TAMPA Car Accident Lawyers:
Our Tampa Car Accident Lawyers handle a wide variety of car accidents and automobile crashes. Rear-end accidents, head-on collisions, side-impact crashes, and multi-vehicle wrecks frequently result in personal injury. Injured victims need immediate help with medical bills, damages, and legal remedies. They also face a difficult battle with insurance companies, adjusters and attorneys.
It is very important to have adequate and experienced representation. Hiring a car accident lawyer is one of the first things a crash victim should do. When our law firm represents injured victims, we provide multiple lawyers for each case. This team of attorneys will work very aggressively to preserve every available right to full recovery and compensation. Our goal is to achieve the best possible outcome on each case.
Recovering from injuries is difficult enough. The right law firm can help make these situations much better for any victim.
Our car accident lawyers help ensure the full benefits under a PIP policy are put to use towards covering any financial losses arising from a car accident, including medical bills, lost wages and property damage.
Many of our plaintiffs involved in vehicle collisions suffer serious and/or permanent injuries. We help injury victims file lawsuits against the at-fault party seeking additional damages. Our experienced car accident lawyers are fully prepared and ready to litigate aggressively on your behalf. We help ensure you receive the maximum compensation you deserve.
Were you or someone you love injured as the result of a car accident or automobile crash? Contact our experienced car accident lawyers right away to discuss your case. This is the most important step you need to take in order to preserve your rights to full recovery and compensation!
What to do if you have been involved in a car accident:
- Never admit fault, guilt or liability.
- Report the accident to local law enforcement and insist upon an accident crash report before leaving the scene.
- Get the license number, personal and insurance details, and name of the other driver involved and take pictures.
- Ask for names and phone numbers of any witnesses present at the accident scene who can provide testimony regarding the accident. Their statements may help strengthen your case.
- Seek immediate medical attention, even if you think you are not injured. Being involved in a car accident can result in severe shock, so any injuries may not be immediately apparent.
- Keep thorough records of all medical treatments, bills, and diagnoses related to the accident. This documentation is crucial for proving damages.
- Take pictures of your injuries and all damages as soon as possible.
Whether the accident occurs from careless or reckless driving, DUI, or by an unlicensed, uninsured driver, or if you are a passenger or a pedestrian makes no difference. The results of these accidents are often tragic enough, so take that extra step to obtain legal counsel as soon as possible.
Because Florida is a no-fault state, your auto insurance carrier must cover your lost wages, medical bills, and other expenses when injured in a car accident. Florida requires that every car or vehicle with four or more wheels carry auto insurance coverage. The minimum coverage requirement in Florida is $10,000 Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and $10,000 Property Damage Liability (PDL).
Our TAMPA Car Accident Lawyers are ready to provide you with a detailed consultation for FREE!
5 Elements of a Car Injury Claim
Define the Duty of Care
The driver of a motor vehicle has a legal duty to drive safely. If he or she drives recklessly, he or she breaches that duty.
Example: Obeying duty of care
Jim is observing all traffic signals while driving. He’s not speeding, texting, or distracted by his cell phone. He’s watching for other cars and pedestrians who may be trying to cross the road. Jim is driving safely while exercising his legal duty of care toward others.
Establish Beach of Duty
When a driver knowingly fails to drive safely, and that failure results in injuries to others, that driver has breached his legal duty of care.
Determine Negligence
Negligence does not include the intention to do harm. The harm is usually the result of being careless. When a driver breaches their duty of care, causing injuries to another person, the cause of the breach is usually the driver’s carelessness.
Prove Liability
Liability is the legal obligation or responsibility for one’s actions. Once negligence is established, the next step is proving liability. In some cases, the degree of liability can be lessened due to intervening forces.
Verify Damages
Damages encompass the personal injuries and property damage caused by the accident. Damages can be verified through medical bills, physician records, repair estimates, and other supporting documents or photographs.
Our personal injury lawyers are very experienced and fully prepared to litigate aggressively on your behalf. There are no up front fees or costs unless we win and our consultations are always free. Reach us by phone, email, our quick contact form, and even live chat right here on the website. And if you’re still unsure, have a look at some of the reviews we receive.
Personal Injury:
The Fernandez Law Group did a wonderful job handling my car accident case! I couldn’t be happier with the service and settlement that I received. I was always kept in the loop and if I ever had any questions, I would always get them answered in a timely manner and I would definitely use them again!
Rated 5 out of 5 by Mark Kai on
on October 26, 2016 | Link to Review
Our car accident lawyers are ready to work extremely hard on your behalf. We have no issue devoting a great deal of effort and resources. We only accept serious, legitimate cases. Our clients find great peace of mind in our experience and commitment to go far as necessary. We aim to make a substantial and meaningful difference in the lives of injured citizens.
The car accident lawyers of Fernandez Law Group devote a great deal of our civil practice to complex cases involving personal injury.
While representing hundreds of clients all over the State of Florida, our firm maintains a solid reputation of seeking justice for injured persons. We are committed to providing our clients with the best legal representation available.
Martindale Hubbell peers and judges rate us as having the highest levels of legal ability and professional ethics. Our Tampa car accident lawyers are supported by a superior staff of Legal Assistants.
If you or a loved one has a question about a potential personal injury case or if you’re in need of a car accident lawyer in Tampa, we hope that you will contact our office for a free consultation.
Car accident facts, statistics and driving citations in Florida:
2020 data from The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles shows nearly 37,000 total DUI arrests statewide. Hillsborough County recorded 3,196 DUI arrests while Pinellas County accounted for 2,752 DUI arrests.
Also in Hillsborough County, over 9200 people were cited for driving without a license or driving while their operating privileges were suspended or revoked. Reckless driving accounted for 227 violations while 845 citations were issued to drivers for leaving the scene of an accident. 306 citations were issued for fleeing and 69 citations were issued for racing on the highway.
Pinellas County cited over 7800 people for driving with a suspended or revoked license. Reckless driving accounted for 456 violations with another 911 citations issued for leaving the scene of an accident. 479 citations were issued for fleeing, and 201 citations were issued for racing on the highway.
Accidents involving DUI kill somebody in the United States every 32 minutes, while non-fatal injuries as a result of DUI occur every two minutes.
With those kinds of statistics, there is an increased possibility for you to become involved in an car accident that causes you injury due to the negligence of another.
Our TAMPA Car Accident Lawyers are ready to provide you with a detailed consultation for FREE!
How do CAR ACCIDENT LAWYERS prove negligence?
There are many reasons why auto accidents cause you injuries. The main elements necessary to prove negligence are similar to any other negligence claim.
To make a claim you must prove the person you believe is responsible for your personal injury, loss or damage as a result of an auto accident:
- Owed you a duty of care and breached the duty of care.
- Suffering, loss or injury or other damage occurs.
- Your loss, injury or the damage occurs due to breaching the duty of care.
Personal Injuries must be:
- reasonably foreseeable
- there must be a relationship of proximity between the plaintiff and defendant and
- it must be ‘fair, just and reasonable’ to impose liability.
However, these act as guidelines for the courts in establishing a duty of care; much of the principle is still at the discretion of judges.
A breach of duty is another term for negligence. In order to prove negligence, there must be evidence to showing a failure by the defendant to use ordinary care. In other words, that which a reasonable person of ordinary prudence would have done if they were under the same or similar circumstances.
Different types of negligence that result in auto accidents:
Everyone is expected to maintain proper care in operating an automobile. And generally speaking, almost all auto accidents, whether an accident or not, are directly caused by the negligence of another party. So as you can see, it isn’t difficult to prove negligence in an auto accident. There are many qualifying factors. Here in Tampa, the following are the most common types of negligence we see in the auto accident cases involving personal injury that our car accident lawyers handle:
- A failure to be aware of their environment, surroundings, other drivers or pedestrians.
- Failing to maintain proper speed, whether exceeding the speed limit or driving too slow.
- Tailgating or following entirely too closely behind another driver.
- Failing to yield to a right of way.
- Running red lights and stop signs, or failing to stop at red lights or stop signs.
- Losing control of the vehicle, reckless or careless driving.
- Unable to stop in time, rear end collisions, failure to use the brakes properly.
- Improper signal, lane changes, or failing to use the horn.
- Driving while impaired or under the influence of alcohol or drugs, including legal prescriptions.
- Driving on the wrong side of the roadway, highway, leaving the lane of travel, running off the road.
While this list is far from complete, it does represent the majority of the types of cases we see. Proving negligence in these situations in order to ensure the defendant assumes liability for your injury and claims requires your attorney to show that the defendant was the “proximate cause” of your injuries.
Proximate cause is rarely an issue in automobile and truck accidents involving injury as it is very easy to prove.
Distracted driving is a serious contributor of negligence in car accidents
Studies show an outside person, object or event as the greatest distraction.
A newly released study involved long-haul trucks for 18 months by outfitting the cabs with video cameras. They found when the drivers texted, their collision risk was 23 times greater than when not texting. The study also measured the time drivers took their eyes from the road to send or receive texts. In the moments before a crash or near crash, drivers typically spent nearly five seconds looking at their devices – enough time at typical highway speeds to cover more than the length of a football field.
- Research shows that over half of U.S. drivers report using a cell phone in the past 30 days.
- One in seven admit to texting while driving.
- Forty-six percent of 16 and 17 year old drivers say they text while driving.
- Forty-eight percent of 18 to 24 year old drivers text and drive.
- Sixty-seven percent of 25-34 year old drivers talk on their cell phones while driving.
- Sixty-five percent of people with a college education talk on their cell phones while
driving. - The higher the level of education, the higher use of the cell phone.
When you take those statistics into account, it comes as no surprise that the majority of all auto accidents involving personal injury of one or more people are the direct result of the negligence of another person.
When negligence is proved in an injury claim, what kind of damages can car accident lawyers help recover?
Here in Florida, the majority of auto accident cases our law firm handles in Hillsborough or Pinellas County involve personal injury. Our clients often receive several different types of recoverable damages, including the following:
- Past and future physical pain and/or mental anguish and suffering compensation
- Recovery for lost wages, or loss of future earning capacity
- Past and future disfigurement compensation
- Past and future physical impairment compensation
- Punitive damages (in some cases)
- Past and future medical expenses
While the above list is a general idea of what you can expect when settlement is reached, each case is very unique and results may vary. The experience and dedication our car accident lawyers put in to every case help us achieve the very best possible outcome for every situation. We work very aggressively on behalf of all our clients.
Additional factors to consider regarding auto accidents and personal injury:
In some cases, the need may arise to bring claims for a personal injury resulting from a car accident against other parties. In fact, it’s not too uncommon. If the individual who caused the accident was working for an employer and driving a company vehicle, the employer could be negligent as well.
Perhaps they permitted an unlicensed driver to operate their equipment or vehicle. Or, more commonly, in many situations the owner of the vehicle may have failed to properly maintain the vehicle, resulting in an accident. If a vehicle owner fails to replace bald tires, for example, and one of the tires has a blow out, or loses traction on wet roads, the vehicle owner may be negligent for improperly maintaining the vehicle.
Future Implications
- Consider long-term impacts of the accident, such as ongoing medical treatments, rehabilitation, or changes in your ability to work.
Emotional and Psychological Impact
- Document any emotional or psychological effects stemming from the accident, as these can also be considered in your claim for damages.
Comparative Negligence
- Understand how your own actions may affect your claim. If you were partially at fault, your compensation could be reduced accordingly.
Insurance Negotiations
- Be prepared for insurance companies to attempt negotiations. They may try to offer a settlement that is lower than what is deserved, and having legal representation can help secure a fair amount.
The 14-Day Rule
In order to qualify for your Personal Injury Protection (PIP) benefits, you must receive medical treatment within 14 days of the accident. If you do not seek medical treatment within this 14-day window, your insurance company will have the right to deny medical benefits. The types of PIP benefits received if you comply with the 14-Day Rule cover up to, but not exceeding:
- $10,000 in medical benefits and disability benefits
- $5,000 in death benefits
- 80% for hospital visits, ambulance, and nursing care
- 80% for x-rays, surgeries, and physical therapy
Why Does the 14-Day Rule Exist?
The 14-day rule exists for two reasons. Injured victims can minimize their injuries and prevent complications when they get professional medical treatment right away. Waiting to get medical attention can make an injury worse.
Second, a critical part of making an insurance claim is proving the connection between the accident and a victim’s injuries. This link is more clear when medical treatment is received as soon as possible.
The 14-day rule exists to ensure that accident claims are valid and accurate and to help car accident victims get the treatment they need.
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (UM) Coverage
3 Reasons why you should have Uninsured/Under-insured Motorist (UM) Coverage on your auto insurance policy:
- If you are involved in a car accident with someone who is uninsured or does not carry Bodily Injury (BI) liability coverage, your Uninsured Motorist (UM) coverage gives you the ability to recover benefits such as future medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
- For a “hit and run” accident, your Uninsured Motorist (UM) coverage acts as the insurance for the negligent driver who hit you. This gives you the ability to recover benefits such as future medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
- In an accident where a driver that has insufficient Bodily Injury (BI) liability coverage to cover your personal injury and future medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering, your Under-insured (UM) coverage provides additional benefits.
**Contact your auto insurance carrier if you don’t know or are unsure if you have Uninsured/Under-insured Motorist (UM) coverage on your policy.
While individual results can vary based on the specifics of each case, our Tampa car accident lawyers are well-equipped to advocate effectively for our clients. We work aggressively on their behalf to help secure fair compensation for their injuries and losses. Take advantage of our free consultation and detailed case evaluation, and reach out to one of our Tampa Car Accident Lawyers today!