The investigating officer will generally ask the occupants of the vehicles about injuries and may offer to call an emergency vehicle. If you have been injured you should go to the emergency room for x-rays and evaluation of your injuries. Sometimes injuries do not manifest until hours or even days after an accident, however, it is a good idea to obtain an evaluation of your condition as soon as possible?
You should be careful to preserve evidence and obtain the name and addresses to witnesses of the collision. Typically the investigating officer will obtain witness information, however, there are times where important witnesses are not included on the police report. In addition, you must preserve evidence of damage to your vehicle. Photographs should be taken and repair estimates or bills should be maintained. If there were any defects in the vehicle contributing to the collision, evidence of the defect should be preserved. Take care to preserve any damaged parts that may demonstrate the force of the collision. In addition, in very serious accidents resulting in catastrophic injury, the entire damage vehicle should be preserved.
Make sure you follow up with reasonable medical treatment and make every effort recover from your injuries. It is very important you provide your treating physician a complete medical history. Tell your doctor about all of your previous injuries or conditions.
Phares Heindl is a Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer with over twenty years experience. To ask a specific question or obtain a free evaluation of your case, email Phares at inquiry@heindllaw.com .
That depends. Florida is a "no-fault" state. Vehicle owners in the State are required purchase a policy of insurance providing personal injury protection coverage. Personal injury protection (PIP) policies provide for 80% of payment of your medical bills up to a limit of $10,000.00. If you were a visitor and driving a vehicle not licensed in Florida, you may not be covered by PIP insurance.
The person that caused the injury will be responsible for medical bills not covered by PIP coverage. The person causing the accident will be responsible for the additional 20% of medical bills in addition to any amount exceeding your policy limits of $10,000.00. However, the responsible persons insurance company will not pay medical bills as the are accrued. Instead, unpaid medicals are included as part of the final settlement or a verdict if the case proceeds to trial.
There is optional coverage available for payment for medical bills above the PIP limits. This coverage is called med-pay insurance. The declarations page of your insurance policy should describe the coverage available to you. If you have med-pay coverage, your insurance company should pay 100% of your medical expenses up to the policy limits. The limits of med-pay coverage varies and depends on the coverage you select when you purchase your insurance policy.
A vehicle owners PIP insurance also covers injured passengers that do not have their own PIP insurance. In addition, other coverage may result from the application of statutory law of the State of Florida and you should consult with a qualified attorney to determine what insurance coverage may be available to you.
Phares Heindl is a Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer with over twenty years experience. To ask a specific question or obtain a free evaluation of your case, email Phares at inquiry@heindllaw.com .
No fault insurance coverage also know as Personal Injury Protection or PIP covers 80% of your medical bills, 60% of your lost wages, mileage to your health care providers, and your lost of earning capacity. This insurance provides coverage is for medical expenses that are reasonable, necessary and related to your automobile accident. This coverage is set at a minimum of $10,000.00 per Florida Law subject to deductibles.
No fault insurance does not cover payment for your pain and suffering. In fact, as a result of the Florida Law providing for payment of no fault insurance, you must have sustained a permanent injury, permanent and significant scarring or loss of an important bodily function in order to recover pain and suffering damages from the person that was at fault in causing the accident?
Phares Heindl is a Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer with over twenty years of experience. To ask a specific question or obtain a free evaluation of your case, email Phares at inquiry@heindllaw.com .
Personal injury protection (PIP) provides for payment of 60% of your lost wages and also contains a rarely used provision providing for payment of loss of earning capacity.
Many times medical bills will exhaust the PIP limits. Your policy limits can be exhausted and leave no coverage for lost wages or earning capacity even if you are covered a group health policy. However, in order to assure maximum benefit from your PIP coverage you can require your insurance company to reserve the PIP coverage for wage payments and use your major medical policy for medical bills.
Phares Heindl is a Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer with over twenty years experience. To ask a specific question or obtain a free evaluation of your case, email Phares at inquiry@heindllaw.com .
Many times an insurance company adjuster will attempt to discourage you from obtaining a lawyer. However, studies show that a people represented by lawyers generally obtain larger recoveries that people that are not represented. Legal issues arising from automobile accidents can be very complicated. In addition, proper management of medical and insurance matters associated with automobile accidents can be difficult and the unrepresented accident victim may forgo valuable claims. Therefore, if you are injured in an automobile accident you need to consult with a lawyer. Many personal injury lawyers, including the Heindl Law Firm, provide free consultation and charge no legal fees unless they are successful.
Phares Heindl is a Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer with over twenty years experience. To ask a specific question or obtain a free evaluation of your case, email Phares at inquiry@heindllaw.com .
Unfortunately Florida law does not require drivers to obtain liability insurance. Instead, Florida Law requires vehicle owners to carry Personal Injury Protection and a minimum or ten thousand dollars in property damage coverage. This means that the Florida law provides more protection the car that the occupants.
Hopefully, you have the foresight to carry UM insurance. Uninsured or Underinsured motorist coverage is an optional coverage that can be purchased along with your PIP coverage. Many people mistakenly believe they have full coverage only to find out that have no UM or UIM coverage.
If the person that caused the accident has liability insurance coverage, that coverage will pay damages including not duplicated by PIP including lost earnings and lost earning capacity in the past and the future. In addition the liability insurance of the wrongdoer will cover your pain and suffering damages in the past and the future subject to threshold requirements of Florida Law.
If the wrongdoer has no insurance the attorney handling your case should first determine whether any UM or UIM coverage is available. This not only includes a review of your insurance policy, it include a determination of the policy coverage of resident relatives and policies covering the vehicle you occupied during the accident.
If there is no coverage available, some cases warrant an asset check to see if the wrongdoer would be able to satisfy a judgment.
An experienced attorney can undertake efforts to determine how you should proceed in the event the person that caused the accident has no insurance.
Phares Heindl is a Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer with over twenty years experience. To ask a specific question or obtain a free evaluation of your case email Phares at inquiry@heindllaw.com .
It is not uncommon for your insurance company to fail to pay benefits that are due under the policy. In addition, it is commonplace for your insurance company to require you to undergo an evaluation with a health care provider of their choice and upon obtaining a report that your treatment is not necessary, related or reasonable your insurance company will discontinue medical bills.
If your insurance company withdraws payment or fails to pay benefit under your policy you should seek the assistance of an attorney who is qualified to pursue these matters. Florida law provides that your insurance company must pay the your attorney fees if the attorney is successful in obtaining payment form the insurance company. Because of this attorney fee provisions within Florida law, attorneys are willing to undertake these type of cases and aggressively purse payment of benefits on your behalf.
Phares Heindl is a Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer with over twenty years experience. To ask a specific question or obtain a free evaluation of your case email Phares at inquiry@heindllaw.com .
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