What information should I obtain when involved in an accident?
If you are involved in an auto accident that caused injury, the most important thing is to immediatly seek medical attention and call the police.Write down everything you can remember about how the injury occurred, including the names, addresses and phone numbers of potential witnesses, police officers, insurance company representatives (or company or workers' compensation representatives if it was a work injury).
You should also obtain the full names and license numbers of the drivers of all vehicles involved, the names and addresses of the passengers in any of the vehicles, and the names and addresses and contact numbers of any pedestrians involved or of other parties to accident.
Take steps to protect any evidence you may need to prove your injury, such as your totaled car, photographs of the accident or injury scene, clothing you were wearing, damaged personal belongings, and so forth.
In addition, make notes of the location of the accident, the time of the day when the accident occurred, the directions the vehicles were traveling prior to the accident, weather conditions, registered owners, details of insurance, injuries, and damages to the vehicle(s).
Talk to the Tampa auto accident attorneys at Jeeves Law Group before making any statements, written or verbal, to insurance company adjusters or representatives.
How can I assert an injury claim?
In most cases, in order to collect on an injury claim in Florida, you must prove that the person who caused the injury was negligent. This requires showing that the person who caused your injury owed a duty not to injure you, but did not live up to that duty, there was a connection between the other person's breach of duty to you and your injury, and you suffered damages. Any person driving on a Florida road has a statutory duty to drive carefully so as to avoid endangering other persons or property. A breach of duty may be shown by someone driving too fast or too slow for the road conditions, failing to obey traffic signs or signals, or driving while impaired by drugs, alcohol, or the lack of sleep.
Can negligence be presumed from the mere occurrence of an accident?
No. Generally, negligence cannot be presumed from the mere occurrence of an accident. A duty and its breach must be proven to make one party responsible. In the absence of negligence, it cannot be inferred that one party rather than the other was at fault.
Although statutes impose many specific duties upon drivers and pedestrians, the common law requires every driver to exercise ordinary, reasonable care. Reasonable care is that degree of caution and attention, which a person of ordinary skill and judgment would use under similar circumstances. Most automobile cases involve claims of negligence or unintentional conduct. To successfully assert a negligence claim, four elements must be proven: (1) a breach of (2) a duty that is (3) the proximate cause of (4) the plaintiff's injury. A duty may be imposed by statute or by a court’s common law decision.
What are the damages available to a person injured in an auto accident?
In Florida, an accident victim may recover for any bodily injury and resulting pain and suffering, disfigurement, disability; emotional distress, including anxiety and depression or loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life, and interference with family relationships. The victim may also recover for past, current, and future estimated medical expenses; time lost from work, including time spent going to medical appointments or therapy; the repair or replacement of any property that was damaged, such as the vehicle; and the cost of hiring someone to do household chores that the victim is unable to do.
The victim also may be able to recover punitive damages if the defendant acted willfully or recklessly in causing the accident. Punitive damages are awarded to the victim in order to punish and deter bad conduct by the wrongdoer. For example, a driver may be subject to punitive damages for recklessly driving while intoxicated. If you or someone you know has been injured in an auto accident, contact the experienced Tampa auto accident attorneys at Jeeves Law Group to discuss the compensation that may be available.
What are the seat belt defenses?
The Florida Safety Belt Law requires every driver and front-seat passenger 18 years of age or older to wear a safety belt and provides that it is unlawful for a driver to operate a motor vehicle unless each passenger and the operator of the vehicle under the age of 18 is restrained by a safety belt.
A violation of the Florida Safety Belt Law may be considered as evidence of comparative negligence that reduces a victim’s recovery in a civil action. However, a violation of the seatbelt law shall not constitute negligence per se or be used as prima facie evidence of negligence.
How does Florida’s Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law work?
Under Florida’s No-Fault Law, a motor vehicle accident victim first looks to his or her own insurer for personal injury compensation, regardless of who caused the accident. All Florida motor vehicle owners are required to carry motor vehicle insurance with no-fault personal injury protection (PIP) benefits. This insurance provides medical, surgical, death, and disability insurance benefits to persons injured in motor vehicle accidents regardless of fault up to certain limits. Up to a limit of $10,000 per injured person, required PIP benefits pay 80 percent of all reasonably necessary medical expenses, 60 percent of the loss of gross income and earning capacity, and death benefits of $5,000 per individual. A person being sued (a defendant) is exempted from paying an accident victim certain economic damages up to a limit of $10,000 to the extent that the benefits are payable under PIP coverage. The above information pertaining to personal injury protection is generic in nature. Individuals may carry variations of this type of insurance and should contact the Tampa auto accident attorneys of Jeeves Law Group directly to determine how their specific coverage applies to their case.
Can an insurance company refuse an injury claim if my car sustained minimal of no damage?
No. Insurance companies usually try to draw a direct connection between the amount of property damage sustained by a motor vehicle in a collision and the severity and degree of personal injury to be expected. People sometimes suffer very significant injuries with minimal impact.
