St. Petersburg Car Accident Attorney

Our St. Petersburg Car Accident Attorney Can Help

A Car Crash Lawyer Can Help After An Accident If:

Before you give a recorded statement to an insurance adjuster or negotiate a claim, learn your rights!

In this post we will discuss:

We have put together a team of 7 trial lawyers that live and practice in Pinellas County who excel at maximizing the value of car accident settlements.

While you will have an assigned accident attorney for your injury case, we do leverage the knowledge of our firm by running every case by everyone in a group meeting to determine the optimal strategy. We have 3 lawyers that have been awarded Super Lawyers Rising Stars for 2017.

Related Services We Offer:

Should I Even Get An Attorney After My Wreck?

A common question is simply: Do I need to hire a car accident attorney after my wreck?

If you have been in a car accident where there is property damage (or injured in a car) and you were not the faulty driver then you need to discuss your case with an accident attorney. And you will need to be examined by a qualified medical professional to determine if you have suffered personal injury.

See, to have a car or motorcycle accident claim you need to have been hurt. And the accident can’t solely be because of your bad driving.

Car accident settlement are for those who are injured through no fault of their own.

But if you do have property damage to your vehicle in excess of $250, then you have been in a traumatic accident. You may be hurt and not know it. One of the most unfortunate parts of car accidents is that victim may not feel the effect of soft tissue damage, strained ligaments, and more for weeks or months after the accident. Alternatively, victims view their injuries as short-term pain that will go away and therefore not “permanent”.

Yet a qualified treatment provider may conduct an MRI on the victims ligaments, spinal cord, or should joint and see a genuine injury that is caused by the car accident. These injuries need significant treatment to fully improve. That’s why we encourage everyone to take advantage of their PIP auto insurance and see a medical doctor to determine if the car accident has caused a genuine injury.

The success of any legal matter depends on the unique circumstances of each case, therefore, we cannot guarantee particular results for future clients.

So What Will My St. Pete Car Accident Lawyer Do For Me?

From the beginning, we will manage the case. We then negotiate fair settlements for our clients in St Petersburg Florida. We fight dirty insurance companies in Court.

Investigation: Insurance companies are always looking for ways to deny that their insured was at fault and therefore no personal injury claim exists. In St. Petersburg, Tampa Bay Area, we have an accident investigation specialist who works in our office that can go out to any accident scene in Pinellas County to investigate. This includes checking the road for oil spills, checking lighting, and speaking to any witnesses.

Check with treatment providers: We coordinate with your treatment providers to make sure that they are giving you the best possible care. We keep track of the medical bills and medical reports to build the narrative for the insurance companies to explain your injuries. We can execute letters of protection for the doctors promising that they will get paid out of any settlement proceeds so that they will give you the very best treatment possible.

Negotiation: Our most important function is to press hard on the insurance companies to give you the best possible financial settlement for your accident claim. We will even report the insurance company to the state if we think they are acting unfairly. Everything we can do to get the best financial settlement for your case.

Court and litigation: Sometimes the insurance company refuses to play fairly. In these cases, we file an auto negligence lawsuit with the State or Federal Court. We attend depositions, motions, hearings, mediation, and trial if needed.

Negotiate medical bills When your case is resolved we can negotiate with your treatment providers to make sure the settlement you receive in dollars is as much as possible.

Types Of Car Accident Cases

Auto accident cases include all types of motor vehicles, including cars, buses, vans, trucks, semis, 18-Wheeler’s, motor vehicle, and more.

Semi-truck accidents on the highway (usually US-19 or I-275) require specialized knowledge and training on behalf of the personal injury lawyer. That’s because Federal Law regulates massive trucks, and a violation of these regulations can result in punitive damages for your auto accident claim.

Types Of Injuries And Car Accidents

Human beings were not designed to withstand the force and trauma of being struck by a multi-ton vehicle traveling at high speeds. Car accident injuries are varied and include the following:

1. Head injuries, include brain damage

2. Loss or impairment of limbs

3. Burns and/ or scarring

4. Disfigurement

5. Muscle and neck injuries

6. Back injuries, including herniated disks and other impairments

7. Whiplash

8. Wrongful death

9. Paralysis or death

Damages that are recoverable by a St Petersburg car accident lawyer for an injured iparty are usually divided into two types: Financial and Non-Financial.

Financial Damages include:
1. Medical Expenses: These are the first damages that are quantified in a car accident case, and include the initial hospital visit, ambulance ride, MRI’s, CT scans, and rehabilitative treatment, including chiropractic care.

2. Future Medicals: In many cases, doctors will want to continue treatment at varying intervals to maintain and rehabilitate the injured driver even after the case is settled. The amount of rehabilitation required is determined by the doctor.

3. Lost Income or Wages: If an injured driver misses time from work and loses wages, these are quantifiable and included in auto accident settlements.

4. Future Lost Wages: Much like lost wages, if the injured person is unable to work in the foreseeable future for a period of time, or if the injured party will need to take time off from work to have a future surgery, then compensation will be considered for these wages.

5. Mileage Reimbursement: Going back and forth to treatment during your rehabilitation phase after an car accident will likely put substantial miles on your vehicle. Your Tampa car accident attorney can factor in these costs when arguing your case.

Other Damages

1. Pain and Suffering: Pain and suffering are the terms of the emotional and physical stress caused from the car accident.

2. Mental Anguish: This is the mental sensation of pain, and includes fear, fright, anger, and other mental-emotional responses. One common example in vehicle accidents is the anguish felt when thinking about getting behind the wheel again after a serious wreck.

3. Loss of Consortium: This refers to the loss of the ability to enjoy time with your family due to the accident. This includes the loss of the ability to play with your children or to be intimate with your wife.

In any car accident where no-fault insurance is involved, they may receive compensation when the following occur:

Understanding Fees In St. Petersburg Auto Accident Cases

Fees are simple in every St. Pete case.

Simply, there is no money required from you to your injury lawyer.

We take cases on a contingency fee basis. That simply means, at the end of the day, we get a set percentage of what we recover. In other words, the better we do for you, the more we get paid.

The set rate is 33 1/3 % if we settle your case pursuit, or before filing a lawsuit. If we file a lawsuit, the fee goes up to 40%.

If we are filing a lawsuit it is because we know we can get a significantly higher money to result for you if we do so.

Getting Medical Treatment After An Auto Accident

Florida passed a law a few years ago requiring each person who is seeking to use their personal injury protection insurance for medical bills to seek medical treatment within 14 days.

The general rule is to get checked out in any case after an auto accident. You can go to a walk-in accident clinic or urgent care. Or you can seek the help of a qualified treatment provider who specialized in auto accident victims and treatment. However, like everything else in life, there are good providers and bad providers. We know the good ones from the bad ones in St. Petersburg, so we can discuss this at our initial case evaluation meeting.