(When) Do you have to call the police after a minor car accident?

The process following an automobile collision can become frustrating, drawn out and confusing. Not taking the proper steps when involved in an accident could leave you exposed to complications and delays in the different processes following the crash. Contacting the police after any collision is one of those very important and necessary steps. Think of it this way, if you were involved in a fight but nobody was around to witness the fight, the explanation of this fight would end up being a “he said” “she said” argument. With no independent witnesses around to confirm the accounts fight, the two parties could essentially endlessly argue that the other side was at fault.

What To Do After A Personal Injury Accident?

Being in an auto accident can be a scary situation for most people. There are many things that go through your mind such as does the person that just hit me have adequate insurance, do I have adequate insurance, what do I do about my vehicle, should I call the police? It is always best to call the police immediately after an auto accident. Even if the other party tells you that they want to work out the damages with you directly and do not want the police involved, you should always call the police to protect yourself and your interests. If you do not have a crash report documenting your accident, it is hard for the insurance companies to determine liability, especially if the other party who hit you does not accept fault or changes their story when speaking with the insurance adjusters. This could result in time-consuming and costly lawsuits later down the road. Usually, a police officer can determine who is at fault from interviewing all parties involved in the accident and any independent witnesses that saw the accident happen. Police officers can also sometimes determine liability based on where the damage is to each vehicle.

How do I choose a car accident lawyer?

After an auto accident or a slip and fall, you may have several questions and find yourself searching the internet for answers. The internet is full of answers, some not as accurate as others. You may also find yourself discussing your claim with a friend or family member who may have their own input, which again may not be accurate information. Each personal injury claim is unique and some are more complicated than others. This is the number one reason why you should never rely on the information from someone who is not an expert in the personal injury field. Family members and friends like to help but their situation may have been greatly different than yours so what happened with their claim may not be applicable for yours. The only way to really know how to move forward with your claim is to consult with an experienced personal injury attorney who can discuss your claim and your situation to see what the best plan of action would be.

Geneva Workers Compensation Attorney

After experiencing an accident in Orlando, the last thing you want is to have an attorney at hand that doesn't know how to represent you adequately. You want a reputable Orlando law firm that will fearlessly fight to acquire maximum compensation on your behalf. That is precisely what Trial Pro, P.A. does. Our Orlando lawyers hold a strong reputation for winning cases, and we do everything in our power to deliver the results you're expecting.

Trial Pro P.A. is proud to advocate for workers compensation victims all over the state of Florida, including our office in Geneva. Our dedicated experienced personal injury attorneys handle a range of legal matters, from employment disputes to auto accidents claims. We can use our knowledge and legal skills to help you not only achieve a favorable outcome, but relieve the legal burden from your shoulders as well. Our entire team understands how challenging and confusing litigation can be, which is why we are here for you through every step of the process. Serving all areas of Florida including Orlando, Citrus Park, Metrowest, Orlovista, Naples, Tavares and more!

Frequently Asked Questions About Workers Compensation in Geneva, Florida

Florida law requires most employers to buy workers' compensation insurance coverage. Under Florida workers compensation laws, employees are compensated for occupationally sustained injuries, despite fault. This insurance coverage makes companies immune from some injury suits by workers.

Experienced Geneva Workers' Compensation Attorneys Who Know How to Win Tough Lawsuits

Are you searching for a Work Comp Law Firm near you? If you are injured or hurt, we recognize you may not be capable to drop by our offices. If you're unable to come to our office, our firm can come to you!

Trial Pro, P.A. represents Floridians in a range of personal injury law matters. Our practice areas include all sorts of accidents; car collisions, motorcycle collisions, wrongful death lawsuits, slip-and-fall accidents, truck accidents, construction accidents and workers compensation accidents. With offices in Orlando, Tampa, Naples, Brevard County, Melbourne and Fort Myers. Trial Pro, P.A. supplies strategic guidance and counsel to people in cities such as Astatula, Lake Mary, Montverde, Port Of The Islands Naples, Venice, Murdock and throughout Florida. Call our office for a free and confidential discussion of how we can help.

Workers' compensation in Florida is a legally required system of benefits that are available to most employees who are injured at work. It is a no-fault system, meaning that for the most part negligence in the cause of an accident is a non-issue. You could be entirely responsible or neglectful in leading to an injury, moreover this does not disqualify you from receiving benefits. However your workplace or coworker can possibly be negligent in triggering the accident, and this particular does not entitle you to even more benefits. Workers' compensation is said for being equally a shield and a sword as far as providing for benefits. It is a "sword" because your Boss can not defend against your claim by saying you were negligent in triggering the unfortunate incident. It is a "shield" that provides protection to Workplaces from having to pay laborers a lot of the damages that are readily available to non-employees who are injured cause by the unfortunate incident.

Need to file a Workers' Comp Claim? Talk with our Expert Geneva Workers' Comp Lawyers Call for your free consultation right now - 800-874-2577

This example illustrates the "sword and shield" part of workers' compensation. Let's point out Evan is a remarkably sloppy baker. He barely focuses on what he's working on. He's heading out the back door on the job, hands packed with garbage, to throw in the dumpster. As he rushes down the luminous stairways, he slips and falls down cracking his talus. His supervisor comes to his aid, and observes that Evan as is the custom was carrying excessive amounts of trash to be safe and his shoelaces were actually untied. You might actually believe that Evan may not have a case considering his recklessness caused the personal injury. However, you'd be incorrect.

Geneva companies and property owners are legally liable for taking care of their facilities and must maintain it in a fairly safe and secure condition and advise occupants of any unsafe conditions of which they are conscious or need to be aware.

And now let's change the facts to some extent. Evan rather than being careless is remarkably vigilant. He consistently ties up his no slip boots in double knots, not ever races down the staircases, and by no means holds more than he can. On the other hand his supervisor has been relatively slack recently. The light on the staircases blown out, and he recognizes that one of the steps is busted and is a tripping risk. Nevertheless he's too hectic to take care of that problem at the moment. As a result, Evan trips on the worn out unlit staircase that his boss knew of, however failed to even try to tell Evan about. If you feel that Evan can now litigate his manager or Employer for negligence as a result of his boss's reckless practices, you would most likely also be wrong. Unmindful Evan has the very same rights as a seriously injured laborer as vigilant Evan does. That may seem not fair, but that is a consequence of fault of negligence being a non-issue in work comp.

Therefore let's analyze who is eligible to these kinds of benefits in FL. To start with, you have to be an employee. Independent contractors (or 1099 staff members) are not qualified to workers' compensation benefits. Additionally, the company that you work with will need to be large enough to be required to hold workers' comp benefits. On the assumption that there are not a minimum of four staff members, then the Employer isn't obligated to carry workers' comp insurance except if it is a building and construction employment Also, presently there are a number of occupations that usually are not protected in FL under work comp. Good examples of occupations that are not covered are the majority of real estate agents, owner-operators of eighteen-wheelers, most volunteers, and taxi drivers.

Therefore, let's claim you qualify as an employee under the work comp system, does that mean that you're entitled to benefits if you sustain an injury or have an accident at the workplace? Just like many legal questions, the answer is that it depends. First and foremost, the accident or trauma needs to "arise out of" and be "in the course and scope" of employment. Arising out of work in essence denotes that some aspect of the task triggered the accident. A good example of a reasonably common injury instance at the workplace that is not commonly a job related injury is a heart attack or stroke. If you're sitting at your desk and you suffer a cardiac arrest in the middle of work hrs, this is not most likely to count as a workers compensation accident. It may have taken place at work, but the work did not trigger the cardiac arrest. Whether or not you have a very stressful career and you're boss has been harassing you non-stop and you feature a stroke due somewhat to the other psychological toll work takes on you, this is not going to be covered. The heart attack, stroke, or other "internal failures " are regarded to be personal in character and unrelated to your job duties. Therefore the fact that the event happened on the job is not sufficiently. Exceptions to these exclusions emerge if: (a) you are involved in an unusual strain or exertion on the job, or (b) you are involved in an employment where there is a probability that such an event is work-related - for instance, a law enforcement officer or fire fighter.

"In the course and scope of employment" is in addition required for an accident to be protected under Workers Compensation Insurance. So as to be in the course of employment, you actually have to be at work. If you have a automobile crash either on your way to work or on your way home, a large number of instances those traffic collisionsare not going to be considered work-related accidents. There are exceptions. To be in the range of employment, you must be conducting something related to work or even at the very least engaged in some form of reasonable activity the Employer could have anticipated. If your occupation is to perform desk work in an office but you injure yourself when you and your colleague choose to have a race down the stairway to see who's in optimum condition that personal injury is certainly not going to be considered work-related. You have unreasonably deviated from your job duties to the point that what you're doing at the moment of trauma is no longer sufficiently connected to work to be regarded as work-related.

Thus let's claim that you've cleared the hurdles of being a worker that's hurt in the course and scope of your job by an injury that arose out of work, what do you receive? To remain entitled to lost wages, you will have to miss out a certain amount of workdays and the injury has to last a particular period of time. If you miss out no more than a week from your job, you're not going to be given lost earnings. In addition if you have a trauma that heals within three full weeks, you're not entitled to temporary benefits. If you do suffer an accident that places you out of your job for a lengthy time, then you will get compensation. Nonetheless, this remuneration is not your whole income. Instead you obtain approximately two-thirds of what you were making at the time of the accident. If the health professional says no work at all, then you receive 66.67% of what you were earning at the time of the injury. If the physician claims you can work with restrictions AND the Employer is not able to accommodate those limitations, you will receive 64% of your compensation. But if your employer is able to accommodate those restrictions and you are making 80% of your pre-injury wages, you obtain no compensation. So bottom line is that if you are missing work due to a work associated accident, you will lose earnings. The lengthier your injury, the more paychecks you can forfeit. Unless you settle your case at some time, those lost paychecks are gone for good and will definitely not be recovered.

Thus let's say you've cleared the hurdles of being a worker that's hurt in the course and scope of your job by an injury that arose out of work, what do you get? To remain entitled to lost wages, you have to miss a particular amount of workdays and the disability has to last a specific period of time. If you miss out no more than a few days from your job, you're not going to get lost wages. Also if you have an injury that heals in less than three full weeks, you're not qualified to short-term benefits. If you do sustain an accident that places you out of job for an extended period of time, then you will receive compensation. That being said, this compensation is not your whole paycheck. Rather you get as much as two-thirds of what you were earning at the time of the accident. If the physician says no work at all, at that point you receive 66.67% of what you were earning at the time of the accident. If the health professional says you can work with restrictions AND the Employer is unable to accommodate those restrictions, you will obtain 64% of your wages. But if your Boss is able to accommodate those limitations and you are making 80% of your pre-injury wages, you receive no reimbursement. So bottom line is that if you are missing work as a result of a work associated accident, you will lose earnings. The greater your injury, the more paychecks you can forfeit. Unless you settle your case at some time, those lost wages are gone for good and will not be recovered.

A further limitation on your opportunity to receive lost wages is that those benefits are only paid for a certain period of time. Once you have obtained maximum medical improvement, which is the doctors way of claiming you're on the right track now, you do not get any more temporary benefits. Even when you have not gone back to work or your position is no more available, your temporary benefits end. If you get an impairment rating as a result of a permanent injury, you will receive permanent impairment benefits, although those benefits are less than the temporary and they are very short lived. They generally just last a matter of a few weeks or months. Only very few injured workers, the most badly hurt, have a chance of receiving long-term permanent benefits called permanent total disability.

If it comes down to medical care, your rights or benefits also have great constraints. If you have an injury that entails emergency care, at that point you can get that care without first acquiring Employer or workers' comp provider authorization. Following that early medical care, who you see for medical treatment is not your choosing. Your Employer or often its workers compensation insurance service provider are going to inform you who you can treat with. If you don't prefer the health care provider they choose, then you may get a one-time change but that's it. Furthermore, you don't have the ability to choose that next physician either. One more time the workers comp insurance carrier picks the doctor. You can obtain what is called an IME, or "independent medical doctor", but you have to pay for that health care provider out of pocket. Your health plan will not cover it.

One of the few positive elements of the health care is that you don't pay for it period, other than a $10 copayment right after you reach maximum medical improvement. The insurance provider is accountable for all other expenses of treatment including prescription medicine and physical therapy. Still as you have the ability to probably see now, workers' comp is not a fabulous system. It's also a complicated system.

If you find yourself in the workers comp system, you're better off obtaining guidance and perhaps a lawyer sooner rather than later. Errors made in the workers' compensation system may be hard or even impossible to unwind. Plus a few errors can guarantee the end of your case altogether. Therefore if you have a workers' comp injury, speak with us immediately. The consultation is absolutely free, and you are under no obligation to hire us. In case you do retain us, you won't be out of pocket for any charges or costs. We only gets paid when we get benefits for our clients!

We Only Get Paid Attorney Fees, If You Win

At Trial Pro, P.A., our personal injury lawyers work on a contingency fee basis. This means our experts cover the costs of investigating, constructing, negotiating and litigating your lawsuit. We do not bill you a thing unless we recover compensation on your behalf. If we do not win your insurance claim, you will owe us absolutely nothing.

Our Genevan injury legal professionals also offer cost-free consultations to examine the elements of your case and determine if you have a suit. Schedule a Free Consultation

If you or someone else you love has been hurt due to someone else's negligence or neglectfulness, you need a skilled attorney by your side who is knowledgeable with the policies and laws in Florida.

Our Geneva personal injury lawyers are skilled in injury litigation and have been acknowledged by our peers for our achievements. A few of our lawyers have been identified as Super Lawyers and prominent litigators for their accomplishments in behalf of our clients.

We have recovered desirable verdicts and settlements that were instrumental in enabling our clients to bounce back from their personal injuries or the loss of a loved one. Let us help you recover the maximum amount of compensation you deserve for your injuries.

Acquiring Compensation for Your Workplace Injury in Orange County Florida

Because workers' compensation is a form of insurance policy, Florida workers compensation insurance typically covers what you would expect your vehicle insurance policy to encompass if you were hurt in an car crash. This workers compensation benefits consists of, yet might not be limited to:

Medical Bills
Lost Income
Prescription Medications
Clinical Equipment
Earnings Replacement
Particular Job Substitute Benefits

The nature as well as degree of your benefits rely on whether your injuries developed no disability, a partial disability, long-term disability or permanent disability.

Geneva Workers Compensation Attorney

Frequently Asked Questions About Workers Compensation in Geneva, Florida

Experienced Geneva Workers' Compensation Attorneys Who Know How to Win Tough Lawsuits

We Only Get Paid Attorney Fees, If You Win

Acquiring Compensation for Your Workplace Injury in Orange County Florida

Workers' Compensation Cases Frequently Asked Questions

Free Workers Compensation Case Review