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!
After a car accident (crash), people often worry about filing on their automobile insuranace for fear their rates will be raised. In Florida, the good news is that is illegal. The link to the Florida Statute is below for you, but summarized the insurance company should not raise your rates if your accident involves any of the following situations:
If you believe your case falls into one of these situations and you would like help on this or any other matter involving a car or motorcycle accident, then please feel free to contact us today at 850-785-3400.
I want to congratulate you for taking the time and reading this information entitled “How to Avoid 7 Common and Costly Mistakes After You Are In an Accident.”
The reason I am congratulating you is because you are spending valuable time right now learning about what happens after you’ve been injured in and after an accident so that you can best protect you, your family and ultimately your future.
It cannot possibly cover all of the details involved in a case, but it can give you a good outline of how most personal injury cases work. I believe that by reading this document in its entirety, you will have much more knowledge and you will feel much better about some steps you can take to protect yourself if you are ever in an accident.
The first thing I want to cover briefly is the components of a claim after an accident or after someone has been injured. The first thing to remember is that the person who is injured or the person who has property damage or the person who seeks to make a claim always has the burden of proof. This means that it is always on that person and their attorney to make the claim.
In doing this there are 3 components that we need to review.
1. Liability : What the other party did wrong.
2. Injuries caused by the other persons fault.
3. Damages caused by the other person’s fault.
In essence it is up to the injured party and their attorney to show the other party was at fault, and to show that injuries were caused by the other party’s fault, and that those injuries resulted in damages.
Examples of Damages: medical bills, lost wages, the need for surgery, having surgery, permanent scarring and disfigurement, pain and suffering and the inability to lead the same life you did prior to the incident.
It is always the attorney’s job and the client’s job to show that the other person’s fault or negligence caused those injuries or damages.
The first mistake is not photographing the vehicle seen and visible injuries that a person has after an incident. Because we just learned as always the injured party and their attorney’s job to prove their injuries and damages, the taking of photographs of the vehicles at the scene and any visible injuries is absolutely critical. It is so much easier to prove how the accident happened or where an injury to a person occurred with photographs taken quickly after the accident where these things are depicted. The scene should also be photographed especially if it involves construction or there are any parts of the scene that may be changing rapidly.
The second mistake is not seeking prompt and consistent medical treatment. Again, if you have a personal injury case the medical records and the doctor’s opinion is going to be absolutely critical to your case. Sometimes people delay in seeking treatment and they think that they will be better after the incident. The better route is to go and seek treatment sooner, have your injuries completely documented and then if you are better after the fact then that is fine. But you have protected yourself in the event your injuries were to continue.
By delaying and seeking treatment you are opening yourself up to a problem with causation. It is always incumbent upon you to prove that the other person’s fault caused your injuries.
Delaying and seeking medical treatment from the date of the incident forward starts to create a causation problem because the other side will make an argument which does have some effect. If this person was injured why did they wait 2 months, 3 months, 4 months from the day of the incident to ever go to the doctor?
The third mistake is not explaining or listing all of the injuries to the doctor no matter how minor. Again, this is aimed toward the issue of proving causation. Many times people go to the doctor and they may have two things wrong with them and a third thing that is minor but they only listed the major problems. The problem then becomes they start doing better in one area, but after they feel better in one area then another problem arises.
For example, they had a back problem that was severe and a knee problem that was minor and they did not mention the knee problem. Later on if their back does better but their knee causes them more trouble they then have the same causation problem because there will not be any documentation in their records showing that the knee was injured at the time of the incident.
The fourth mistake is giving a taped statement without legal advice. You have to remember that the insurance companies have handled thousands and thousands of accident and injury causes. As a result they understand what we were talking about briefly and they understand that any liability they can shift back on you decreases the amount of any payout they have to pay, therefore, if they can in a taped statement that you give almost immediately after an accident put liability back on you, in other words, fault back on you whether you realize it or not, then they are helping their insured and they are helping themselves because they are decreasing the amount of the ultimate payout they may have to make you.
You can also hurt yourself with this mistake depending on how the questions are answered. Perhaps you were just not listening closely enough to the questions. The reason the taped statement without legal advice can be so detrimental to your case is because it is your words, you say at the end of the statement that everything has been true and correct to the best of your knowledge, and it is your voice on the tape. If you say anything inaccurately, it is almost impossible to overcome.
The fifth mistake is signing forms without legal advice. This should never be done without seeking the advice of an attorney if you want to make sure you’re protected. This is because the forms may ultimately cause you to jeopardize some of your rights in another area. They may cause you to extinguish your claim all together without realizing it. They may release your medical records to the insurance company and if this happens you really have no absolute way of knowing all the medical records that the insurance company obtains. You also may believe you have settled and done the right thing only to realize that you inadvertently extinguished another claim you may have had. So, signing a release or any other kind of form without seeking the advice of an attorney is something that should be avoided.
The sixth mistake is failing to obtain the names and the addresses of any witnesses who may have witnessed the incident. This gives you someone to follow-up with in the event liability does become questioned or there is something at the scene that becomes pivotal. Collecting names of witnesses is very important for your case.
The need to prove your case rests on you and your attorney. Doing the small things correctly is what leads to the best result in the long run. Obtaining the names and addresses of any witnesses is extremely important. Follow up with them to find out the names and addresses of other witnesses. If it is on the police report that is a good way to start. Go back to the location and see if anyone witnessed the incident. All of these things can be ways to determine the names and addresses of possible witnesses to your case.
The seventh mistake that people make after an accident is they choose an attorney that is not experienced in personal injury litigation or they choose an attorney that they never meet with individually. The proof of your case ultimately depends on you and your attorney and the documentation for your claim, the medical records, the photographs of the injuries at the scene of the vehicles, perhaps video, taped statements of witnesses.
You want to make sure that you have an attorney who is experienced in the area of personal injury litigation and the attorney should be able to share with you cases similar to yours that they have handled and the general results of those cases.
Further, if the attorney is the one you are retaining and the attorney is the one who is willing to help you in the event that you’re not able to meet with that attorney for whatever reason then that should be a red flag to you because that is the person you are trusting to see your case through to a good conclusion and not being able to meet with them is very difficult to have the level of trust that you need.
In a personal injury case the three things you want to avoid are uncertainty, doubt and confusion. The things we have just gone over and the topics we discussed are all designed to help remove those uncertainty, doubt and confusion from your case. By doing so, you are making your case as strong as possible and you are helping yourself obtain the recovery that you are entitled to after an incident.
This article has been provided as an overview for you to help you be able to protect yourself in the event you’ve been injured. I hope that you’ve found it informative and helpful. If at any time you need some additional information please feel free to contact our office at 850-785-3400. Please feel free to ask to speak with me, Douglas Dykes. I would be happy to take your phone call.
You may also visit our website for more information at www.Syfrett-Dykes.com Again, I thank you for your time. I hope you found this information helpful and I wish the very best. God Bless.
There is no such thing in Florida as full coverage automobile insurance. After years and years of practicing personal injury law and helping hundreds of people after being injured in crashes, it became apparent to me that everyone thought they had full coverage insurance when in fact they did not.
In Florida, there are many different types of automobile insurance coverage. There are coverages called comprehensive and collision, which can help take care of someone’s vehicle if it is damaged in a crash or comprehensive coverage can help take care of someone’s vehicle if it’s damaged by a fire, theft or vandalism. Additionally there is a coverage called partial injury protection that pays your medical bills and your lost wages to a certain limit without regard to fault.
There’s also a coverage called bodily injury liability. There’s also a coverage called uninsured motorist coverage. As a result, I wrote this book called ‘The Ultimate Consumer Guide To Automobile Insurance Coverage in Florida’ to help people understand — before an accident — the types of coverage they need to protect themselves and their family. You cannot buy the insurance coverage you need after the fact. You’ve got to do it ahead of time and this book will help you prepare and protect yourself and your family.
Living on the Gulf carries something we all have to be aware of is the potential threat of disaster by hurricane, potentially a tornado. But primarily, we’re worried about hurricanes here on the Gulf Coast. I want to encourage you in addition to taking the time to planning your escape route, to plan that you’ve got the proper batteries and to plan that you’ve got your loved ones taken care of.In addition to the great information provided at the National Hurricane Center, I want to encourage you to take time to have the contents of your home properly documented so that in the event disaster does strike, you don’t then have to go to your home or insurance company and justify to them the contents of your house and the things that you’ve lost.What better way to do it than by having a video where you walk through your house and go room by room, explaining on videotape — and ultimately to the adjuster if you’re hit by a storm — what’s in your house, the contents of your house and all the items that are contained. Doing that with just a simple walk through with a the video at least once a year is really the best way to protect your belongings in the event a hurricane or other disaster should strike your home.Full Coverage MythThere is no such thing in Florida as full coverage automobile insurance. After years and years of practicing personal injury law and helping hundreds of people after being injured in crashes, it became apparent to me that everyone thought they had full coverage insurance when in fact they did not.In Florida, there are many different types of automobile insurance coverage. There are coverages called comprehensive and collision, which can help take care of someone’s vehicle if it is damaged in a crash.There is comprehensive coverage that can help take care of someone’s vehicle if it’s damaged by a fire, theft or vandalism.Additionally there is a coverage called personal injury protection that pays your medical bills and your lost wages to a certain limit without regard to fault.There are also coverages called bodily injury liability and uninsured motorist coverage. As a result, I wrote a book called ‘The Ultimate Consumer Guide To Automobile Insurance Coverage in Florida’ to help people understand before an accident the types of coverage they need, to not only protect themselves but also protect their family. You can’t buy the insurance coverage you need after the fact. You’ve got to do it ahead of time and this book will help you prepare and protect yourself and your family. Please contact us today to receive your copy of this book in e-book format.Doug Dykes
Let’s face it, we all want to be protected by our car insurance. The bad news is no single car insurance coverage takes care of everything you need in the event of a crash. The good news is you can be protected with some very basic information.
First, you need to know the car insurance lingo.
PIP – stands for personal injury protection. Pays your medical bills and lost wages (stops at $10,000) no matter who is at fault. IT IS REQUIRED IN FLORIDA.
PD – stands for property damage. If you run into someone and its your fault – it pays to fix their car. Minimum limit is $10,000 and IT IS REQUIRED IN FLORIDA.
No other coverages are required in Florida at this time!
Now, we have the question – what pays to fix my car if I was at fault? This would be your collision coverage – if you purchased this. What pays to fix my car if a tree falls on it? This would be your comprehensive coverage – if you purchased this. What pays for my injuries and any losses above the $10,000 paid by PIP. This would be your Uninsured/Underinsured Motorists coverage – if you purchased it. So, in short, please don’t fall into the FULL COVERAGE COMFORT ZONE. I call it a comfort zone because people think they have FULL COVERAGE and they are okay so they forget about their car insurance altogether. But, when the crash happens, and then its too late, they learn for the first time there is no such thing as full coverage.
For more detailed information on this topic please download my book for free at our website – The Ultimate Consumer Guide to Automobile Insurance in Florida. As a bonus, in the back of the book you will also find several great tips on how you can save money when you are buying your car insurance and still get the coverage you need.
Take care and God Bless!
Douglas B. Dykes, Esq.
ddykes@syfrett-dykes.com
(850) 785-3400
I want to talk to you today about something very important and that is what is your plan in the event of an automobile accident. These happen on a regular basis and the problem is we don’t take the time to stop and think about when it happens to us what are we going to do?
So I want to encourage you today to think about what am I going to do when this happens to me, and planning is what prevents problems. In life we know that things are going to happen, we know that unfortunately people are going to get sick so we go out and buy health insurance. We know that unfortunately we are going to have a car breakdown so we go out and get routine maintenance on our cars. Well in life we also know that automobile accidents are going to happen. It’s just going to happen; it is a fact of life.
I started out with some of the power players, not what Doug Dykes told to me but think about what some of the people that are a whole lot smarter than me have said – Benjamin Franklin tells us that an investment in knowledge always pays the best interest. That is what we are here about today is some knowledge and some planning for you. He also tells us by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. Absolutely true, absolutely true.
So what we are going to do today is we are going to game plan for each and every one of us so that if and when our time comes and we have a car accident which won’t be because we did something wrong, it will be because unfortunately someone else wasn’t paying attention, they were talking on the cell phone, they were looking other ways, they were driving like I drive and a wreck has occurred. Final quote to get us going Paul Bear Bryant – “Have a plan, follow the plan and you will be surprised how successful you can be, most people don’t have a plan that is why it is easy to be most folks.”
So let’s keep going this morning. Before you’re in the car accident you need to plan. There are some things that you need to do. You can’t wait until after it has happened and then say I am going to fix it now. You have to do a couple of things ahead of time. What you have to do ahead of time is go ahead and realize that unfortunately the other party, their plan does not include paying your bills, and their plan does not include paying your medical bills. That is not on their agenda so you need to realize that and go ahead and take the steps upfront.
The number one thing I want you to do is review your auto insurance policy. I brought mine today I am going to pass it around. If you need help reviewing yours I will be glad to speak with you. Paula Harris from Bars Insurance will be glad to help you with that. Basically there is a coverage called, UM/UIM coverage that stands for under insured / under insurance motor coverage. If you don’t have it you need it. If you don’t have it you need it; If you don’t have it you need it. That’s how serious I am about this. Always buy it, always make it stackable. If you want to know more about automobile insurance just go to our website I have got the book on The Ultimate Consumer Guide – Automobile Insurance. It is there for you, it has got great information.
We don’t have time to go into all the details today, but on the UM coverage that is the first thing you have got to do to get your plan in order. The first thing you have to do. I am going to pass around, I brought today my own UM policy, my own automobile insurance policy and I also brought with me what the Florida legislator says about this type of coverage. I think it is very significant. It says whenever you don’t buy it you have to sign something that reads as follows – “You are electing not to purchase certain valuable coverage which protects you and your family, or you are purchasing uninsured motorist limits less than your liability limits when you sign this form. Please read carefully.”
That’s our warning folks. They are telling us stop and get this coverage. They are urging us, they are encouraging us, and this comes from Florida statute 627.727. Now one of the things I want you to do when you call your insurance agent, if they say ‘Well you know, that’s not really that important, and some people if you have got health insurance you don’t need it, and if you have got this you don’t need it’ you tell them ‘No madam, Doug Dykes and the Florida legislator said I need to buy this coverage and I am going to go ahead and buy it. So I am going to go ahead and pass that around for you take a look at it. There is something on the second side of the flyer that we are going to talk about here in a second as we get ready to close.
Life tip – when you buy that insurance always buy it like you are going to use it. Always buy it like you’re going to use it. Don’t buy it just to get a tag and just to get title insurance for your car so you can drive – buy it like you might need it.
Next thing, planning ahead prevents problems and financial losses – don’t plan on the person that hits you to take care of your problem. When you can’t get to work that is going to be your problem not their problem. When your car is in the shop for three weeks that is your problem; when you have medical bills that is your problem. Don’t plan on their insurance company to take care of your problems. This is about you and individual responsibility and you taking the steps now to make sure you are protected and so is your family.
We just heard a great presentation about the need for planning for college, go ahead and start planning now. If you take the steps and do the right thing whenever your child or grandchild is 18 years old college is in the bank. It’s paid for, it’s done but you have got to start. You have got to have a plan.
As we just mentioned the car crash is your problem, it may have been caused by somebody else but now it is your problem, so we have already got step one in the bank. We brought uninsured motorist coverage, and my policy is passing around, 35 cents a day is what I pay for $250,000 of uninsured motorist coverage, 35 cents a day. Is my family and my career worth 35 cents a day? Is your family and your career worth 35 cents a day? Absolutely, positively.
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The insurance company, do they have a plan? Absolutely, they have a plan. It’s not a bad plan; it’s a good plan. Here is their plan – collect premiums and minimize losses. It’s not bad. They got to do something else; they want to increase the difference between the two. They want more in the middle okay and they want to do… the realization is not a bad plan; it’s not a bad plan.
We all work hard every day; we want to keep more of what we earn. That is just good common sense. Don’t blame the insurance company. They are simply using a smart business plan; a smart business plan.
Today is your opportunity for you to go ahead and get a plan in order for yourself and for your family so that you have got everything in order if and when the day comes you are prepared. Businesses need documentation, and they want solid reasons to spend money. Every business is like that. If I go out to Kevin Viven Photography and say “Look Kevin, you need to put me on a retainer to help me to help you whenever you have problems” he’s going to want to know why, why, why.
Insurance companies are like businesses they want to know why, they want documentation, they want good reasons. What we go ahead with this plan we are getting fixed with and ready to unfold for is go ahead and realize that upfront and make sure that we have our plan in place. Your plan starts today and it starts right now.
Your insurance policy, what you see passing around is called a declarations page and that is where you see the uninsured motorist coverage. You have got to make sure you have that because without that you are taking a big chance that the other driver took the time to buy the adequate kind of coverage to take care of you and your family. Under Florida law, the other driver is not required to carry something that is called bodily injury liability coverage. That is the coverage that comes in and helps you in the event you have a broken arm and can’t work for three months. That is the coverage that helps you in the event that your child was going to be a model now they have got a scar on their face and they are not going to be a model anymore.
Bodily injury coverage is what helps you and the Florida legislator, at this point doesn’t require the average motorist to carry it so the way you protect yourself is buying all the UM coverage you can. In the event of an accident make sure the police are called and a report is filed. There is so much critical information that is obtained on the scene, by the authorities that you are going to need in the event that you are going to take the steps necessary to really protect yourself and your family. Seek medical treatment if you are injured. It sounds simple but you need to go ahead and take that step and get checked out, you need to take that step and get checked out.
If you have got further questions by all means call me. I am happy to answer them. Just because you call me that doesn’t mean I am your lawyer; just because you called me that doesn’t mean that I have got to handle everything for you. It just means that I am there to help you because I want you to have a plan. I want you to have a good plan, a plan that works.
Along with calling me don’t give a taped statement to the insurance company, don’t do it – wait and talk with an attorney that is on your side first and figure out what the insurance company’s plan is and then try and help yourself. Go ask any criminal offence attorney you know and say “What is one of the number one things that happens to people that causes them more problems after something bad goes wrong than anything else?” and they will tell you the simple Miranda Rules. You have the right to remain silent. They blow that rule and those statements stay with them from then on, and they haunt them and they haunt them. Unfortunately your taped statement can haunt you after an auto accident. Don’t give one until you know what the questions are going to be and you have had time to think about what your answers should be.
The next thing is just some simple photographs, pictures are worth a thousand words still holds true, your injuries, the vehicle, the scene, and then finally there is another book for you called The Ultimate Consumer Guide to Personal Injury Cases also available on our website syfrettdykes.com. Start reading that, get that knowledge. Get that knowledge.
So here is your plan summarized, five points; your policy, the police, the physician, the phone and photos – and what you can do by doing that is you have got a plan, you are ready to go so in the event that this comes into your life, because it is going to come in a millisecond. You aren’t going to be expecting it and it is going to rock your world unfortunately, so what you can do is go ahead and take those steps today to be prepared.
I want to mention one thing before I close, also passing around the folder is something that deals with windstorm mitigation, and windstorm mitigation really has nothing to do with my practice area, nothing at all, but in Florida the legislator passed a law that said you’re entitled to windstorm credits in the event that your house gets inspected by the proper person, and those credits in essence means money in your pockets. Well, you get that knowledge and you say that is wonderful. The knowledge you get today you say that’s wonderful, but until you take action on that knowledge it is not going to help you at all. The article is passed around about windstorm credits was something that come into me and I sat there and I put in on the shelf, and I didn´t do anything about it and I came back to it and my mom said I got this in the paper and I did this and it really helped me out a lot.
I said if it is good enough for my mom then it is good enough for me. So you will see in the folder that is being passed around I finally took action and yesterday I got two checks in the mail, one for $477 and one for $17, and it made my day. It’s because I took action, because I took action and that is what I encourage you to do today. Take action; put your future and safety not in jeopardy, by having a simple plan; the policy, the police, the physician, the phone, the photos.
At Florida Statute § 627.711 the Florida Legislature passed a law that requires insurance companies to issue discounts if your home has certain features that complies with certain recent building code requirements. Rather than me bore you with all the details of the law, I have created a simple easy checklist for you to follow to save YOU money.
Download a free PDF about how you can save money by implementing hurricane-resistant features in your home.
You’ve probably heard that statement many times before. Waiting for a deposition to start recently that old adage became even clearer to me. A deposition is where the attorneys go and talk to a witness prior to trial to learn what the witness is going to say at trial. The witness is under oath so his story can’t change later without sacrificing his/her credibility. As we were waiting to start, I heard the Defense attorney make an interesting statement. His statement was it is “always easier to tear down than it is to build.” In today’s legal world that couldn’t be any more accurate. For the injured person to make a recovery and receive justice after their accident, they literally have to build their case. In building their case, they have the burden of producing evidence evidence to support each and every element of their claim and that evidence has to be strong enough and persuasive enough to convince a jury that the injured party is entitled to justice.
What does the Defense/Insurance company have to do? Tear down the injured party’s case. Find any weaknesses. Exploit the weaknesses. Attack the weakness. Dig. Dig. Then dig some more. Create confusion, uncertainty and doubt in the mind of the juror’s and the foundation of the case is crumbling. Net result – the insurance company pays less or nothing on the claims and makes larger profits. The injured party does not receive justice or they are forced to settle their claim at a substantial discount. Don’t let this happen to you! Get good solid information about how injury cases are handled and what you really need to do to protect yourself and your rights. Don’t go it alone. The insurance company has been practicing and while they are not perfect at defeating claims – they are very, very good at it. Good luck with your case and if I can answer any questions call me at (850) 785-3400. Take care and God Bless! Doug
