South Florida Personal Injury Blog

Personal injury attorneys caution that the Graves Amendment, which expressly preempted all state vicarious liability schemes that imposed liability on lessors of borrowed vehicles where the vehicle was involved in an accident through no fault of the lessor, preempted the Florida statute that created an exception to common law dangerous instrumentality doctrine for lessors of motor vehicles and dangerous instrumentality doctrine as applied to motor vehicle lessors; despite claims that the statute was a financial responsibility law that created a separate cause of action against the lessors of motor vehicles under Florida law, the statute did not create insurance standards for entities that registered and operated motor vehicles within Florida or impose liability on the owners of motor vehicles for failing to comply with state insurance requirements, and nothing in the statute imposed any penalties or liabilities on the lessors of motor vehicles who did not maintain minimum levels of insurance. The Graves Amendment barred the vicarious liability claims of motorists against a motor vehicle lessor, after the motorists were allegedly injured in a collision with the eased vehicle operated by the lessee.

If you have been injured in a car accident where the driver borrowed the automobile from a third party it is strongly recommended that you speak with a personal injury attorney in order to determine all negligent parties.

Only you and your treating doctors will know and they will only know after examining you and monitoring your treatment over a period of time.
Many injuries can develop into serious injuries even though at first they appear minor. This is especially true for soft tissue injuries that may not become a problem until several days or weeks after the accident. Traditional treatments for soft tissue injuries have been rest, heat, and ice, medications such as anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxants, pain killers, as well as courses of treatments at physiotherapy clinics, and/or by more modern trend, chiropractic treatments, massage treatments and gym and home exercise programs. Your doctor will also refer you for some of these treatments: rest, ice, heat at a minimum as well as muscle relaxants and pain killers. Your doctor may request x-rays, suggest some time off work, and refer you for physiotherapy or massage. Another option for treatment is to go to a chiropractor. Chiropractors are medically trained and offer treatments for soft tissue neck and back injuries.

Personal injury attorneys state that although the specific rules in each state vary, there are only two basic legal frameworks are fault and no-fault that control who pays (in legalese this is called "economic liability") for personal injury and economic damages resulting from automobile accidents. On the one hand, the fault system requires that "fault" be determined through an investigation by the insurance companies involved and/or by a court judgment before economic responsibility is apportioned. Normally, whomever is legally at fault pays for the damages for personal injury and automobile replacement or repair.
On the other hand, according to personal injury attorneys, the no-fault system is designed to simplify this process by providing every accident victim with immediate compensation, regardless of who is to blame. Since both systems are in operation throughout the country, and some states even have a blend of both, we need to address the ins and outs of each.
Personal injury attorney Andrew Alitowski explains that States like Florida and Kentucky are no-fault states. The issue of fault and negligence in any personal injury case is always an issue, however, in seeking money for a client who was the victim of a car accident caused by another. Being informed as to how insurance policy limits and fault impact a case is crucial to a clients overall understanding of their claim for damages and the litigation process.
-Dawn Turner

Personal injury attorneys deal with insurance companies on a regular basis. Understanding how car insurance companies work is a matter of interest to both the victims of car accidents as well as the negligent driver who caused it.
When you buy your automobile insurance policy, you are paying your insurance company (also called your "insurer") to assume a limited monetary risk over any accident in which you are involved. The company can afford this type of economic roulette because it has millions of premium paying policyholders, only a small fraction of whom will be involved in accidents. Even then, the portion of accidents involving significant injury represents a small percentage of those accidents. Personal injury attorneys always look to the policy limits first when evaluating a claim.
You, understandably, obtain automobile accident insurance because the risk of going uninsured is too great. The hardship of an accident without insurance protection would be economically devastating which is why many states including Florida and Kentucky legally require at least minimum coverage.
Most insurance companies try to hedge the odds in their favor by screening their customers, accepting only good drivers, or charging young or high-risk drivers higher premiums. They then try to maximize their profits by wisely investing your premium dollars and carefully scrutinizing policy claims before paying out any money following a personal injury attorney or law firm submitting a demand for monetary damages. More information about understanding car insurance in Florida see Florida personal injury, for Louisville Kentucky, visit Louisville Insurance Claims.
-Dawn Turner

Making a deal at the scene of a car accident resulting in personal injury is one of the biggest that a victim can make according to most personal injury lawyers. The fact is that you are permitted to wait until you get away from the accident scene and have some time to calm down before contacting your insurer. Ninety-nine per cent of the time there is no reason to make a quick cash deal with the other driver. If the other driver is clearly at fault, admits it, and offers a few hundred dollars to resolve the situation, injury attorneys’ suggest you do everything listed in the above sections and politely ask that you be given a day or two to consider the offer. You need to give your body and your common sense some time to relax and take inventory. If you leave with $200 dollars in your pocket and no information about the other driver, or even worse, no names of witnesses, you may be paying for your own medical treatment when your back starts to stiffen or your neck starts to hurt. Always take your time, and if a day or two later you are feeling fine, you can then decide whether a couple of hundred dollars is reasonable compensation. If the other driver really wants to keep his/her insurer out of the picture, the offer should still be available. If not, you have all the information you need to make an insurance claim. Of course the best cause of action in any automobile accident resulting in personal injury is to contact a qualified Fort Lauderdale personal injury attorney.

If you are at fault and want to settle the claim at the scene, the cash you give away will not necessarily stop the other person from making a claim against your insurance policy. The only way to bar future claims relating to the accident is to obtain an enforceable "release from liability" agreement that has been drafted by a law firm qualified to handle insurance settlements. A verbal agreement to forego future claims in exchange for a small amount of cash, made in the heat of the moment after the accident, is all to often difficult to establish in court, especially if the person later proves to be seriously injured and is represented by reputable counsel.
Contributed by Dawn Turner

The personal injury lawyers at Alitowski & Moore are now proud to announce the opening of their new office in Louisville Kentucky.

Personal injury attorneys often explain that the most distressing aspect of many accident recovery experiences is that most of the traumatic aftereffects could be mitigated, if not avoided altogether. Often the only barrier separating you from a safe, passage to health is information. It is no mystery why many of you sincerely feel that your victimization continued long after the broken glass settled. If only you knew what to expect of insurance companies, attorneys, physicians, and the myriad of others involved in the accident recovery maze; if only you knew how best to take control of your physical, economic, and psychological healing, much of your trauma could have been alleviated. The attorneys of Alitowski & Moore, P.A. are available to help you through this process and seek the maximum monetary award possible for your injuries. Our lawyers have offices in South Florida and Louisville Kentucky.