Car Accident Attorney Miramar Beach & Destin
Each time you pull out onto the open road, you put your trust in countless strangers with whom you share the road. You trust that they have active insurance, that their driver’s license is valid, and most importantly, that they will obey the same rules and regulations as you while driving in a prudent manner to avoid an accident. This behavior is enforced by the Florida Highway Patrol, Destin Police Department, Miramar Beach Police, Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Department, and a number of other traffic enforcement agencies. However, no amount of enforcement can guarantee that a dangerous driver will not cause a crash.
An accident caused by a reckless or negligent driver entitles the victims to seek comprehensive compensation, either directly from the driver through a lawsuit or through the driver’s liability insurance.
Contact Fasig | Brooks For a Free Consultation Today
We offer a free initial consultation for victims of car accidents to discuss the situation and get a better sense of how we can work together. After an accident, especially one that causes serious injuries, a victim can be quickly overwhelmed by the obligations they must attend to, including filing a claim, managing the personal injury claims investigation, and working with adjusters, all while trying to focus on their personal recovery, impacts to their employment, and the difficulty this type of accident causes to their lives.
Even a brief conversation with a personal injury attorney after a car accident in Destin or Miramar Beach can provide substantial emotional relief once you know an experienced legal professional is ready to fight for the money you deserve today. We encourage you to connect with us as soon as possible so that we can begin representing you through the claims process and fighting to get the money you rightfully deserve.
Who Caused Your Car Accident?
The first question that car accident attorneys will need to answer regarding personal injury claims is who caused the accident and how. This is why you need to call 911 as soon as possible — a county sheriff will be able to gather evidence and information for an accident report as EMTs provide car accident victims with emergency care. Then, the fire department will be able to secure the scene. However, the accident report is only a tiny part of the body of evidence that may be called upon to determine exact liability.
If possible, take a video of the accident scene and provide a narrative over the video pointing out specifics such as which direction you and the other driver were traveling, specific hazards or obstacles that may have contributed to the crash, and more. Memory becomes unreliable after a short time, so the more contemporaneous notes and evidence you can compile, the better.
Comparative Fault in Florida Car Accidents
In some motor vehicle crashes, it is abundantly clear that one individual is entirely responsible for an accident. Still, there are other instances where the victim may have potentially contributed to the accident by not taking appropriate defensive actions or another issue that the insurance company will focus on. This is where the concept of pure comparative fault comes into play.
Comparative fault allows a victim to assume partial responsibility for an accident while still being entitled to compensation for their damages. Once the percentage of fault the victim is liable for is determined, this same percentage is deducted from their final settlement. For example, if you are in an accident that someone else caused but it is determined that you were driving over the speed limit, you could assume 10% of the fault. If your final damages amounted to $100,000, your settlement would therefore be $90,000, as the total was reduced by 10%.
While this law is fundamental (otherwise, even 1% of fault would bar an auto accident victim from seeking compensation), insurance companies will seek to leverage this law to their advantage by working to pin additional blame on a victim to save money. Miramar and Destin car accident lawyers will fight to ensure that you do not accept any fault you don’t deserve to get you the money you are rightfully entitled to.
How Much Is Your Accident Claim Worth?
Once fault is established — or while your Destin & Miramar Beach car accident attorney is negotiating the final breakdown of personal injury comparative fault — the next step is to calculate the total damages you have suffered from your car crash. Again, this process is more complicated than car accident victims may assume because compensatory damages are divided into two distinct parts that require close attention to detail and a clear understanding of how to calculate the non-economic impacts of a crash.
Economic Damages
Economic damages are the basis of a personal injury claim, and insurance companies will attempt to focus on these solely without paying for any non-economic damages if at all possible. Economic damages are the impacts of your car accident that have measurable dollar values. These include the cost of your medical treatment, the amount of your property damage, and the effects on your earnings that your Destin or Miramar Beach auto accident has caused.
Following fatal car accidents, personal injury lawyers will work through wrongful death cases to recover compensation beyond what would be acquired for a non-fatal personal injury lawsuit. This includes things like the long-term loss of financial support, end-of-life hospital bills, burial costs, and more. These costs exceed your personal injury protection limits, which are considered “no-fault” after a Destin or Miramar Beach auto accident.
While economic damages are personal injury matters that are relatively simple to calculate — since most come with a receipt, invoice, bill, or earnings statement — there are long-term damages from a Destin or Miramar Beach car accident that often go overlooked in personal injury cases. There are also many “minor” damages that simply aren’t considered at all due to their seeming insignificance.
The car accident attorneys at our firm will make sure to compile all of the economic damages you have suffered in your car wreck and will work aggressively to calculate the long-term impacts and costs fairly.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages are more complicated to calculate than economic damages because these damages are the “intangible” impacts of an accident like your pain and suffering, your emotional condition, and more. There are several methods that an experienced personal injury attorney will use to reach a fair calculation for the money their client deserves.
Calculating these damages is only the first step, though, because your lawyer will then need to negotiate to reach an out-of-court settlement or may need to file a lawsuit with the Florida courts and prepare for a trial.
Common Types of Vehicle Accidents in Miramar Beach & Destin
These are just a few of the different types of motor vehicle crashes and wrongful death lawsuit cases that our law firm is experienced in handling in Destin, Miramar Beach, and beyond. Whether or not you see your accident below, contact our law office as soon as possible to take advantage of our legal services and get the support you deserve while we work with the insurance adjuster handling your auto accident case.
- Pedestrian Accidents
- Truck Accidents
- Reckless Driving Auto Accidents
- Drunk Driving Accidents
- Motorcycle Accidents
- Catastrophic Injury Cases
- Distracted Driving Auto Accidents
A car crash can be caused by a number of dangerous behaviors, including:
- Reckless Driving
- Drunk Driving
- Ignoring Speed Limits
- Distracted Driving
Again, whether or not you see the cause of your Destin or Miramar Beach car accident above, contact our legal team to discuss your car accident case with an experienced professional. With years of experience successfully handling a number of cases stemming from vehicle accidents, we are here to help.
Frequently Asked Questions About Destin Car Accidents
Is it worth getting a lawyer for a minor car accident?
The word “minor” is difficult to quantify, especially without taking a close look at the overall situation. Often, many people are led to believe that their accident is “minor” by the at-fault party’s insurance company, often because the insurer is hoping to settle the claim for as little as possible. This may not actually be the case, though.
The best way to determine whether or not it is worth hiring a lawyer (and whether or not your accident was actually “minor”) is to schedule a free consultation with our law firm to discuss the details of your accident. We will be able to understand things like the injuries you have sustained, the impacts that the crash has caused on your life, the events that led up to the accident, and more. From there, we will be able to determine whether or not your accident is, in fact, minor and whether or not it would be worth it to work with an attorney.
How much can someone sue for after a car accident in Florida?
The amount that a crash victim is owed after a car accident varies on a case-by-case basis due to a wide range of factors. Some of the most important variables that go into determining how much money a victim is owed are the cost of their medical bills and lost wages and the emotional and physical impacts that the accident has had on their life. These important factors will lead to a higher amount you are owed but do not tell the complete story of the damages you have suffered.
To determine how much you can seek in fair compensation, we will need to go through many details about your experience. Non-economic damages are equally important as economic damages but apply to issues that do not have measurable dollar values (as opposed to economic damages, which seek payment for dollar-measurable impacts). These damages, as with economic damages, are extremely specific to your unique situation and require a close look and ongoing investigation before reaching a figure that we will seek through settlement negotiations on your behalf.
When should you get a lawyer for a car accident?
The best time to get an attorney for your accident is before filing a claim with the other insurance company. Initiating the claims process is fairly simple, which is why many people take this step without speaking with an attorney. The moment an insurer is alerted to an accident that their client caused, they go into action, looking for every possible way to limit the final amount paid to the victim. This is accomplished through tactics, such as leveraging clerical or administrative errors that the victim commits, taking statements out of context and using them to pin additional fault on the victim, and more.
When you have a lawyer who initiates your claim and handles all communications with the insurer, you don’t need to worry about “gotcha” tactics that will twist your words and build an argument against paying you what you are rightfully owed. At the same time that your lawyer is building your case, you will be able to focus on your health and recovery without taking on the burden of handling your claim. We encourage you to reach out to us as soon as possible for a free consultation.
Schedule Your Free Consultation Today
The sooner you contact Fasig | Brooks to schedule a free consultation, the sooner you will be able to look to the future with a priority on your health and wellness. Our award-winning team of legal professionals is here to help you move forward with your life and get the money you rightfully deserve after suffering due to someone else’s negligence, recklessness, or otherwise dangerous behaviors on the road.
