FORT LAUDERDALE CAR ACCIDENT ATTORNEY, MATTHEW WARING

We are a boutique personal injury law firm serving Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We fight for ordinary people who have been injured in car accidents. We have represented dozens of people injured in car accidents in Fort Lauderdale. We have helped Fort Lauderdale car accident victims recover millions of dollars in compensation.

We focus on education. Knowledge is power. So we take the time to explain the injury claim process to our clients. We also take the time to learn how your injuries have affected your daily life. We do that to make sure we get the full and fair value for your claim.

What to expect after a Fort Lauderdale Car Accident

Fort Lauderdale car accident victims are targets for spam calls and referral agencies. There are dozens of lawyer ads in your face on a daily basis. But you have serious questions about what to do next. You may feel pain or discomfort but you are unsure whether you should go to the hospital. Which insurance company should fix your car? Should you speak with them on the phone to get the process started? Are your car insurance rates going to go up? I hear you.  I put together some information below to help guide Fort Lauderdale accident victims.

What are your options for pursuing compensation after a car accident in Fort Lauderdale?

Just because you were involved in an accident doesn’t mean you have to do anything about it. Many accident victims do not want to call and sit on hold with insurance companies. They do not want to sit around in doctors’ offices every day of the week for six months. I don’t blame them. I will be the first lawyer to say – people don’t always need to hire a lawyer after a car accident! If you are not injured and your damage is minimal, then you may be able to avoid hiring a lawyer. (How to Know if You Have a Personal Injury Claim in Florida?)  Sometimes there is not much a personal injury lawyer can do for you. 

However, if you are in fact injured and want to pursue a claim, the second option is to try and handle it by yourself. Here are some things that people should know in general:  in Florida, injury victims have 14 days to get checked out by a doctor to qualify for PIP benefits.  PIP may pay up to $10,000.00 towards injury-related treatment.   Not all medical providers provide treatment to injury victims. Some doctors do not take PIP insurance and will instead bill health insurance.  If health insurance pays the medical bills then an injury victim may have to pay it back from a settlement.  Injury victims may have other obligations to remain eligible for certain insurance benefits. Victims should study their insurance policies and correspondence sent by the insurance companies. Insurance companies have a financial interest in avoiding your injury claim. So it is critical to be careful when communicating with them.  

If you were in fact injured and you want a lawyer to help you make a claim, you can hire one and pay by the hour. Victims can pay a lawyer by the hour for advice in handling an injury claim. It is rarely done this way.  This option is great if you want to remain in charge of your case but need legal advice to handle it. There are a few downsides. Victims may need to pay a lawyer a retainer. The hourly fee lawyers may charge for every email, text message, phone call, or document. The time (and the bill) adds up and an injury victim may end up paying more for a lawyer than their claim is worth. Also, many injury victims don’t have the money to pay a lawyer upfront for advice after an accident. The lawyer may not have the same incentive to help you maximize the value of your case. They get paid upfront and not a percentage of the settlement. 

Finally, you can get a lawyer for free upfront by hiring them on contingency. Most personal injury lawyers in Florida work on contingency. Victims do not pay upfront fees or costs and they pay their lawyer a percentage of the settlement. Accident victims typically get better results when they hire lawyers to help them with their cases.

At Waring Law, we handle all of our cases on contingency so you don’t pay us anything until we settle your case.