The aftermath of an accident is often just as traumatic as the accident itself. You’re anxiously dealing with physical pain, doctor’s appointments, and disrupted household schedules. The financial costs can add up quickly as well in the form of medical bills, extra child care expenses, and lost time from your job or business. While we can’t take away the pain or emotional trauma of your accident, we can help you to get the compensation that you deserve as you fight to get your life back on track.
About 2.6 million people are admitted to Florida’s hospitals each year and many of them have been hospitalized due to accidents that are caused by other people’s carelessness. Insurance companies know that this is a major problem and will properly pay under the right circumstances. As a leading personal injury firm in Glades County, we apply the right amount of pressure on those companies to get positive results for our injured clients. Over the years, our team of attorneys have applied the finer points of the law to win millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements. How much is your case worth? Give us a call for a free case review.
Who Needs a Glades County Personal Injury Attorney
Anyone injured in an accident caused by someone else’s negligence needs to contact an attorney. All accident cases are supported by a distinct set of complex laws. Whether your accident took place in the course of work, living, or leisure activities in Glades County, you’ll want an expert personal injury lawyer to guide your case.
Not all accidents take place on Florida highways. Personal injury accidents can happen as you glide through the aisles of your local grocery store. Someone gets called away to do an important task while they are in the middle of mopping up a spill in aisle 10. You don’t see the clear liquid spill until you and your hand basket of groceries are on the floor.
Big chain stores have plenty of legal counselors to protect their interests, and their insurance companies do as well. If you aren’t intimately familiar with that area of the law, it’s very likely that you’ll lose out on the full compensation that’s owed to you.
In these cases, you don’t want to choose just any personal injury lawyer. Be selective. You’ll want a lawyer who has a good track record with your type of case. Check out the testimonials on the law firm’s website. If the firm is being modest and hasn’t published any online kudos, ask to know about cases that they have successfully handled that are similar to yours.
Don’t be overly impressed with high-dollar cases either. Lawyers who take on lower-yield cases demonstrate that they are willing to fight for justice for their injured client even if the fee for the case is lower than the fees that they usually get from other cases. That’s the integrity that sets mediocre lawyers apart from great ones.
Our Specialties
Personal injury law covers a broad array of cases. Here are some common types of accident cases that we regularly handle.
Auto Accidents
Car accidents cause millions of dollars in damages every year. Besides experiencing a loss of property, many people suffer severe physical trauma such as loss of limb and spinal injuries. Life gets really tough when you must navigate car repairs, doctor visits, and creditors all at once.
Insurance companies are known to pressure accident victims into taking paltry settlements for large cases and totally ignoring victims who have less complex claims. You need someone who is looking out for your best interests in the aftermath of a car accident, and you’ve found that with our personal injury law firm.
Truck Accidents
Truck drivers are under extreme amounts of pressure to get goods safely across the country within rigid time constraints. A tired driver can easily cause an accident on the highway. Unfortunately, when a commercial truck hits another motorist, the results can be deadly. After experiencing a moment of gratitude for having survived such an accident, you need to call a personal injury attorney right away. Let your attorney handle the details of your case and get you the compensation that everyone knows that you deserve.
Nursing Home Negligence
Parents and grandparents took care of us when we were too young to care for ourselves. It’s our turn now to care for them in their twilight years. That’s why it’s so tragic when they suffer at nursing homes from carelessness or negligence. Our personal injury lawyers take great pride in going after such irresponsible companies and making them pay for damages that are caused by nursing home negligence.
Workplace Accidents
Our nation runs on industry. When workers are exposed to unsafe job sites, everyone suffers. If you’ve been injured on the job, you may feel that no one is on your side. We’re here to tell you that you’re not alone in your fight for just compensation.
Dangerous Products
New products are constantly being brought to market, and a few of them aren’t as safe as they should be. Others have been made in factories that have poor quality control practices in place, which results in manufacturers shipping defective products to retail stores. When you’re hurt by one of these products, we conduct thorough research to find out details about the manufacturer, its factory processes, and the retailer involved.
How We Process Personal Injury Cases
You were hurt in an accident and immediately contacted our personal injury law firm to represent you. You took the appropriate first step to getting adequate compensation for your pain and suffering. Here are the next steps that we take to make you financially whole again after an accident.
Conduct Research
The first thing that we do is listen to you. After hearing your side of the story, we research verdicts of cases that are similar to yours. Our lawyers also gather evidence of the accident by reviewing surveillance cameras and interviewing police officers, eyewitnesses, and first responders. We check medical reports, if you’ve been seen by a doctor. If you haven’t been seen by a doctor yet, we encourage you to make an appointment for a check-up right away so that we can determine the extent of your injuries. This is an important factor in the calculation of your settlement amount.
Pursue Settlement
The statistics for personal injury settlements versus verdicts vary from state to state, but most insurance companies pay settlements. Only about 5% of personal injury cases actually go to trial. Your personal injury attorney will draft a settlement letter on your behalf that requests the amount of money that your accident warrants. The insurance company or other party will do one of three things. It will accept your settlement offer, provide you with a counteroffer, or reject the settlement altogether.
File Lawsuit
If the counter settlement offer is too low or the settlement is rejected altogether, your lawyer will file a lawsuit to get your compensation through the court system.
Prepare for Trial
After filing a lawsuit, both parties are given time to gather evidence about the case. Your lawyer is at a distinct advantage because our law firm will have already gathered evidence and done extensive research about every aspect of your case.
Participate in Mediation
Lawyers are encouraged to pursue every avenue for justice before going before judges and juries in court. Many parties seek to pursue appropriate settlements through agreements brought about by mediation.
Take Case to Trial
When all parties fail to reach an adequate settlement, we’ll take your case to court.
Things to Avoid After An Accident
If you’ve been injured in an accident, there are some specific do’s and don’ts that you need to keep in mind.
You want to take note of when, where, and how the accident took place. Make sure to get the contact information of eyewitnesses and keep the police report that you were given at the scene of the accident.
Don’t make any statements that admit fault. Some people are quick to take partial responsibility for accidents that are primarily caused by the carelessness of others. Don’t be that person. Insurance companies can misconstrue those statements to cheat you out of the full settlement amount that you deserve.
If you want to pursue a settlement for your injuries, don’t hesitate to call an ambulance for emergency medical services when you’re first injured. This lends credibility to your case like nothing else. If you don’t get medical help directly after the accident, you’ll want to see a doctor within two weeks of the accident so that he or she can verify and document your injuries.
Failing to disclose pre-existing medical conditions or other details about your case to your lawyer can hurt your chances of an adequate settlement. Be honest with your lawyer so that he or she can get you the compensation that you deserve without any unpleasant surprises.
Finally, you’ll want to avoid talking about your case to anyone outside of your legal team.
Why You Need a Glades County Personal Injury Lawyer
The majority of our clients are hardworking Floridians who believe in overcoming life’s difficulties through their own efforts. However, sometimes those efforts are just not enough.
Besides getting a monetary award for your injuries, pursuing a settlement serves a higher purpose. When insurance companies are forced to pay large settlement awards for careless drivers, they pass the punishment to those guilty parties. This helps to keep people more mindful and accountable for their actions, which benefits every Floridian.
