(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.

Sky Lake 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 Sky Lake. 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, Hillsborough County, Clarcona, Oldsmar, Goldenrod, Punta Gorda and more!

Frequently Asked Questions About Workers Compensation in Sky Lake, 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.

knowledgeable Sky Lake Workers' Comp Attorneys Who Know How to Succeed In Tough Proceedings

Are you trying to find a Workers' Compensation Law Firm near you? If you are injured or hurt, we recognize you may not have the ability to drop by our offices. If you're not able to come to us, our experts can come to you!

Trial Pro, P.A. works with Floridians in a range of personal injury legal matters. Our practice areas include all sorts of personal injuries; motor vehicle accidents, motorcycle accidents, wrongful death claims, slip-and-fall injuries, large trucks collisions, construction injuries and workers comp accidents. With offices in Orlando, Tampa, Naples, Brevard County, Melbourne and Fort Myers. Trial Pro, P.A. provides strategic guidance and counsel to clients in cities such as Doctor Phillips, Celebration, UCF Area, North Naples, Mcgregor, Palm River and all throughout Florida. Call our firm for a free of cost and confidential assessment of how we can help.

Worker's Comp in FL is a legally required system of benefits that are readily available to most workers who are injured or hurt on the job. 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 to blame or negligent in leading to an injury, and this does not exclude individuals from getting benefits. However your workplace or coworker may possibly be negligent in leading to the accident, and this does not entitle you to additional benefits. is claimed as being equally a shield and a sword as far as providing for benefits. It is a "sword" because your employer can't defend against your claim by saying you were negligent in causing the injury. It is a "shield" that safeguards Companies from having to pay employees a lot of the damages that are readily available to non-employees who are injured or hurt cause by the unfortunate incident.

Need to file a Work Comp Claim? Talk with our Expert Sky Lake, FL Workers' Compensation Lawyers Call for your free consultation right away - 800-874-2577

This good example exposes the "sword and shield" part of workers' compensation. Let us's say Evan is a very sloppy chef. He rarely cares about what he's working on. He's going out the side door on the job, hands loaded with garbage, to put in the dumpster. As he races down the well-lit stairs, he trips and falls down breaking his forearm. His boss comes to his aid, and witnesses that Evan once and again was transporting excessive amounts of trash to be safe and his shoe laces were untied. You might expect that Evan does not have a case just because his recklessness induced the personal injury. But you would be wrong.

Sky Lake businesses and home owners are legally accountable for maintaining their properties and must always keep it in a within reason free from danger condition and notify occupants of any hazardous conditions of which they are conscious or need to be aware.

Now let's alter the facts just a little. Evan instead of being reckless is exceptionally cautious. He always ties his no slip shoes in repeated knots, certainly never rushes down the staircases, and under no circumstances holds a lot more than he can. However, his business manager has been somewhat neglectful recently. The light fixture on the stairs burned out, and he knows that one of the steps is fractured and is a tripping hazard. Then again he's too tied up to take care of that problem right now. As a result, Evan trips on the busted unlit staircase that his manager knew about, but didn't even try to tell Evan about. If you believe that Evan is able to now file a claim against his manager or Employer for negligence as a result of his manager's negligent actions, you would likely also be off-target. Negligent Evan possesses the very same rights as a hurt laborer as vigilant Evan does. That may appear unjustifiable, but that is a consequence of fault of negligence being a non-issue in work comp.

So let's analyze who is entitled to these particular benefits in FL. To start with, you need to be an employee. Independent contractors (or 1099 staff members) are not qualified to workers' compensation benefits. Additionally, the organization that you work for will need to be big enough to be required to possess worker's compensation benefits. In the case that there aren't at the very least four workers, then the Employer isn't obligated to offer work comp insurance coverage unless it is a building and construction employment Also, there are certain jobs that aren't protected in FL under work comp. Cases of jobs that are not covered are most real estate agents, owner-operators of eighteen-wheelers, almost all volunteers, and taxi cab drivers.

So let's say you qualify as an employee under the workers compensation system, does that mean that you're entitled to benefits if you sustain a personal injury or have an accident at the office? Just like many legal questions, the answer is that it depends. First and foremost, the calamity or personal injury will need to "arise out of" and be "in the course and scope" of employment. Arising out of work in essence denotes that some element of the task triggered the accident. A good example of a fairly common injury occurrence at work that is not usually a job related accident is a heart attack or stroke. If you're sitting at your desk and you suffer a cardiac arrest during the course of work hrs, this is not going to count as a worker comp accident. It may have occurred at work, but the work did not lead to the heart attack. Even if you have a very arduous career and you're employer has been harassing you non-stop and you have a stroke due partly to the other psychological and mental toll work takes on you, this is not likely going to be covered. The cardiovascular disease, stroke, or other "internal failures " are regarded to be personal in character and unconnected to your work functions. For that reason the simple fact that the misfortune developed at work is not sufficiently. Exceptions to these exemptions emerge if: (a) you are engaged in an unusual stress or effort at the workplace, or (b) you are involved in an occupation where there is a presumption that such activity is work-related - such as a law enforcement officer or fireman.

"In the course and scope of employment" is required for an injury to be covered under workers' comp. To be in the course of employment, you really have to be at work. If you have a car or truck crash either on your way to work or on your way home, the majority of the instances those wrecks are not going to be regarded as work-related accidents. There are exceptions. To be in the range of employment, you have to be conducting a task related to work or even at the very least engaged in some form of reasonable task the Company could possibly have anticipated. If your job is to do paperwork in an office space but you injure or hurt yourself when you and your colleague decide to have a run down the stairs to see who's in the very best condition that injury is certainly not going to be considered work-related. You have foolishly deviated from your work duties to the point that what you're doing during the time of personal injury is no more sufficiently linked to work to get considered work-related.

Therefore, let's say you've cleared the hurdles of being a worker that's injured or hurt in the course and scope of your job by an injury that arose out of work, what do you obtain? To remain entitled to lost wages, you must miss out a certain amount of work and the incapacity has to last a particular period of time. If you miss no more than a week or so from your job, you're not going to collect lost wages. In addition if you have an injury that heals in less than three full weeks, you're not qualified to temporary benefits. If you do suffer a personal injury that keeps you out of work for a prolonged time, then you will earn compensation. Unfortunately, this compensation is not your entire paycheck. Instead you receive around two-thirds of what you were earning at the time of the accident. If the health care provider says no work at all, then you get 66.67% of what you were earning at the time of the injury. If the medical professional says you can work with limitations AND the Business is unable to accommodate those limitations, you may get 64% of your paycheck. But if your Boss is able to accommodate those limitations and you are making 80% of your pre-injury wages, you get no compensation. So bottom line is that if you are missing your job because of a work associated injury, you will lose wages. The lengthier your injury, the more earnings you can lose. Unless you settle your case at some time, those lost wages are gone for good and will not be recovered.

Therefore, let's say you've cleared the hurdles of being a worker that's injured or hurt in the course and scope of your job by an accident that arose out of work, what do you receive? To be entitled to lost wages, you have to miss a certain amount of work and the injury has to last a particular period of time. If you miss out barely a week or so from work, you're not going to receive lost earnings. Additionally if you have an injury that heals within just three full weeks, you're not entitled to temporary benefits. If you do sustain a personal injury that keeps you out of work for a lengthy period of time, then you will earn compensation. That being said, this compensation is not your full earnings. Instead you get as much as two-thirds of what you were earning at the time of the personal injury. If the health care provider says no work at all, at that time you get 66.67% of what you were making at the time of the injury. If the health care provider suggests you can work with limitations AND the Business is unable to accommodate those restrictions, you will receive 64% of your income. But if your employer is able to accommodate those limitations and you are making 80% of your pre-injury wages, you obtain no compensation. So bottom line is that if you are missing work as a result of a work-related accident, you will lose wages. The longer your impairment, the more earnings you can lose. Unless you settle your case at some time, those lost wages are gone for good and will definitely not be recovered.

A further constraint on your chance to obtain lost wages is that those benefits are only paid for a certain period of time. Once you have reached maximum medical improvement, which is the doctors way of stating you're as good as you're going to get, you don't get anymore temporary benefits. Even when you have not returned to work or your job is no more available, your temporary benefits end. If you receive an impairment rating due to a permanent lesion, you will receive permanent impairment benefits, but those benefits are less than the temporary and they are very short lived. They normally just last a matter of a few work-weeks or months. Just very handful of injured workers, the most severely injured, have a chance of obtaining long term permanent benefits called permanent total disability.

If it comes to medical care, your rights or benefits also have great constraints. If you have an injury that calls for critical care, then you can get that care without first acquiring Company or workers' compensation carrier approval. Shortly after that early medical care, who you see for medical care is not your decision. Your Employer or often its workers compensation insurance service provider are going to tell you who you can treat with. If you don't prefer the health care provider they choose, then you can get a one-time change but that's it. Moreover, you don't get to pick that next doctor either. One more time the workers compensation insurance carrier picks the health care provider. You can get what is called an IME, or "independent medical doctor", but you have to pay for that physician expense. Your health plan will not pay for it.

One particular of the few beneficial elements of the health care is that you don't pay for it period, other than a $10 copayment as soon as you reach maximum medical improvement. The insurance provider is accountable for all other expenses of medical care including prescription drugs and physical therapy. Still as you can probably see by now, workers' compensation is not a great program. It's also a complicated system.

If you find yourself in the work comp system, you're better off obtaining guidance and possibly an attorney sooner rather than later. Mistakes made in the workers' compensation system might be difficult or even impossible to unwind. And even certain errors can signify the end of your case altogether. Therefore, if you have a workers' compensation injury, consult us promptly. The advice is completely free, and you are under no obligation to retain us. In the case that you do hire us, you won't be out of pocket for any fees or costs. We only gets paid when we get benefits for our clients!

No Fees or Expenses Unless You Win

At Trial Pro, our personal injury attorneys operate on a contingency fee basis. That means we cover the expenses of reviewing, constructing, negotiating and litigating your case. We do not bill you a single thing unless our attorneys recover compensation on your behalf. If we don't win your case, you will pay us absolutely nothing.

Our Sky Lake injury legal professionals also offer no cost consultations to review the particulars of your claim and determine if you have a case. Set Up a Free Evaluation

If you or another person you love has been injured due to someone else's negligence or carelessness, you need a prestigious attorney on your side who is knowledgeable with the policies and laws in Florida.

Our Sky Lake personal injury attorneys are well-versed in accident lawsuits and have been recognized by our peers for our victories. Several of our attorneys have been identified as Super Lawyers and prestigious litigators for their success in behalf of our clients.

We have recovered desirable judgments and compensations that were instrumental in helping our clients to bounce back from their injuries or the loss of a loved one. Let us help you recover the maximum amount of compensation you are entitled to 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.

Sky Lake Workers Compensation Attorney

Frequently Asked Questions About Workers Compensation in Sky Lake, Florida

knowledgeable Sky Lake Workers' Comp Attorneys Who Know How to Succeed In Tough Proceedings

No Fees or Expenses Unless You Win

Acquiring Compensation for Your Workplace Injury in Orange County Florida

Workers' Compensation Cases Frequently Asked Questions

Free Workers Compensation Case Review