Syfrett & Dykes | Panama City, Florida Personal Injury Attorneys

Chick-Fil-A Leadercast 2012

Syfrett & Dykes is proud to have sponsored the very successful Chick-Fil-A Leadercast in Panama City on May 4, 2012! It was a great event. Can’t wait for CFAL 2013!

Yes, after the 2012 Leglislative Session that is new score for Florida motorists after January 1, 2013. A huge sweeping change took place in the 2012 session that has severely LIMITED the rights of the Florida motorists after a crash.

This is information you need to know and must know to protect your family in today’s new insurance world. The reason the score is 14 to ZERO is 14 DAYS after your crash is ALL the time you have to seek medical treatment or you will ZERO PIP benefits after your crash. In my 18 years of practicing law, this is the very first time I have heard of any legislation actually setting a trigger of such a short period of time to take action or lose all of your benefits. Granted, it is the law and the Legislature has the right to pass laws they deem constitutional, but this new law feels like it was written specifically for the insurance industry and in favor of the insurance industry. As a Florida motorists you are REQUIRED to buy this coverage and have it in place on your Florida vehicle. So, the insurance industry is guaranteed a premium that we Floridians have no choice about. Then, if something happens and you don’t get treatment within the first 14 days after your crash, then by law your insurer owes you ZERO for no-fault medical benefits and lost wages.

BUT WAIT, there’s more. If you do seek medical treatment within the first 14 days, but you do not have an “emergency medical condition” as defined by the new law, then your benefits are reduced from $10,000 to only $2,500. Again, a pretty good deal if you write insurance policies and in my opinion a very bad deal if you are having to pay insurance premiums. So, under the “new law,” how many of us really believe that our PIP premiums will be reduced by 75% like our coverage is? It’s okay, I didn’t think you would believe that.

BUT WAIT, there’s even more. Let’s assume Dr. A ceritifies you have an “emergency medical condition” and therefore you continue treating past the $2,500 mark. Well, requiring the insurance company to pay at that point is still a little too much to ask so now the insurance company has what I refer to as a “clawback” provision. That’s right, let’s assume the insurance company gets a doctor to say in retrospect you did not have an “emergency medical condition” then they don’t have to pay anything above $2,500.

This law was supposedly passed due to “tons and tons” of fraud in South Florida. My issue is then go to South Florida and arrest the people guilty of fraud and prosecute them. Don’t pass a law that may as well be titled the “Early Christmas Present for Insurance Companies 2012 Law.”

For more on what PIP is supposed to do and what PIP used to do, please see my first book, The Ultimate Consumer Guide to Automobile Insurance in Florida that is available for free from our website.

Until next time, if I can help you in anyway, then please feel free to contact me at (850) 785-3400 or e-mail me at ddykes@syfrett-dykes.com.

1. Does the attorney have experience with my type of personal injury case?
2. Has the attorney handled similar cases on a regular basis, or only occasionally?
3. Is the attorney willing to share the results of his or her previous cases — the good, the bad and the ugly — that are similar to my case?

While attorneys are often happy to tell prospective clients about their case victories, they should also be willing to answer questions about cases they ultimately lost. Keep in mind that not every case can be resolved favorably for every client. Learning about an attorney’s “lost” cases, however, may provide insight into whether this attorney is the right one for your case. It may tell you something about the attorney’s honesty, and it may help you determine what the attorney learned that would benefit you in your pursuit of justice for your injury.  It is the attorney’s overall practice of  law that you will want to consider.

(Excerpt taken from Doug Dykes’ new book, Pursuing Justice for the Injured.)

Young Frankenstein is at the Marina Civic Center Monday night! Enter here for 2 free tickets ($100 value!)

We’ll announce the randomly-drawn winner on our Facebook page this Friday morning!  Winner can pick up tickets at Syfrett & Dykes downtown office on Friday or Monday.  Event is next Monday night, October 31!

Congrats to Kristi Ford, our winner!

As high school graduation approaches, many teens will be getting a set of wheels for the very first time.  If you are helping  your teen buy their first car, please take a look at Consumer Report’s safest cars for teen drivers.

The Safe Teen and Novice Driver Uniform Protection Act of 2011 (STANDUP), or S. 528, is a bill that would raise the minimum driving age to 18 and save a lot of lives in the process, according to statistics.

Introduced by New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand on March 9, 2011, this bill would provide driver safety grants to states with graduated driver licensing (GDL) laws, which include night-time driving and passenger restrictions for young drivers.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 175 lives could be saved and about 350,000 injuries prevented each year if every state had a strong GDL policy.  Graduated Driving Laws help new drivers gain experience under low-risk conditions by granting driving privileges in stages, the CDC said.

In the past decade, more than 90,000 Americans were killed in motor vehicle crashes involving drivers between 15 and 20 years of age, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Young drivers between ages 16 and 20 have a fatality rate that is 4 times higher than the rate for drivers between ages 25 and 70, the administration said.

So is it time to make some changes to prevent needless fatalities and personal injury caused by young, inexperienced drivers?  While it might not be popular with teen-agers, it seems to make good sense according to statistics.

Proper inflation of tires is very important to the safety of driving your automobile or motorcycle.  And it’s fuel efficient to boot!  See our give-away on facebook and get those tires properly inflated this weekend!

For information on proper tire pressure, visit this link:http://cars.cartalk.com/content/advice/tirepressure.html

Distracted driving is causing way too many deaths and personal injuries.  This could be a great solution to keep your family members (especially teen-age drivers) from being tempted to text and talk while driving.  Check out Protector.com today!

If  you are injured, you have the right to know how much insurance coverage the at-fault person has. Under Florida Statute § 627.4137 , upon written request from the injured party or their representative, the insurance company should disclose the following:

• The amount of their limits in the case
• Any coverage defenses in the case (reasons not to honor their obligations under the insurance contract)
• Any other coverages known to them in this case.

Don’t make decisions regarding your legal health without knowing all the facts. If you need assistance in any area regarding a Florida Personal Injury Case we would be happy to talk with you about this at no charge at all.

I am often asked how can I settle my case by myself without  getting into trouble? The good news is they are asking the question! Just like no one would try to fly an airplane without some guidance you should not try to settle your personal injury case without some guidance either. Here are three quick tips:

1. Are you certain you know everything about your injury? No one else knows your body better than you do. Are you still on pain medication? Are you still actively treating? Is there talk of a future surgery or extended future medical care? If the answer is yes unknown to any of these questions, then you are probably not ready to settle solo.

2. Do you know how much your medical bills total and what you owe your medical providers? One of the goals of the personal injury settlement is to close this chapter of your life by helping you physically, emotionally and financially. By not dealing with your medical bills you are legally not fulfilling your obligations to the medical providers that helped you when you were injured and needed it most. It will nag at you if you don’t do it. Also, not paying them when your settlement comes in is going to create bigger problems down the road in many ways. You will not have closure. The bills will keep coming. Secondly, if you have a flare up or need additional treatment, you will be starting from scratch with a provider that doesn’t know your history because you won’t return where you know you left a $1,500 unpaid bill. This will cost you more money in the long run because the new doctor will be starting from scratch. Thirdly, have you ever worked and then had your employer fail to pay you? How did you feel/how would you feel? Well, it is the same thing when the doctor treats and you fail to pay him or her. Do the right thing here and your future physical, emotional and finanical health well being will be much better.

3. Do you know how much insurance the other driver had? Under Florida law you are entitled to have this information disclosed to you by their insurance company. See Florida Statute §627.4137. Your case value does not relate to the amount of insurance coverage the at-fault party has, but their insurance coverage is information you need to know.

If the at-fault party only has $10K in limits and you are offered a $10K settlement, then how much better are you really going to be able to do if you sue them and have to collect individually from them? On the other hand, if you are still uncertain about your injuries, and the at-fault party has $250K in coverage, why settle for $5K when they have plenty of coverage to take care of you until your injuries are healed?  Remember, once you sign and settle you are done FOREVER.

Settling without any attorney is not without risk,  just like flying without an experienced pilot is not without risk. However, if your case is small and you are determined to settle solo, please remember these tips for a safe and successful flight. Naturally, if you want to speak an attorney about your case at no obligation at all then I am only an e-mail or a phone call away. Just contacting me does not mean I’m your attorney. It doesn’t mean I’m going to “move in” on your case. I provide quality legal advice in the area of personal injury cases as a community service all the time and I’d be glad to help you too. Until next time, Safe Flying!