Car accidents are among the most common sources of personal injury in the United States of America. While dangerous, a car accident becomes even more likely to be catastrophic when one of the vehicles involved is a truck. Due to their considerable size and bulk, accidents involving trucks are much more likely to cause life-altering injury or possibly even a fatality.
If you have experienced truck accident-related complications in the past four years, you need a lawyer to help you unlock the maximum amount of compensation for any damages you have sustained. With a truck accident attorney from The Law Place in Florida, you can be sure that you stand the best chance of achieving the compensation you deserve. To achieve the maximum payout, you should raise your accident right away, without delay.
If you would like legal representation from the accident lawyers at The Law Place, phone us today for a free consultation. All phone calls are at no obligation and are fully protected by the attorney-client relationship. Our phone lines are also always open.
To hire an experienced truck accident attorney or to seek free legal advice for your case, call (941) 444-4444 today!
How Long Do You Have to Make a Claim Following a Florida Truck or Car Accident?
Unfortunately, you do not have an unlimited amount of time to seek compensation for your damages following a truck or car accident. The statute of limitations for your state determines how much time is able to elapse before you are unable to make a claim for compensation.
In Florida, the statute of limitations for raising a claim due to a truck accident is laid out in Florida Statute 95.11.
This states that you have a period of four years to make a claim following a truck accident or car accident in Florida. This period of time begins on the exact day that the accident occurred.
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Seek Compensation Right Away for Your Truck Accident
Even though this window of four years may seem like a large amount of time, you do not want to delay raising your case. There are several reasons for this, but it mostly boils down to two factors: evidence and competing legal teams.
If you want to begin your case as soon as possible, call The Law Place today and speak to an experienced personal injury lawyer.
The Collection of Evidence Pertaining to Your Truck or Car Accident
Evidence is essential when seeking a compensatory settlement for several reasons. Your accident attorneys will need to use this to determine whether they are seeking a settlement from insurance companies or if you need to file a lawsuit.
Evidence is used both to determine who was at fault in the trucking accident and to prove the extent of the damages you received. If the evidence is lacking, this can directly impact the amount of compensation you are able to receive.
If there is no evidence that the truck company or truck driver violated their duty of care and is therefore liable for your injuries, you may have no case at all.
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How Evidence of a Truck or Car Accident Can Become Lost Over Time
The more time that passes, the more chance there is of evidence becoming unavailable for use by your truck accident attorney.
The following are examples of ways that evidence of your accident can become lost:
- Damaged scenery at the scene of the accident may be repaired or removed.
- Tire skid marks on the surface of the road where the accident occurred may be cleaned or fade.
- Damaged vehicles may be destroyed, meaning they can no longer be used to prove the extent of damages as a result of the accident.
- Essential eyewitness accounts may become unavailable for contact or testimony.
This is why you need to hire a lawyer for your personal injury case straight away. Make sure that you don’t lose essential evidence vital to your compensation claim. A lawyer can help you to ensure that the process of evidence collection is as comprehensive as possible.
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How Can Victims of Trucking Accidents Help to Preserve Evidence?
If you have been injured in a trucking accident that wasn’t your fault, there is plenty you can do from the outset to ensure you receive the highest payout for your damages.
The following is a list of things to make sure you do to maximize the compensation a truck accident lawyer can achieve for you:
- Take photographs of everything at the scene of the trucking accident. This includes multiple angles of each vehicle, scenery damage, skid marks on the road, and registration plates of every vehicle involved in or witnessing the accident.
- Take photographs of your injuries as soon as it is safe to do so. Take additional photographs of your injuries at each stage of the recovery process.
- Retain all medical bills and correspondence with your employer concerning time spent off work. These can help to get you the correct level of reimbursement.
- Collect information from everyone at the scene of the accident. This should include full names, contact telephone numbers, registration numbers, and the details of the insurance companies of everyone actually involved in the accident.
- If you were injured in a life-altering way, such as mobility impairment, it could also be helpful to get a copy of your medical record. Your medical record will help show that your injuries or impairment were not pre-existing medical conditions, which is an argument your insurance company may make.
With all of this information, the personal injury lawyers at our law firm will stand the best chance at maximizing your settlement amount.
How Else a Lawyer Can Help Collect Evidence of Your Trucking Accident
Sometimes it is unavoidable that evidence becomes lost. Your injury lawyers may need to employ additional staff in the recovery of said evidence.
Luckily, your truck accident lawyer will be able to hire personal investigators or specialist teams dedicated to recreating trucking accidents in order to obtain evidence that would have otherwise been inaccessible. Our law firm has dedicated and trusted specialists at our disposal that have achieved results for us time and time again.
Additionally, most vehicles used by trucking companies carry a black box. Much like in airplanes, these black boxes record vital information such as:
- Impact forces, which can be used to prove the extent of injuries.
- Braking patterns.
- Specific and average speed.
- The presence of warning lights for mechanical failures.
Your experienced personal injury and accident attorney will be able to get access to this black box from the trucking company.
It is often the case that a trucking company may try to resist giving up this black box, especially if it proves their driver was at fault. However, your attorney will work tirelessly to get this essential piece of evidence.
Competing Against Rival Legal Teams Following a Truck Accident
The collection of evidence to maximize your settlement isn’t the only reason why you should seek legal support from an attorney as quickly as possible.
In most cases, your attorney will not be the only one working on the case. The legal teams of both the trucking company and the insurance company are likely to also be compiling evidence. Both of their lawyer teams are likely to have a large amount of funding and experience behind them.
The trucking company will be seeking to argue that they were not at fault, even if they were, and your insurance company will be seeking evidence to reduce your settlement offer.
When injured victims delay in their case, they give the rival lawyers of the trucking company and insurance company time to work on collecting the information they need to impact your compensatory offer.
To avoid this situation, you need to contact an attorney as soon as possible, even if you have let some time pass since the event that caused your injuries. Contact a lawyer working for us today for a free consultation and free, impartial legal advice.
Which Damages May Be Available to Me Following a Car Accident or Trucking Accident
There are a number of types of damages for which you will be able to seek compensation from your insurance company or through a lawsuit. Different accident cases and situations will entitle their injured victims to different types of damages.
The different types of damages possibly on offer include:
- Reimbursement of medical bills.
- Recovery of value lost to property damage.
- Pain and suffering.
- Recovery of the value of lost wages due to time spent off work while your injuries healed.
- Wrongful death.
If you were injured in a truck or car accident and want to stand the best chance of maximizing these types of compensation, hire an accident attorney from The Law Place. Call us today for a free consultation, and we can help to provide you with all the information you need to move forward.
What Insurance Do I Need for a Car Accident in Florida?
Florida is a no-fault state, as explained in Florida Statute 627.7407.
What this means is that all drivers need to carry Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance, no matter who was at fault in the accident that caused your injuries.
However, with basic PIP, your insurance company will only cover you for $10,000 in benefits for disabilities, medical assistance, and injury compensation. This type of insurance will also offer $5,000 in benefits in the event of a fatality.
If your damages exceed this amount, you will need an accident lawyer to help you file a lawsuit to seek additional compensation. If you believe this to be the case, contact a lawyer today, using the phone number at the bottom of the page.
Additional information concerning the complexities of Florida’s no-fault and PIP laws can be found in Florida Statute 627.736.
Contact The Law Place Today
If you have been involved in a truck or car accident in the last four years, you need to call an accident lawyer as soon as possible to maximize your settlement offer. Don’t fall foul to the complexities of Florida law or the various underhanded tricks employed by insurance companies to lower the settlement amount for your truck or car accident.
The attorney team at The Law Place has amassed over 75 years of combined experience helping to achieve accident victims the highest amount of compensation possible. We will treat you with the compassion you deserve while working tirelessly to accumulate evidence and formulate an argument that stands the best chance for you to receive a fair amount of compensatory justice.
Call our office today for a free consultation, which will be entirely confidential and at no obligation. All of our personal injury cases are also no-win-no-fee, which means you will pay nothing until your settlement is finalized and nothing at all if your claim is unsuccessful. All of our contingency work is strictly monitored by the State Bar Association, so you can have peace of mind that there will be no hidden costs, surprising extras, or tricks on the road ahead.
To talk to an attorney today, call (941) 444-4444! Seeking compensation for your suffering, trauma, and accident complications couldn’t be simpler or more risk-free.
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