A car accident can cause serious injuries, including broken bones, concussions, whiplash, and severe cuts and bruises. If you suffered injuries in a motor vehicle collision in Brevard County, emergency personnel might have pulled you from the wreckage and transported you to the nearest hospital in an ambulance. You may have undergone surgery and spent days or weeks in the hospital.
After your release, your recovery might remain far from over. You may have to visit a physical therapist or chiropractor for the next several months to regain your strength and coordination and relearn how to do basic tasks that you used to take for granted.
It may take several months before you can return to your job. When you do, you find yourself unable to perform some of your former duties. You may have a permanent disability from the accident and become unable to return to your old job at all. You may have to find new employment, or you may never work again in any field.
All these sudden and dramatic changes may affect you emotionally. You may feel overwhelmed with stress and worry and have trouble sleeping. The situation could strain your relationships with members of your family.
A Melbourne car accident lawyer understands how a serious crash can impact your life and could help you seek compensation by filing a personal injury lawsuit against the at-fault driver. Ben Crump Law, PLLC, can fight to recover a financial award covering your past and future medical costs, property damage, lost income, and pain and suffering. Call our office today at (844) 730-0233 to speak with a member of our staff.
Determining Liability After a Car Accident
Sometimes, figuring out responsibility for a collision is straightforward. If one driver sped, texted while driving, or drove while intoxicated and hit another vehicle, they most likely have liability for the crash. A driver might also have responsibility if they ran a red light or stop sign or failed to grant the right-of-way when required.
In other cases, things are not so clear-cut. A person who hit another vehicle may not be entirely at fault. The other driver may have held a conversation with a passenger who distracted them or bent down to reach for something that had fallen on the floor. If one driver ran a red light, but the other motorist ignored the road and failed to hit the brakes, both drivers may share liability.
For a free legal consultation with a car accidents lawyer serving Melbourne, call (844) 730-0233
Insurance Laws in Florida
Florida is a “no-fault” state when it comes to car crashes. That means people who suffer injuries in auto accidents must seek compensation through their personal injury protection (PIP) insurance coverage, regardless of who was at fault. PIP does not cover pain and suffering and other noneconomic damages.
If your injuries were “serious,” as defined by Florida Statutes § 627.737, you could pursue compensation outside the no-fault system. In that case, you can file a personal injury lawsuit against the driver who caused the collision. If you do, you can claim compensation for “pain, suffering, mental anguish, and inconvenience.”
If you were partly at fault for the collision, you might still recover a financial award to compensate you for your losses. Under Florida Statutes § 768.81, which explains the state’s pure comparative negligence law, you could recover a monetary award, even if you were 99 percent responsible for the accident. The court will reduce the amount of compensation you would have recovered if you had not shared any blame for the crash to account for your degree of responsibility. For example, if a jury found you 25 percent at fault and awarded $100,000 in damages, you would receive $75,000.
Melbourne Car Accident Lawyer Near Me (844) 730-0233
How an Attorney Can Assist You
If you suffered serious injuries, a Melbourne car accident lawyer could help you seek justice. The team at Ben Crump Law, PLLC, can review the police report, speak with you, interview eyewitnesses, check any video of the crash that exists, and possibly enlist an accident reconstruction specialist to sort things out. If the other driver had at least partial blame for the crash, we could file a personal injury lawsuit to seek compensation for your losses.
If you have concerns about legal fees, just know that Ben Crump Law, PLLC, operates on a contingency basis. That means we do not charge personal injury clients any upfront fees. We only collect a fee if we recover a financial award on behalf of a client.
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Contact a Melbourne Car Accident Lawyer Today
State law limits the amount of time you have to take legal action. According to Florida Statutes § 95.11(3)(a), the statute of limitations to file a personal injury lawsuit for an action founded on negligence is four years. That may seem like plenty of time, but months might fly by after a severe car accident. If you had a lengthy hospital stay and now find your life filled with medical appointments, it becomes easy to lose track of time.
The team at Ben Crump Law, PLLC, might need several months to investigate the cause of the accident and determine liability—especially if you, the other driver, and witnesses gave conflicting accounts, and there is no surveillance video of the crash. We may have to interview numerous people and consult independent experts to figure out what happened.
Once we have completed our investigation, we will need time to file a lawsuit. In many cases, we can negotiate an out-of-court settlement with an attorney or insurance adjuster representing the other party, but that is not always possible.
If negotiations do not lead to an agreement, we can take the case to trial to seek the compensation we believe you deserve to cover all your current and future expenses. That process could take several months or even years. Meanwhile, medical bills continue to pile up, and if you cannot return to work, your family might struggle to cover basic living expenses.
The sooner you contact Ben Crump Law, PLLC, the sooner our team can begin gathering evidence and building a case. Call our office today at (844) 730-0233 to speak with a member of our staff.
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