Florida Personal Injury Laws

By: Mel Wright

Complicated Pedestrian Accident Cases

Pedestrian accident cases in Florida are typically complicated cases. Often times you don’t have surveillance of the incident itself. If there’s no witnesses, it can often times be your word against the word of the other driver. Obviously drivers in a vehicle who may have caused or been at fault for a pedestrian accident case– they’re always going to try to blame you or blame the pedestrian. So it’s important that you have a law firm that has handled pedestrian accident cases, that can get the proper experts, that can access the vehicle that was involved, because often times the black box data, or the event data recorder within that vehicle can prove critical evidence to speeds, braking, throttling, maneuvering. You want to make sure that that evidence is obtained before that it goes stale.

Key Information On Car Accident Cases

Depending on the severity of your injuries, it’s important that either you or family members, if you’ve been severely or catastrophically injured, document as much as possible. Oftentimes we as lawyers are at a disadvantage if we don’t get a case until many months down the road, because we have lost some crucial time between the date of the crash and the time that we’re involved in the case. Oftentimes the insurance company for the at fault driver or the at fault truck driver will be on the scene right away, documenting what occurred.

So it’s important that you document not only what happened at the scene, document witnesses that may have observed what happened, but also documenting your injuries with photographs or videos of you in the hospital or of your injuries so that the evidence can be documented and maintained and safeguarded to be used later in the claims handling process.

What is medical malpractice?

Medical malpractice is the failure to use reasonable care. Now it can be negligence by a doctor or a nurse, or somebody else in the hospital – or out of the hospital. Any time the health care person, the healthcare professional, does something, or fails to do something that results in injury or perhaps even unfortunately death, that could be a medical malpractice claim. If you’d like to discuss the details with me, I’m Ron Gilbert with Colling, Gilbert, Wright & Carter, 1-800-49-LEGAL.

By: Ron Gilbert

Catastrophic Injury Cases

There are many capable trial attorneys in the state of Florida. But when you’ve been involved in a catastrophic injury accident, you want to make sure you have an attorney that will fight for you and that will go to trial if necessary. Often times in catastrophic injury cases, because the stakes are higher, because the damages are significant, and insurance companies know that, they will vigorously fight those cases on liability in an attempt to have defenses where fault cannot be determined, or where they will blame the injured victim. You want an attorney that is willing to go to trial, that has been to trial, and that has gotten good results in catastrophic injury cases.

Lawyer Referral Service

Hi, I’m Matt Dolman, of the Dolman Law Group. I’m a Clearwater civil trial attorney. If you were just in an accident you may be wondering whether you should call a lawyer referral service, one that advertises on television or the radio. In fact, if you live in the Tampa Bay area, our market is inundated with these advertisements all day long, and you’re probably wondering how good are they. Well, keep in mind that lawyer referral services are only partly regulated by the Florida Bar. When I say partly, only the lawyers are regulated. The lawyer referral service can often make advertisements, make claims, make statements that don’t pass Bar scrutiny. In fact, they don’t have to submit their advertisements to the Florida Bar.

411 Pain & Ask Gary

If you listen to a recent radio advertisement for 411 PAIN, you’ll note that the non-lawyer attorney spokesperson makes a very curious statement. And the statement they make is we have a very exclusive group of attorneys. We’ve spent many years putting this group together. Well, what does that really mean? Does that mean that these lawyers are superbly talented? I don’t want to make a generalization because there are some good lawyers that belong to these networks, but really if you become a member of 411 PAIN or Ask Gary, you simply have to pay to become a member. It’s a pay for play system. It doesn’t state the quality of the lawyer, how many cases they’ve tried, the types of verdicts they’ve obtained, are they experiencing any personal injury claims like yours. It simply means that they paid to be a member of a lawyer referral service, but keep in mind that being a member of such an exclusive group does not convey quality. It just conveys they paid.

Hire Matt Dolman

Thank you again for listening. This is Matt Dolman, of Dolman Law Group. Thanks again for visiting our YouTube channel. I greatly appreciate your time. Look forward to seeing you soon, and click on our button here to subscribe to our channel. Thank you.

By: Matt Dolman

If you live out-of-state and you’re involved in a Florida car accident, do you need a Florida attorney or do you need an attorney from your state?

The truth is you need an attorney who knows Florida law, an experienced Florida car accident attorney. I’m Mel Wright. I’m a partner at Colling Gilbert Wright & Carter. Call us at 1-800-49-LEGAL.

By: Mel Wright

Contingency Fees

In Florida, attorneys are permitted to represent you as consumers on a contingent fee basis. Oftentimes, when you’ve been involved in a catastrophic injury case or accident or situation, those cases will take years sometimes to travel through the litigation process. If you’ve suffered a catastrophic injury and you have mounting medical bills and are unable to work, a contingent fee representation system such as the one we have in Florida permits you and your attorneys to match the resources of the insurance industry or the trucking industry to help you along in your catastrophic injury case. All that means is you don’t pay your attorney fees until the end of the case, and only pay them if there’s been a recovery in the case. The attorneys get a percentage of that recovery for attorney fees. It also allows your attorneys to advance the costs of your case, and then only recoup those costs at the end of the case if there’s been a successful recovery on your behalf.

Most Difficult Personal Injury Case in Orlando

One of the most difficult cases that I’ve ever handled as a trial lawyer was for a family member. My nephew was unfortunately killed in a car accident. He was a deputy sheriff and was t-boned in an intersection by an 18 wheeler. It was a very difficult case to handle. I had to deal with my brother-in-law, and my sister-in-law throughout that entire case, and the grieving process. So, I’ve been involved in cases that are very personal to me. I understand where you are with your case, and with the grieving process that you’re going through. If you’d like to discuss that with me, I’m Ron Gilbert with Colling, Gilbert, Wright & Carter; 1800-49-LEGAL.

By: Ron Gilbert