Florida Pedestrian Accident GuideThe Florida Pedestrian Accident Guide was created by Norden Leacox Accident & Injury Law to help residents who have been injured in an accident obtain maximum compensation for their claim.
Pedestrian accidents usually happen when somebody who is walking is hit by a vehicle. The person who was hit by the vehicle is considered the plaintiff in the pedestrian accident case. They are the ones who are likely going to be the most injured and need the most medical treatment. Their lives will have changed the most after the accident happens. You are the plaintiff if you were the pedestrian.
The person who hit the pedestrian is going to be considered the liable party. The liable party is usually a vehicle driver who was careless or negligent and hit the pedestrian causing them severe injuries. They are physically responsible for causing the accident and causing the injuries that ensued. They will have to be held accountable by you the plaintiff in order for you to get the justice you deserve.
Next, you have the insurance company that represents the liable party. They are going to be responsible for the justice that you were demanding for the damages you are suffering. That comes in the form of compensation that should cover the negative impact this accident had on your life. They are going to present challenges to your claim because they do not want to cost themselves money and will try anyway they can to devalue your claim.
People responsible for protecting your rights to find fair compensation are going to be your Orlando pedestrian accident lawyers. They will be trying to protect your rights by going against the insurance company and proving that the company is responsible for the damage that their insured caused you by being careless or negligent. Make sure that you have lawyers who will fight for your rights and not just settle to get you in and out quickly.
Successful pedestrian accident claims typically only come from competent Orlando pedestrian accident lawyers. There are things that you can do to strengthen your case, however.
First, you want to make sure that you have evidence collected from the scene of the accident. Sometimes, victims of pedestrian accidents get swept away in an ambulance before they can even think to do anything else. If you are either unable to collect evidence yourself or were unconscious after the impact, you can have a family member or friend or even one of our Orlando pedestrian accident lawyers come onto the scene to collect the evidence for you before it gets cleaned up. If you wait to do this, your evidence might disappear forever. Evidence you will need includes pictures and videos of the whole scene, as well as contact information from the witnesses to get their testimony later on down the line.
Next, you absolutely need to make getting immediate medical attention. This should be your number one priority. You cannot have a personal injury case be successful without having been to see a doctor. That is because of two reasons: you want to make sure you are going to get healthy and pain-free as soon as possible and you also want to get medical records to prove to the insurance company that their insured caused you all of this grief that you would not have had if the driver of the vehicle was acting in a way that was cautious and careful.
Lastly, you can expect that the insurance company does not want to give you the results that you deserve. That means you do not want to have unnecessary interactions with them. Very shortly after your accident they will be reaching out to you to try to get a recorded statement. You do not have to give them a recorded statement. You are not legally obligated to do this. In fact, we strongly suggest that you do not talk to them because they can back you into a corner so to speak to get you to say things that will ruin your claim.
The most important thing for an individual to do if they’ve been injured as a pedestrian and hit by a car is to call 911, if possible. That way, emergency medical help can get to the scene immediately, and the police can get to the scene to do their investigation and document the scene. It’s very important to not only seek medical treatment, but to get the police to the scene so that it can be documented.
The next very important thing to do is to make sure to get medical treatment, not only for peace of mind and to know the extent of the injuries and begin the road to recovery, but also to document the injuries if that’s needed at a later point in time.
Another very important step to take is to hire the right lawyer. It’s very important that if you’ve been injured as a pedestrian, you hire the right lawyer. If you hire the wrong lawyer, it can make the difference of you getting recovery and full and fair compensation to little recovery or no recovery.
If you’ve been injured as a pedestrian due to the negligence of another, please contact us. We’d love to help you.
Choosing the Right Orlando Pedestrian Accident Injury AttorneyIf you were a pedestrian injured by the negligence of another, it’s very important that you hire the right type of lawyer for your case. There are several characteristics you should look at before doing so. One thing you should look at is if that lawyer is focused on personal injury. You want to hire a lawyer that does nothing but personal injury, has a lot of experience in personal injury, and has handled pedestrian cases, because they involve many unique characteristics.
Another important thing you want to look at before hiring a lawyer for your pedestrian accident case is if that lawyer will go to trial. Does that lawyer have trial experience? Does that lawyer have the resources to hire the right experts to take your case to trial? Is that lawyer afraid to go to trial? There are many lawyers out there that have never been to trial, that never go to trial, even though they call themselves trial lawyers.
Another thing you want to look at is the background of that lawyer. How many years of experience do they have in personal injury? Have they represented injured people, injured companies for many years? Have they defended people, so that they know both sides of the coin?
Those are the things you want to look at before you hire a lawyer for your accident injury case. We have many years of experience representing injured people and many years of experience defending people and individuals in pedestrian accident cases, and we have many years of trial experience. If you or a loved one has been involved in a pedestrian accident case, please contact us. We’d be happy to help you.
There are several common mistakes that we see people make over and over after they’ve been involved in an accident and injured as a pedestrian. One of the first things that we see people fail to do is seek medical treatment right away. It’s very important, if you’ve been injured as a pedestrian, you seek medical treatment. The reason is, one, it’s important to know the extent and severity of your injuries. Two, it’s very important that your injuries are documented medically right away. Three, it’s going to give you peace of mind. You’re going to know what’s going on, know the extent of your injuries, and start to begin the road to recovery.
Another mistake we see people commonly make is hiring the wrong lawyer. There are many lawyers out there that do not specialize or focus on personal injury. There are many lawyers out there that are afraid to go to trial and have no trial experience. It’s important that you hire an experienced trial lawyer if you’ve been injured as a pedestrian.
Another common mistake we see is people failing to document the scene of what’s happened and what’s around them. Oftentimes, their injuries are too severe and that’s not even possible; if they’re able, however, it’s important to document the scene after you’ve been injured as a pedestrian. The last common mistake we see people make is posting things on social media relative to their injuries and the accident, after they’ve been injured as a pedestrian. Very, very rarely do any of those social media posts help their case. More often than not, it’s very detrimental and hurts their case.
If you or a loved one has been injured as a pedestrian, please contact us. We’d be happy to help you and give you some guidance.
Recently, I was speaking to a client about the differences between a pedestrian accident claim in Orlando and a routine auto accident claim. Obviously, the most striking difference relates to whether or not the person that is hit by the car owns an automobile. The at-fault driver’s personal injury protection would actually cover their initial medical bills. It’s very important to get the at-fault driver’s information, get their insurance information, and open that claim.
Other than that, there are certain things that affect pedestrian accidents versus auto accidents. Some can be the location of the accident. Did it occur within a crosswalk or outside of a crosswalk? Did it occur at night? There might be night visibility issues as well as distracted driving issues. These are all issues that an experienced trial attorney is well aware of and can look into.
Hit And Run Pedestrian AccidentsThe other day I was contacted by a potential client who was involved in a hit-and-run pedestrian accident and asked if they had a potential claim. The answer is it depends on the situation. There is definitely a potential claim there if you have uninsured motorist coverage, that would cover you even if we are not able to identify the vehicle and the person that struck you. However, even if you do not have uninsured motorist coverage, an experienced attorney has ways that they can investigate the claim and possibly track down the vehicle that did strike you and then pursue their insurance.
The answer is it certainly depends, but we are here to help if you or a loved one have been involved in a pedestrian accident. Please reach out and give us a call.
I was recently having a discussion with a client at a mediation regarding whether a pedestrian can be partially at fault for an accident here in Orlando, with a motor vehicle. The simple answer is yes. In Florida, we are a comparative fault jurisdiction, which means that on a verdict form, both parties named, the plaintiff and the defendant, the driver and the pedestrian’s names are put on that verdict form and a jury determines the percentage of fault from zero to one hundred percent for each individual. It can be 50/50; it can be 25/75; it can be 0/100.
A pedestrian’s actions can contribute to the accident. That’s why it’s very important to get an experienced trial attorney involved as soon as possible to investigate and determine if there was any comparative fault on the pedestrian themselves and how to minimize that and identify the fault of the driver.
We’re often asked, “What’s the value of my case? I was a pedestrian, I’ve been injured. Can you give me what my case is worth?” Unfortunately, there’s no exact science or answer to that question. What we do is we use the many years of experience we have in pedestrian cases, not only when we defended individuals that were injuring other people and companies that have caused injuries to other pedestrians, but the many years we’ve had representing people who have been injured as pedestrians. We use that experience and what we’ve seen cases settle for, and what we’ve seen juries do, and then we take that experience, along with the jury verdicts that we’ve seen other lawyers obtain, because those are reported here in Florida, and we look at those and look at similar injuries and, using all that experience and that knowledge, we can give our clients some guidance and educate them on the value of their case.
Having that information and having that knowledge, our clients can then decide if they want to accept a settlement offer or if they would prefer to present their case to a jury. If they decide that they want to present the case to a jury, we’ll do everything in our power and all our resources and present the best case we can to the jury for our client so that they can get full and fair compensation. If you have been involved in a pedestrian case where you’ve been injured or have a loved one that’s been involved in a pedestrian case, please contact us. We’d love to help you.
Pedestrian Accident Settlement TimelineWe’re often asked, “How long is it going to take for my case to resolve after I’ve been injured as a pedestrian in Orlando?” Unfortunately, there is no exact answer to that question. All we can do is give our clients some guidance based upon what we’ve seen. Every case is unique, and every case is different. Sometimes, although not very frequently, cases will settle very quickly. In those situations, it depends on how fair the insurance company is being, how much insurance coverage the at-fault person has, and what the extent of the injuries are. Other factors that go into the length of time are how much treatment our client needs and how serious their injuries are. Did they end up having to have surgery and go through rehabilitation?
It just depends. Every case is unique, every case is different. Of course, we try to settle all cases before filing a lawsuit, but sometimes those cases can’t be settled. If we have to go into the litigation process, things take longer. On average, from when a case is filed until it’s presented to a jury in Orlando, and if things are moving normally and smoothly, it’s about a year and a half. Before that, there will be a court-ordered mediation conference, during which a lot of cases settle.
There’s no exact answer to that question or exact science. If you have been involved in a pedestrian accident case and need a lawyer, please contact us. We’d be happy to help you.
Earlier this week, I received a phone call from a potential client asking if they should speak with the insurance company after having been involved in a pedestrian accident here in Orlando. The simple answer is, no, you should not speak to the insurance company before you’ve had the opportunity to speak to an experienced attorney to discuss the pros and cons of that situation. An insurance company is actually going to use that against you later, if there are things that you say that are detrimental to your case, so it’s very important that you speak to an attorney before speaking with the insurance company.
You only get one opportunity to get the justice you deserve for the damages you’re suffering from your pedestrian accident. Please let our Orlando pedestrian accident lawyers be a part of your journey to full, fair compensation. We want to help you get the most out of your case. Do not hesitate to reach out to us as soon as you can. We will do everything in our power to get you fair results. Call us today for a free first consultation.
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