25% CONTINGENCY FEES IN ALL CASES
Our fees are reduced from the customary 33-40% charged by most personal injury attorneys.
NO RECOVERY – NO FEES OR COSTS
We advance all costs to prosecute your claim. You owe us nothing if we don’t get recovery for you.
FREE NON-OBLIGATION CONSULTATIONS
Call us to see if you have a claim or if you need a second opinion on an existing claim.
How does a personal injury claim work?
A personal injury claim starts with an accident that causes injuries (physical and monetary damages). To get compensated, the injured person makes an insurance claim. The claim process is evidence-based.
Most personal injury claims are made against insurance coverage on the basis of negligence.
To be entitled to damages for negligence, the injured person must prove four elements by preponderance of the evidence (more convincing in comparison to the evidence introduced by the other side): duty, breach, causation, damages.
Some personal injury cases are based on strict liability (dog bites, defective products), which means that injured person does not need to prove fault, negligence, or intention.
For example, under the Florida’s dog bite statute, the injured person need only prove that the dog bit him/her or causes injury while in a public place or lawfully in a private place.
In product liability cases, the injured person need to prove that a product was defective when it left defendant’s control and was placed into stream of commerce and the defect was a legal cause of the injuries.
Factors that Drive Value of Personal Injury Case
Every personal injury case is different as it involves different parties, different accidents and/property damage, different injuries, different treatment, different insurance, etc.
The insurance companies’ payout or settlement depends on the individual circumstances of each case. For example, the value of a no-fault total loss car accident with broken bones could be substantially higher than the value of a no-fault accident with minor property damage and soft tissue injuries.
At Anna Handy Law Firm, P.A. we work closely with our clients every step of the process to ensure that they understand the process and factors that will drive the value of their case.
We focus on mitigating any negative factors and build up the positive ones to obtain maximum financial recovery for our clients.
If you have been injured in an accident that was not your fault, please give us a call for a free non-obligation consultation. (386) 248-3000.
Whether there is a personal injury attorney.
Typically, a personal injury can get a much higher settlement, especially in cases of comparative liability or pre-existing medical conditions. Personal injury claims are evidence based. The personal injury attorney is familiar with the standard of proof and evidentiary requirements, something that a lay person may lack knowledge of.
Extent of injuries.
Soft tissue injuries (whiplash, sprains, strains, muscle tears and nerve damage) are worth less than traumatic injuries, such as broken bones, because the symptoms of pain from soft injuries are subjective and thus are harder to prove. The extent of injuries also determines the cost of past and future pain and suffering, cost of past and future medical care, lost wages and the loss of earning capacity.
Extent of the property damage to all vehicles.
Fender bender or minor impact accidents tend to have lower settlement value than accidents with moderate to significant damage.
Liability.
Strong liability, especially with aggravating factors, such as DUI, speeding, running the red light, etc., can increase the settlement value. Partially at-fault claimant’s damages are reduced by the percentage of fault.
The amount of outstanding medical bills.
Larger out-of-pocket medical expenses typically increase the settlement value of the case. Therefore, medical payment benefits or health insurance may lower the settlement value in some cases.
Pre-existing medical conditions.
New injuries are typically worse than pre-existing injuries.
Type of medical treatment received.
For example, conservative chiropractic treatment is worth much less than pain management or surgical procedures.
Reputation of treating physicians.
Conservative doctors tend to cut off treatment quickly and minimize the extent of injuries a claimant sustained; however, the extent of injuries and type of treatment directly affect the case value. On the other hand, overtreating patients may not result in higher settlement amount. Treatment must be reasonable and medically necessary to have an impact.
Quality of medical reports.
Insurance adjusters put a dollar value on a personal injury case based on damages sustained as a result of the accident. Medical records provide proof of injuries. Most insurance adjusters do not have medical education. Therefore, accurate, complete, descriptive and comprehensive medical reports can aid adjusters in better understanding the patient’s complaints, rendered treatment, and medical prognosis to properly evaluate the settlement value of the case.
Reputation of the insurance company.
Some insurance companies pay more than others. For example, State Farm is known to offer significantly below average when it comes to paying Florida personal injury claims.
Credibility and character of the claimant.
Jurors like honest, hard-working, stable and reasonable people. The defense job is to attack the claimant’s credibility with the jury. Any inconsistencies in testimony of the claimant may result in a zero verdict. Video surveillance is often used to discredit the claimant’s credibility and can have a powerful impact on the jury
Claimant’s age.
Younger people may have an easier time proving causation of certain injuries compared to older people with degenerative conditions, or the other way around. Also, younger people have higher life expectancy and thus, their future pain and suffering, future medical care, and loss of earning capacity damages may be higher, resulting in a higher settlement.
Type of employment and rate of pay.
Personal injury claimants with manual labor jobs may have a more difficult time proving causation of their injuries. Self-employed people may have trouble proving their lost wages to get compensation.
What Makes Us Different
In personal injury cases, paying more in attorney fees will not result in more money to the client. Attorneys take a percentage of gross settlement for fees and costs. Then, after paying outstanding medical bills, what’s left is the client’s net settlement proceeds. So, the less you pay in attorney fees, the more money you end up with in your pocket.
The goal of the insurance companies is to pay as little as possible. Personal injury attorneys have no “secret sauce” to make an insurance company pay more than the value of the case. Because personal injury cases are evidence-based, it for the most part, all comes down to proper and thorough documentation of liability, causation and damages.
However, personal injury attorneys are not alike. Some attorneys are passive and take a lackadaisical approach in their cases. They will not go an extra mile for their client. Once they sign up a client, they are entitled to their 33%, even when a “settles itself,” such as in cases with clear liability, great causation and damages. Some attorneys are there only for a client sign up. Once they sign up the client, their active involvement in the case for the most part is done and the handling of the case is passed onto to secretaries and paralegals.
Having started my career as a receptionist, moving up to a paralegal and ultimately becoming a lawyer, I’ve worked with and/or supervised at least a dozen of secretaries/paralegals over the past 17 years, and let me tell you – they can be a mess! My most stressful days usually involved dealing with poor work ethnics and/or utter incompetence of the secretaries. Very often I ended up doing their work, which was sometimes easier and quicker. I’ve also had the pleasure working with excellent paralegals. However, those are hard to find since attorneys hold on to them with iron claws.
I take a proactive approach in personal injury cases and I work all cases to their maximum potential using all available tools to thoroughly document and build up a case. I work with clients hand-in-hand and walk them through every step of the process. I guide them through the claim process to obtain both maximum medical and monetary recovery.
Call us now for a free non-obligation consultation. 386-248-3000.