Were you or a loved one involved in a crash in Tampa Bay and have questions about our 4 car accident tips? Call our lawyers to get started.
1) Rear End Car Crash Liability
I just got an email a week ago from a potential client. He asked me if he had a claim. He said he was rear ended. He said in the email, since I was rear ended, I probably don’t need a lawyer. Can you just confirm that for me?
The law in Florida is that there’s no presumption. Even if you were rear ended, there’s no presumption that the other driver is at fault. It didn’t use to be that way, but the law evolved. Now, the courts say the evidence will determine who’s responsible.
That means that anybody who was rear ended in an accident needs to speak to me right away. Don’t rely on the goodwill of an insurance company adjuster or a lawyer hired by an insurance company to just trust you when you say, I was safely stopped at the traffic light or I was slowing down for traffic ahead and then I got rear ended as if they’re not going to blame you at all. They do blame drivers like that. They will do the same thing to you. I’m just telling you that based on my experience. Don’t leave it to chance.
We have to prove the other driver was responsible even if they rear ended my client. We can do that. We have the tools and the means and the experience to establish that proof. Just because you were rear ended doesn’t mean you don’t need a lawyer; it means you have to call me. I look forward to hearing from you. I can help you out.
2) Car Accident Memory Conflicts
I’m getting ready for a trial. I have a client who was injured in Tampa. Early on in the case, she thought she knew what had happened in the accident. After a time, she started to doubt herself. She wondered if she was going to be convincing to a jury as we were getting ready for trial to testify about her injuries or how the accident happened.
What I told her was that, while your testimony is important, your credibility is more important. Because she had hired me early on in the case, we had already gathered up all the evidence to prove that the other driver was responsible for the accident. Even if her memory was not completely consistent with that, we had a way to present her testimony in court such that the jury would know that she was trying to be honest. A jury doesn’t care if you have a bad memory; they only care that you are earnest, to be honest, and genuine in your recounting of it. The good news is the physical evidence we have for this case, I believe, is going to win the day for us in the courtroom.
If you believe you’ve been injured because somebody else was at fault and now you’re starting to question your recollection of the events of the accident, it’s okay. We’re going to figure it out. We are going to figure out the evidence. We’re going to put together a comprehensive presentation that proves that you deserve justice, too.
Even if your memory isn’t the best, you still are entitled to your day in court. That’s what we do at Perenich The Law firm. We go to trial and we win justice for our clients.
3) Intoxicated Driver Car Accident
Almost 30 years ago, when I graduated from law school, I started working as a prosecutor for the state of Florida right here in Clearwater in Pinellas County. I was hired by Jimmy Russell and then Bernie McCabe. In that time, I prosecuted and convicted DUI drivers.
Those DUI drivers sometimes caused accidents that caused injury. Now, I work here in this law firm representing the victims of DUI drivers to hold those drivers and their insurance companies responsible for the injuries that they have caused to my clients. A DUI brings an entire new level of responsibility and complexity to a case. A DUI can be the basis to get more than just compensation. A DUI driver with multiple convictions can be held accountable and punished in a civil court on top of what they may have faced in the criminal court.
When you hire me, I put that evidence together. I prepare a case to get all the damages, including what we call punitive damages against those people who are irresponsible and get in a car or a truck and endanger the lives of everybody else on the road. The state does its prosecution. We can use the evidence that they have. We’re going to also do our own investigation and gather additional evidence.
We’re creative. We’re going to find all the ways in which we can hold DUI drivers accountable. Sometimes it’s not even the driver himself who’s responsible; sometimes it’s other actors, including the companies they work for. DUI is a serious crime. It can cause significant injury. People have died.
When victims of DUIs or their loved ones come to us, we want to do right by them. Call me. We’re going to get to work for you. We’re going to get justice for you.
4) Talking to Insurance Companies
Is it a good idea to talk to the insurance company when you’re injured in an auto accident in Florida? Generally speaking, it is not a good idea to give a statement to an insurance company until you have competent representation. When clients tell me they gave a statement to the other driver’s insurance company, such as a recorded statement, I tell them that may well have been a mistake. If you gave them that statement before we are retained on the case, then we won’t have an opportunity to advise you about all of your rights and responsibilities. They may have obtained information that they might not have been entitled to.
Now, that being said, we cooperate 100% with insurance companies. We give them all the pertinent and material information to make the decision to pay the highest amount of compensation and do the fair thing toward our clients. We cooperate with the insurance companies, but when you are asked to give a statement to an insurance company, don’t give that statement until you have talked to an attorney. Don’t give that statement until you have contacted our office.
We will advise you on when, and on the circumstances to provide that information, and how that information is going to be provided to that insurance company after you have legal representation there at your side to be your advocate. If you have any questions about this, about whether you should give a statement, please contact Perenich Law Injury Attorneys. We’re here to help you through this process to make sure that you don’t have to deal with insurance companies on your own.
Were you or a loved one involved in a crash in Tampa Bay and have questions about our 4 car accident tips? Contact our experienced Clearwater Car Accident Lawyers at Perenich Law Injury Attorneys today for a free consultation and case evaluation.
Our law firm handles cases for victims wrongfully injured by the negligence of others. Let us fight for you and your family.
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