Hillsborough County Personal Injury Lawyers

A potential client came to us recently because she had a huge amount of anxiety after her car accident and asked if she could recover for emotional damages related to that accident. That answer is yes, absolutely— you can recover emotional damages. If you have a permanent injury as a result of your car accident, you are entitled to past and future pain and suffering, which includes damages for anxiety, mental anguish, and all kinds of other emotional damages.

We had a client in Hillsborough County recently that asked a common question: How do you decide on an attorney? There are so many options out there. Who should you choose as your lawyer? To me, the number one thing is communication. The client has to trust their lawyer, so you definitely want to be able to speak with your lawyer.

If you go in for a consultation, you want to have an opportunity to speak with a lawyer and ask them about the case. Every case is different. Every case has its own elements that have to be proven. Some parts of your case may be different from someone else’s, and you’re not going to figure that out without good communication with your lawyer. You want to be able to talk with them and ask them questions, you want those questions to be answered, and you want to know that they’re on your side. That’s how you develop a trust relationship.

We got a call from a client recently in the Tampa area and they asked how long it takes to settle a personal injury case. They had already been working with the adjuster. The answer to that is patience is a virtue. Some cases can last three or four months, depending on the claim, and some cases can last three years. It doesn’t mean that the case that’s three years old is any worse or better than the case that lasted for three months. Every case is different, and a lot of it depends on what the insurance companies are offering.

The benefit of hiring a trial lawyer is that we are able to evaluate the case in terms of what it would look like in front of a jury. Many times, insurance companies do not offer you maximum value. In order to get maximum value, sometimes you have to file a lawsuit. The end stage from the lawsuit to the end is the trial. Every case is different.

Medical treatment is dependent on the severity of the injury. The client that called in Tampa had to have surgery, so his case had already been a year out. Every case is different. We’d love to help you with your case. We offer free consultations. Give us a call.

Recently, a potential client called wondering if he had a case because he had been injured in a car accident but had a preexisting condition in his lower back. The answer that we gave him was, absolutely, you can still recover if you have a preexisting condition. You are allowed to recover for an aggravation or an exacerbation of your preexisting injury. It helps to get in touch with a lawyer who has dealt with complicated cases involving preexisting injuries. In fact, that is probably one of the most important considerations if you do have a preexisting injury. Hire a lawyer who knows what they’re doing on this issue.

Recently, a potential client called and asked if there was a minimum amount of medical bills that they needed to file a lawsuit. The answer to that is both yes and no. In Hillsborough County there’s a no-fault law, which essentially makes you self-insured up to $10,000. If your medical bills are under $10,000, those damages will cover it. Luckily, your medical bills are not the only part of your claim. If you have a permanent injury, you’re also entitled to past and future pain and suffering.

After negotiations failed in one of our cases, a client asked if there was a way that she could avoid going to trial. Yes, there is. No client wants to go to a trial, but there are plenty of opportunities to settle your case. If you hire a trial lawyer, the insurance company is going to know you mean business, which means that it’s more likely that your case will settle without a trial.

We had a client in Tampa that hadn’t hired a lawyer yet and was dealing directly with the insurance company. This is common and happens all the time. The client asked us if they should take the first settlement offer. The answer, inevitably, is usually no, unless the insurance carrier is offering the policy limits, and even then you should have it evaluated by a trial attorney. The reason is that insurance companies only take into account what the bills are. That’s the easiest part of your case. Anybody can add up their medical bills that were related to the accident.

The real value of hiring a trial lawyer is the evaluation of the other elements of the claim, which include the future medical bills you’re reasonably certain to incur, items like pain and suffering, which nobody knows the exact value of. Before you settle your case, it is of extreme benefit to hire a trial attorney who is able to evaluate your case and let you know how good that settlement offer is from the insurance company.

We had a case that went to trial recently and the client asked a great question. It was a case in Hillsborough County in Tampa, and the client asked, “Why do we have to hire these expert witnesses? What is the role of an expert witness?”

There are so many different types of expert witnesses. In the context of a personal injury case, it usually means a medical expert, but there are also experts that deal with the forces of a collision, as well as biomechanical experts and human factor experts. For trial lawyers, the role of the right, qualified expert is they can assist the jury in reaching a decision. If you have herniated discs in your neck, you can talk about your pain all day, but the expert witness – a radiologist, for example – would come to trial and talk about why he or she believes that that herniated disc was caused by the accident.

It’s a tough game, and insurance companies will hire their own experts, so, many times, trials become a battle of experts. If you hire the right trial attorneys, they’ll know what experts need to be hired that will assist you in getting the maximum value in your case. Give us a call. We would love to give you a consultation and talk to you a little more about personal injury cases.

A potential client called recently wondering who was going to pay for her medical bills as a result of the car accident she was involved in. The first person that’s going to start paying your medical bills is your own car insurance. You have what’s called personal injury protection coverage that will cover up to $10,000 in medical bills. After that, the insurance carrier for the person that hit you will end up covering your damages, if you’re injured and need medical care as a result of an accident.

We got a call from one of our clients in Wesley Chapel recently who asked whether or not we thought their case would go to trial. We’d had the case for a couple of months. That’s a very hard question and, really, you can’t answer that right away. You may ask, “Then why do we need a trial lawyer?” Well, because a trial lawyer can evaluate the case as if the case is going to be presented in a trial setting.

Quite frankly, most cases do not end up in trial, though a small percentage do. When you have the benefit and the backing of a trial lawyer, however, the insurance companies look at that and realize that these attorneys are going to try to get the maximum value for their client.