Tampa Car Accident Lawyers
Helping Crash Victims in Central Florida and Statewide
Car accidents are on the rise in Florida. Hundreds of thousands of crashes occur here annually, and the number is growing every year. Statewide, these crashes cause over a quarter of a million injuries, including tens of thousands of incapacitating injuries and several thousand deaths. About half of all crashes occur in Miami-Dade, Broward, Hillsborough, Orange, Palm Beach and Duval counties, although they happen all over the Sunshine State and no county is spared. Statistics show that almost everyone will be involved in at least one car accident in their lifetime. Hopefully, these accidents don’t result in injury, but when they do, necessary legal help is available.
Whether you’ve been hurt in a crash on or off the job, the law firm of Chadwick & Chadwick can help ensure you get appropriate medical care and all the compensation you are entitled to for your injuries. From our offices in Tampa, we serve injury victims throughout Florida, so call us for immediate assistance if you or a family member has been hurt in a car accident in Tampa or statewide.
Understanding No-Fault Insurance in Florida
As a Florida driver, your no-fault insurance policy will provide you with certain benefits if you are injured in a car accident, regardless of who was at fault in causing the crash. However, the benefits provided by your no-fault policy (also known as Personal Injury Protection or PIP), are rather limited. This policy will cover 80% of your medical bills and 60% of your wages if the accident caused you to miss work. No-fault benefits can be up to $10,000 if you were certified with an emergency medical condition; otherwise, benefits are limited to $2,500. To make a claim for no-fault benefits, make sure that you see a doctor within 14 days of the accident.
Negligence Claims for Serious Injuries
Florida law provides an exception from the no-fault limitations for people who were seriously injured in a car accident. In that case, the law allows you to pursue a negligence claim against the other driver or other party responsible for the crash. In this scenario, you will either need to negotiate a settlement with the driver’s insurance company or file a lawsuit and possibly go to court to hold the other party accountable to you by proving the accident was their driver’s fault. While more work is involved than settling for no-fault benefits, the compensation you can receive if successful is much greater.
If your injury meets one of the following conditions, you can step outside the no-fault system and pursue a negligence claim:
- A significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function,
- Significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, or
- A permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability
While you can generally pursue a no-fault claim on your own in most cases, it is never recommended to settle a negligence claim without legal help. Accident victims who don’t have a lawyer don’t get as much for their claim as victims who have a legal professional represent them. Personal injury attorneys know how much your claim is worth, how to build a strong case, and how to settle a claim favorably or try a case in court if needed. Accident victims without representation are at a severe disadvantage in this process compared to the insurance company professionals who do nothing but handle insurance claims every day and pay as little as they can get away with.
Car Accidents on the Job
Car accidents are a leading cause of work-related injury. Whether you drive for a living transporting cargo, making deliveries, or ferrying passengers, or if you get hurt in a crash while on the clock (picking up supplies, traveling between job sites, making sales calls), you should be entitled to workers’ compensation for a work-related car accident injury. Workers’ comp should pay all of your reasonable and necessary medical expenses as well as cover a portion of your lost wages based on a temporary or permanent partial or total disability stemming from the accident. The seasoned Florida workers’ compensation attorneys at Chadwick & Chadwick can help ensure you get all of the benefits you are entitled to under the law. Call our office if your claim is denied or unreasonably delayed, or if you are otherwise having difficulty getting your employer’s insurance carrier to pay your claim.
Car accidents on the job are also a classic case of third-party liability, where an outside party (the other driver) is often to blame. While workers’ compensation benefits are available regardless of who was at fault for the accident, if the other driver or another outside party caused the crash by their negligence, you potentially have a third-party liability claim in addition to your workers’ comp claim. As attorneys who practice both workers’ compensation and personal injury law in Florida, we can help you pursue both claims and recover the maximum compensation for your injuries, including medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other legal damages.
Call Chadwick & Chadwick in Tampa for Help With Car Accident Injury Claims in Florida
If you or a loved one has been seriously hurt in a car accident in Florida, call Chadwick & Chadwick in Tampa at 813-264-1500 for a free consultation. Whether the accident happened during or outside of work hours, our team is equipped to handle any claims you have with expertise and dedication toward recovering the full amount of compensation available. Call now for immediate assistance.
