accident – hence the name no-fault. But it won’t cover you for everything. So to make sure that you can make up for the insurance that the other driver doesn’t have, you need to purchase these two things: 1. You Need Collision Coverage Collision coverage will pay for the damage to your car regardless of fault. So if the other driver doesn’t have property damage insurance, you can still get your car fixed with minimal out of pocket expense as long as you have collision coverage. So unlike my client who chose not to have collision coverage, was hit by the uninsured driver and now can’t get a new car, if you buy collision coverage you’ll have peace of mind that this won’t happen to you. Collision coverage will also cover your car in the event you hit a tree, or telephone pole, or have any other sort of accident that doesn’t involve another car. 2. You Need Uninsured Motorist Coverage Uninsured motorist coverage is so, so important, especially here in Florida. If you buy it, it will cover you for your injuries over and above PIP in the event you were injured due to the fault of an uninsured motorist . So if you’re one of the unlucky ones and are hit by one of the 26.7% of uninsured drivers on the road, or you’re hit by a driver who is insured but didn’t buy bodily injury insurance coverage, you can then turn to your own insurance company to make up for it, subject to your limits of course. It will also apply to compensate you for injuries in the event you are injured by someone who is underinsured, meaning they didn’t carry a high enough limit of bodily injury insurance to compensate you for your injury. And it will apply to you and your family members. Call Jim the Lawyer After Your Florida Car Accident When you’re in a Florida car accident, it is not only important to have the right insurance coverage, it’s also important that you hire the right attorney to handle your Florida car accident claim. Hiring an experienced car accident lawyer can make all the difference in the outcome of your Florida car accident case. If you’ve been injured in a Florida car accident, Jim The Lawyer is here to help you fight to get the maximum compensation you deserve for your injury. Contact Jim The Lawyer at (813)937-9907 for a FREE Consultation and Case Evaluation.

When you’ve been injured in an accident, you can bet that the insurance company is going to analyze everything that you do from the time of your accident forward, and there are certain things that they’re going to look for, that they will rely on, and that will give them an argument as to why they shouldn’t pay you at all, or why they should pay you less for your claim. The truth is that insurance companies are smart, and unlike most people who aren’t in the insurance or legal industry, the insurance company understands that after an accident, your medical records will tell a story. Insurance companies also know that most people (Jurors) will believe this story, because if it is in your medical records, then it must be right. The problem is that people who’ve been injured in an accident are not thinking about the story that their medical records are telling. Instead, they’re just going about their daily lives, dealing with all of their normal daily responsibilities, while at the same time also trying to recover from their injury. It’s a lot to juggle, and the insurance companies use this to their advantage because, for most, when it comes to dealing with their life versus treating for, let’s say a neck or back injury, many will choose dealing with their responsibilities because life doesn’t stop just because your injured. Insurance companies take advantage of this fact, and they use it against you by painting a picture that your actions aren’t consistent with someone whose been seriously hurt. But if you do these three things, you can effectively take away these arguments. 1. Go to the Doctor as Soon as Possible After Your Accident This may sound like a no brainer but there are a lot of people who put off going to the doctor for sometimes days and even weeks after an accident. They do this in hopes that their injury will get better on its own, or just because they don’t like going to doctors. The problem is that any delay in seeking treatment, especially if significant (ex., greater than 7-10 days), will give the insurance company an argument to justify a lowball offer. The argument is that they don’t believe you could have actually been injured in the accident because, according to the insurance company (and many people believe this as well), if you were, in fact, injured in the accident, you would’ve seen a doctor sooner. You can avoid this type of argument by just going to the doctor right after your accident. Even if it’s just an urgent care visit or going to a chiropractor. The point is that you just need to document your complaints early and as close to the date of the accident as possible. 2. Be Consistent with Your Medical Treatment When looking at the medical records of someone who has been injured in an accident, one of the most concerning things to see is sporadic treatment. An example of this is when a person will treat consistently for a month or two, and then they stop treating at all for the next 2 or 3 months, or maybe even longer, and then they go back to treatment. The problem with this type of sporadic treatment is that it creates what insurance companies call a gap in treatment. A gap in treatment is a period of time in which there is no medical treatment, whatsoever, for your injuries. This can be the period of time from the date of your accident until your first date of treatment, as discussed above, or a period of time between two treating appointments, with no medical explanation. Insurance companies love gaps in treatment and they’ll use any gap in treatment to argue that you either weren’t hurt in your accident, or that your injury resolved and any treatment after the gap is not related to the accident. But if you consistently treat for your injuries, even if it’s just a regular maintenance appointment, the insurance company will take note of this and they won’t be able to make this argument. 3. Follow Your Doctors Recommendations The absolute worst thing you can do for your injury case is to not follow your doctor’s recommendations. Aside from some exceptional circumstances, like caring for a sick family member, there is really no good explanation for not following your doctor’s recommendations. A good example of this is when therapy (ex., physical therapy or chiropractic) has been recommended and the injured person either doesn’t go at all, or doesn’t go at the recommended rate. Or, worse yet, when therapy hasn’t fully resolved a person’s pain and the doctor recommends a pain management procedure – like an epidural steroid injection - and the person refuses this treatment. While it is understandable for someone to not want to have an injection, because nobody likes injections, the problem is that when you’re asking someone to pay you for your medical treatment and even more for your pain and suffering, you have to bet that the person or insurance company is going to look at the fact that you refused to do something that could have helped you, and they’re going to think that maybe your just not as injured as you claim. Bottom line, if you want to increase the value of your personal injury case, you have to have early and consistent medical treatment, and you have to be compliant with what your doctors tell you. Anything short of this, you’re just helping the insurance company. More importantly, you’re costing yourself valuable dollars in recovery. Call Jim The Lawyer, Accident and Injury Attorney, After Your Apollo Beach Car Accident Hiring an experienced car accident lawyer can make all the difference in the outcome of your Apollo Beach car accident case. If you’ve been injured in a Apollo Beach, Florida car accident, Jim The Lawyer is here to help you fight to get the maximum compensation you deserve for your injury. Contact Jim The Lawyer, Accident and Injury Attorney, at (813)937-9907 for a FREE Consultation and Case Evaluation .

As we age, most of us will suffer some degree of degeneration. It’s called the aging process. Some people can have pretty severe degenerative conditions and be completely asymptomatic, and never know it, for their entire life. Whereas others may be symptomatic and suffer daily from this condition. For those who are asymptomatic – meaning that they have no symptoms of any problem - a single traumatic event can make that otherwise asymptomatic condition become symptomatic. And for those who have symptoms, any traumatic event, like a car crash, can aggravate their condition and makes it worse. In either case, the underlying degenerative condition would be considered a pre-existing condition to the traumatic event. The issue of pre-existing conditions and injuries comes up a lot in injury cases and, despite what many people think, the fact that you may have a pre-existing condition does not bar you from pursuing a personal injury claim. With that said, it can pose some challenges. This is because insurance companies love to point at any pre-existing condition and use it as a defense to claim that it is the pre-existing condition that is the cause of all your problems, and not whatever accident you were involved in. But what can you really do about it? Well, if you’ve been involved in a traumatic event – like a car crash - you can’t do anything about the fact that you have a pre-existing condition, but you can take some steps to make sure that it’s clear and known that your pre-existing condition either became symptomatic due to your accident, or that your condition was aggravated as a result of it. Here are three steps you can take to ensure that your records are properly documented when it comes to your pre-existing condition and the effect your trauma had on it. 1. Report your Accident Immediately Making a report of your accident at the time it occurs is extremely important. Whether it’s calling the police after a crash or reporting a slip and fall to store management, this is your first opportunity to document the event and, more importantly, any corresponding symptoms that you may have. This is also the first place the insurance company is going to look to see if you made any complaints of pain. If you report pain immediately after an accident, it makes it much easier to point to that accident as the cause of your pain rather than having it be due to some preexisting condition. To the contrary, if you don’t report it or, worse yet, you report the accident but don’t report your complaints, the insurance company is going to think that you were fine at the scene, and it will make it easier for them to say that any later problems aren’t related. 2. Go to Your Doctor Immediately After Your Accident Probably the most important thing you can do if you have a pre-existing condition and then aggravate it in an accident is to go to the doctor as quickly as possible after your accident. This is true even if your condition was asymptomatic. The longer you wait to go a doctor after your accident the more that there will be what insurance companies call a gap in treatment. And in this scenario, the gap would be the period of time between the date of the accident and the first date of treatment. The longer this period of time, the more the insurance company will argue that the accident didn’t cause your problems. This is especially true if you had prior treatment for a pre-existing condition. But if you go to the doctor right after the accident, then you’ve at least documented the event in your medical records contemporaneously with your complaints. This makes it harder to argue that the accident had nothing to do with your problems. 3. Tell Your Doctor How Your Symptoms are Different This obviously only applies to someone who has had prior treatment for a condition, and not someone who was asymptomatic before an accident. If you’ve had prior treatment for your condition, telling your doctor how your symptoms are different or worse (actually describing the difference) is very important so that your doctor is able to note any differences in your records. The closer this is documented to the time of the accident, ideally on the same day, the better off you are. Then it is all about consistency from that point on. When it comes to pre-existing conditions, it’s all about documenting your complaints early and, if you do have a prior condition that you know about, it’s about making sure that the doctors know how your symptoms are different from before. Call Jim The Lawyer, Accident and Injury Attorney, After Your Riverview, Florida Car Accident Hiring an experienced car accident lawyer can make all the difference in the outcome of your Riverview car accident case. If you’ve been injured in a Riverview, Florida car accident, Jim The Lawyer is here to help you fight to get the maximum compensation you deserve for your injury. If you’ve been injured as a result of someone else’s negligence, contact Jim The Lawyer, Accident and Injury Attorney, at (813)937-9907 for a FREE Consultation and Case Evaluation.

Chances are you’ve all heard, whether it be somebody telling you to do this, or maybe you saw some lawyer advertisement discussing it, that it’s important that you take photos of the damage to your car after an accident. And that’s 100% true. But what a lot of lawyers don’t tell you in those ads is that more often than not, there are other things that you should’ve taken photographs of, besides the damage to your own car, that can be just as valuable for your case. So what photos should you take after a crash? 1. Take Photos of the Damage to Your Car Photos showing the damage to your car are extremely important, and they can be used in a number of different ways in your case. First off, photos of the damage to your car will show the severity of the impact to your car. This is not to suggest that there is any correlation between the amount of property damage and the severity of an injury, because most medical professionals will tell you that there is no correlation, and many people who’ve been injured in a low impact collision have still suffered serious, and permanent lifelong injuries. In fact, statistics actually show that most neck injuries occur when the vehicles are traveling at 12 mph or less, and most chronic neck pain cases are due to low impact vehicle crashes. With that said, insurance companies believe – or at least they like to argue this in a lot of cases –that there is a direct correlation between property damage and the extent of injury. So if you have significant damage to your car, photographs of that damage will go a long way with the insurance company in trying to resolve your injury claim. Without them, you would just be relying on an estimate of the damage, which even if high, doesn’t pack the same sort of punch as a photo. Secondly, photographs of the damage to your car will show where the initial impact to your car took place, which can be very important. For example, if your accident took place in an intersection and the photos show the damage to your car near the rear of your vehicle, that would suggest that you were already established in the intersection when you were hit. This can especially be important in a comparative fault case where there is a dispute as to who may have run a stop sign or who may have had a green or red light. Lastly, photos of your car’s damage are also very important in cases where it becomes necessary to hire experts like an accident reconstructionist or a biomechanical engineer. These experts will use these types of photos to reconstruct how the accident happened, or in the case of a biomechanical engineer, to explain how the force of the impact and the location of impact on your vehicle caused or contributed to your specific injuries. 2. Photos of the Damage to the Other Car These photos are commonly overlooked but are often times the most important photographs to take, especially in the case of a low impact collision. Insurance companies love low impact collisions because your car will, more likely than not, have suffered little to no visible property damage. The insurance company will use the photographs of your car showing the very minor damage to support paying you very little money by claiming that there was no way you could have been hurt in such a minor accident. They make this argument all the time. However, what often happens is that the other car – the one that hit you, more often than not will have more damage to it than yours. So to counter the insurance company’s argument, being able to show the insurance company photos of the damage to the other car can be beneficial to your claim. But if you didn’t take any photos of the other car, you’ll have nothing to show the insurance company to prove them wrong – and good luckk getting a copy of their photographs, because they’re never just going to hand them over to you. Photos of the other vehicles involved in the crash are also important in conducting any accident reconstruction or analysis of the biomechanical aspects of the crash – in other words, the forces involved, body movements, things of that nature to help prove causation of your injury. 3. Photos of the Roadway in the Area of the Crash Now anybody can go back after a crash and look at the area where the crash occurred. But unless they get out there on the same day as the crash, they’re not going to see exactly what the conditions were like at the time the crash occurred. Taking photos of the roadway after a crash will show, for example, whether the road was wet and, if so, how wet was it? Was it just wet, or was there standing water? These photos are also important because they will show whether there were any conditions or hazards that may have contributed to the crash, like in the case of standing water, there could be an ongoing drainage problem with the road, or maybe there is a large pothole or other deterioration of the roadway. If conditions like those exist, and if you can show that they somehow caused or contributed to the crash, then you may have identified another party who could be held responsible for the accident, and ultimately for your injuries. 4. Photos of the Surrounding Area Again, anybody can go back after a crash and look at the scene and surrounding area. But in reality, most people don’t get out there right away and, conditions do change – so it’s best to document them right away. Photos of the surrounding area can be extremely important. And by surrounding area, that means taking photos of any landscaping, any construction taking place, and of any signage in the area. Photos like these can sometimes help to identify other responsible parties. For example, if your accident took place at a corner intersection, maybe there were overgrown bushes or other shrubbery that impeded your vision, or the vision of the other driver. When taking photos of the surrounding area, it’s also important that you photograph all the buildings in the vicinity as well. In today’s day and age, many buildings have surveillance cameras on them and you can often get lucky and find one that captured your crash as it occurred. This can be gold if there is any dispute as to how the crash happened. So to sum this all up, if you’re in a car accident, the more photographs you can take of everything around you, the better off you’ll be when pursuing a claim for your injuries. Call Jim The Lawyer, Accident and Injury Attorney, After Your Apollo Beach, Florida Car Accident Hiring an experienced car accident lawyer can make all the difference in the outcome of your Apollo Beach car accident case. If you’ve been injured in an Apollo Beach, Florida car accident, Jim The Lawyer is here to help you fight to get the maximum compensation you deserve for your injury. If you’ve been injured as a result of someone else’s negligence, contact Jim The Lawyer, Accident and Injury Attorney, at (813)937-9907 for a FREE Consultation and Case Evaluation.

When searching for an accident lawyer near me, it’s easy to just read all of the great things that a lawyer says about themselves on their website and automatically think that they’re great and that you should hire them to handle your car accident case. However, that’s the last thing you should do. When interviewing lawyers to handle your case, it’s important to pay attention to how the lawyer treats you and your case before they’ve been hired, and also to the things that they promise you to entice you to hire them. Below are 5 red flags to look for when hiring a Ruskin accident lawyer. However, keep in mind that even if a lawyer exhibits one or more of these red flags, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the lawyer or their firm isn’t a good firm or that the law firm doesn’t have some good lawyers in it. The presence of one or more of these red flags should, at the least, cause you some concern - because the presence of any one of these can be a glimpse into the window of how you’re likely to be treated as a client. It should also cause you to question whether that firm or lawyer is really the right fit for you or whether you should continue shopping for a lawyer. When you’ve been injured in an accident, THE MOST important decision you’ll make is choosing the lawyer that will handle your case. This can’t be stressed enough, as there are a lot of lawyers out there and not all of them are suited or qualified to handle a personal injury case, even if they say they do. And a lot of firms, quite frankly, who may have perfectly qualified attorneys, have strayed away from individual client care and are now focused too much on the business and marketing aspect of the profession. And for someone whose been injured and is looking for a lawyer, it’s not easy to figure out who you’re actually dealing with until, unfortunately, it’s too late. Remember, when you’re injured in an accident you only have one case, whereas any given lawyer or law firm can have upwards of a 100 or more, and in the case of a large firm, possibly thousands of cases at any given time. And what’s most important as an accident victim - is finding a lawyer that’s going to treat your one case like it’s just as important to them as it is to you, no matter how big or small your case may be. So when you’re looking to hire an accident lawyer, be on the lookout for these red flags. 1. Not Offering You a Free Consultation The free consultation is the most important step in the hiring process of a personal injury lawyer and it’s something that’s offered by every injury lawyer and law firm. It’s important because hiring a lawyer shouldn’t be just calling a phone number off a billboard and just agreeing “ok, since I see your face on all these billboards and commercials, you’re now my lawyer”, no - rather it should be an interview process. That’s exactly what the free consultation is designed for. It’s your one opportunity to sit down face to face with your potential lawyer and actually talk to that lawyer about your case because, chances are, unless the lawyer was referred to you or is a family friend, it’s probably the first time you’re actually meeting that lawyer. More importantly, this is also your time to ask questions and get a feel for how you and that lawyer interact, which is extremely important. Believe it or not, not all lawyers get along with their clients and vice versa. Unfortunately though, what often happens is that many lawyers and law firms, and this is especially true nowadays since there are so many firms that mass advertise and have a volume business - they won’t even offer you this meeting. Instead, once you call them and give them some information about your case, they’ll just push to get their paperwork to you as quickly as possible so that you sign up as a client. This is a lot easier now that more and more people and law firms are using DocuSign and, surprisingly, a lot people just go along with this, like this is somehow how it’s done. So if you call a law firm looking to hire a lawyer and they don’t offer you a free consultation with a lawyer, ask for one. Your case is too important to just rush through this very important decision. 2. Sending a Non-Lawyer Out to Meet With You This one is way too common. So here’s the scenario – you’re in an accident, and you’re injured from that accident, so you call a law firm. The person who takes your call at the firm asks you some questions, takes down your information, and then schedules someone to come out to your home to meet with you. That’s great, right – you’ll get the chance to talk to someone about your case in person, and you’ll get any questions you have answered at that time. Then, when it comes time for your meeting, a person from the firm, or on behalf of the firm, shows up at your home, but they’re not a lawyer. Instead, the law firm has sent out an investigator or, or maybe even a paralegal or a legal assistant with a bunch of paperwork for you to fill out and sign. This should be a huge red flag for you because, if you just sign that paperwork, you’re now their client and you haven’t even met your lawyer yet. Now, presumably your case is important to that lawyer or law firm, because they just spent resources sending someone out to meet with you. But if the lawyer who you call, or the one who is going to be handling your case, or both, can’t take the time out of their day to sit down and talk to you personally about your case – which is important to you and should be just as important to them – if they can’t do that at this early stage in your case when they are trying to get your business, this should be a huge red flag for you. What this tells you is that later on in your case, if you actually sign up with them, that your lawyer probably won’t have time for you then either. And the last thing you want is to hire a lawyer who you’ll never, or rarely if ever, get to talk to. 3. They Don’t Specialize in Handling Personal Injury Cases There are a lot of lawyers out there and many of them handle a variety of different kinds of cases, ranging from bankruptcy to criminal law, Divorce, and even personal injury law. While this was common in the past, in today’s legal environment things have become much more specialized. And the reason for this is that the law is constantly changing and it can often be very difficult to keep up on all the changes unless you’re immersed in the subject on a regular basis. A lot of lawyers use the analogy of a heart surgeon. If you had a heart problem, would you go to your family doctor for it. Of course not, you’d go to a specialist. Well, the same is true for a lawyer. And while you would think that any competent lawyer could handle, for example, a car accident case, they can’t, at least not as well as a lawyer who handles car accident cases every single day. So if you’re shopping for a lawyer to handle your accident case, hop on their website and see if that’s all they do. If not, that red flag should be waiving. 4. They Promise You a Certain Result Believe it or not, this actually happens. Some lawyers will make promises and guarantee outcomes just to get a new client to sign up with their firm. The problem is that no lawyer can promise or guarantee anything with regard to the outcome of your case. This is especially true early in your case as there are so many different factors that go into determining the value of a case, and many of those won’t even be known until you’ve been treating for your injury for a period of time. Things like how much your medical bills are, or if you’ll need future medical treatment. If so, what will the cost of that future treatment be? These are things that could never be known at the outset of most cases, and are very important factors in determining the value of a case. So if a lawyer tries to tell you how much money they’ll get you or how much your case is worth before you even hire them, you may want to keep shopping. 5. They Promise You How Long Your Case Will Take Just like promising a certain result for your case, promising you how long it will take to resolve your case is virtually impossible. There are so many different factors that affect how long any given case may take, things such as 1) the amount of insurance coverage involved; 2) your medical treatment; and 3) are there any disputes as to liability. For example, if it’s a car accident case, is it clear who is at fault or is the insurance company challenging this. If so, a lawsuit may be needed and that will take time. Sometimes, even the negotiation process alone can take a lot longer than anyone would ever imagine. The bottom line is that all cases are full of unknowns, and when a lawyer tries to tell you otherwise, especially when you haven’t even hired that lawyer yet, you should look at it for what it really is - and that’s to get you to sign up as a client. To sum it all up, the legal profession is not unlike most highly competitive industries where it’s all about growth and streamlining the entire process. But given how important an injury case is to the person who suffered the injury, and the fact that their case is their one and only opportunity to recover for what are often life changing injuries, choosing a lawyer to handle your case should not be taken lightly. Just like you would do when choosing how to invest your finances, which you certainly wouldn’t do by just looking a billboard, choosing your lawyer should be done with the same due diligence. So be on the lookout for these red flags, and if you see one, strongly consider whether you should continue your search, because hiring the right lawyer could make or break your case. Call Jim The Lawyer, Accident and Injury Attorney, After Your Ruskin Car Accident Hiring an experienced car accident lawyer can make all the difference in the outcome of your Ruskin car accident case. Lawyers who focus their law practices on car accident cases possess the knowledge, skill, reputation, and resources to help get you the best results, no matter how complex or contentious your claim becomes.  There's no time like the present to start searching for the right car accident lawyer near me to handle your injury case. If you’ve been injured in a Ruskin, Florida car accident, Jim The Lawyer is here to help you fight to get the maximum compensation you deserve for your injury. If you’ve been injured as a result of someone else’s negligence, contact Jim The Lawyer, Accident and Injury Attorney, at (813)937-9907 for a FREE Consultation and Case Evaluation.