The Florida Motorcycle Accident Guide was created by Victory Law Firm to help injured residents obtain maximum compensation. Call our lawyers for a review.
Have you suffered a serious injury in a motorcycle accident that was caused by someone else? We understand that this might be a horrible situation for you to be in and we are terribly sorry that you’ve had to suffer serious injuries because of someone else’s carelessness. We want to support you through this time and help you get the results that you are entitled to. If you want to know what you deserve in terms of compensation, please get in touch with our Florida motorcycle accident lawyers today to set up your free, first consultation.
Motorcycle Accident Claim Process
When you are involved in a motorcycle accident case, it can be very similar to a car accident case but different in the sense that you are going to be dealing with a lot of people who have a bias towards you simply because you were on a motorcycle. A lot of people are going to feel that simply because you are a motorcyclist you are also a dangerous driver and put yourself in risky situations. We don’t necessarily know how people started believing this but we do know that we need to work harder to prove you were the victim.
We will work hard to get the insurance company to give you the results that you deserve. If, however, they end up forcing us to go to trial to attempt to get a fair result, we are going to have to deal with a jury that might have the same bias against you. It’s important that you have Florida motorcycle accident lawyers by your side who have been through these cases before successfully and know how to navigate this bias towards you and ensure that your results are fair, in spite of what the jury might think before they even meet you in your case.
When you have been seriously injured in a motorcycle accident and you are seeking justice, it will come in the form of a financial award. These cases are made against the person responsible for your injuries— likely another driver on the road who violated traffic laws or was being reckless. This isn’t the person who is going to be fulfilling the financial compensation, however. Their insurance company will be; they will both be held responsible. It is up to our lawyers to fiercely defend your rights to justice and make sure that in the end your results are as good as they possibly could be.
Act Quickly After Your Accident
Some of the most severe injuries that happen on the roads today are because of an accident involving a motorcycle. There are enough horror stories from ambulance drivers that would scare even the toughest of people. If you’ve been lucky to come out of a motorcycle accident alive you need to make sure that your health is your number one priority. Acting urgently to receive medical care is going to benefit you.
Injuries don’t happen only from the collision of the accident; you can also suffer some serious injuries from the secondary impact of hitting the road after you’ve been hit by another vehicle. These types of accidents could warrant a long list of treatments, including surgeries, physical therapy and a considerable amount of bedrest. It is important that you get this medical treatment right away. We will be able to use your medical records as evidence when we show the insurance company just how badly hurt you were. It is important also that we need to understand what your medical recovery is going to look like so the sooner you get to a doctor the sooner will be able to figure that out.
The reason why we emphasize the importance of getting medical care immediately after you’ve been hurt is not just because of the risk to your health but also because it could endanger your case with the insurance company. They are looking for any little reason to throw out your case that they can possibly find. If they noticed that you didn’t seek medical attention right away after your motorcycle accident for some reason, they would try to blame it on the fact that you lied about how badly hurt you were. They’ll even try to say that these injuries came from some other accident that didn’t involve them. These are all tactics to wash their hands clean of responsibility for your case, and we don’t accept that. We fight against these tactics. It is much easier, however, for us to do that when you’ve received treatment right away.
Value of Your Motorcycle Accident Case
When we are determining the value of your case, there are several, different factors that we look into. We are going to make sure that we thoroughly investigate your motorcycle accident so we can ensure that we have the correct liable party and that we have a thorough understanding of what happened to you and how it has affected your life. Our Florida motorcycle accident lawyers want to get as much out of your case as possible.
We look into the two categories of damages: economic and non-economic.
The economic damages that you suffer will include things like medical bills, ambulance rides, physical therapy etc. Your medical fees and expenses and any other financial loss related to your motorcycle accident would be considered an economic damage. We also consider your property damage to be an economic damage. That would be if you had to trash your motorcycle because it was so badly damaged in the accident. We also look at what your lost wages are if you’ve had to miss time at work to heal.
Your non-economic damages are going to be all of the ways in which your life has been negatively affected by being involved in this motorcycle accident. Many people suffer from mental illness after a traumatic motorcycle accident and experience conditions such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. We will look into all the ways your quality of life has been reduced following this accident and fight hard to make sure that your compensation award accurately reflects everything that you’ve been through.
Issues We May Encounter
We are going to encounter obstacles in the process of our case. That’s just to be expected. Our Florida motorcycle accident lawyers are prepared for these obstacles. The insurance company is going to be our biggest obstacle— they don’t want to give you the results that you deserve. They will try to delay our case in the hopes that you take an offer that is less than what you truly are entitled to because they want you to get sick of waiting. Patience is a virtue for us, but we are still going to push this case along quickly while maintaining the dignity of our case to ensure results that are fair.
It is deeply important that during your case you do not give the insurance company a recorded statement regarding your motorcycle accident. You do not have a legal obligation to talk to them about your case. The only information that they truly need from you is your contact information. Anything past that is leverage that they could use against you. If they were to get you to agree to a recorded statement, they could ask you questions that would force you to answer in a way that might be unfavorable to your case. Talk to our lawyers before you talk to an insurance company. Most Florida motorcycle accident lawyers are going to tell you to avoid speaking to the insurance company because they will do anything they can to reduce your case value.
We want you to know that the sooner you act to get in touch with our Florida lawyers, the sooner we can get started on building a strong foundation for your case. In Florida, your statute of limitations is four years, which means you have four years to bring your civil case. This might seem like a long time but if you start letting things like your personal injury case slip off of your radar, then four years can fly by with you forgetting to bring up your issues with a lawyer. Don’t make the mistake of missing out on justice simply because you didn’t call us right away.
Frequently Asked Motorcycle Accident Questions
After a Motorcycle Crash, Is It a Good Idea to Talk to Insurance Companies?
Oftentimes we talk to clients who say that after their motorcycle accident the insurance company reached out to them directly. It is critically important to know that you should never speak with the insurance company after your motorcycle accident until you’ve spoken with an attorney. Oftentimes an insurance company is going to do everything that they can to get you to either settle a case early on or get you to say something that might damage the value of your case.
It is never a good idea to speak with an insurance company, particularly the insurance company of a vehicle that might have hit you while you were riding a motorcycle. Please reach out to the attorneys here at the Victory Law Firm right away if you’ve been involved in a motorcycle accident.
Do I Have a Claim if I Was Injured While Riding as a Passenger on a Motorcycle?
Here in central Florida, thanks to our beautiful year-round weather, we have millions of Floridians who love to ride motorcycles, including those who come from out-of-state. There are also passengers on those motorcycles who are involved in accidents. If you’re a passenger on a motorcycle, you absolutely have a claim if you’re involved in an accident. The potential insurance could be the driver that hit you; it could be even the operator of the motorcycle you were riding on.
There are many avenues to recover from if you’re the passenger on a motorcycle, but it’s important to sit down with an attorney and have those conversations. The last thing you want to do is to assume that just because you were the passenger – not the owner of the motorcycle or the operator of the motorcycle – that you’re not entitled to compensation for your injuries as well. Please reach out to the Victory Law Firm attorneys, who are experienced motorcycle attorneys, to help you with your case.
How Are Motorcycle Accident Claims Different from Car Accident Claims?
Here in Florida we have a tremendous amount of motorcycle enthusiasts, thanks to our year-round beautiful weather, and sometimes bad things happen. People sometimes wonder what the difference is between motorcycle accidents and auto accidents. They’re actually quite similar. You still have the four-year statute of limitations, which means you have four years to file a lawsuit. If you’ve been involved in an accident involving your motorcycle and it’s been within four years, you still have the ability to make that claim if you have not already.
Motorcycle accidents are not much different than automobile accidents in that we would be making a claim against the at-fault party. Overwhelmingly, motorcycle accidents involve vehicles who strike motorcycles. central Florida, in particular, is home to so many tourists who do not know the roads, are unfamiliar with them, aren’t watching out for motorcyclists, are distracted and have other things going on – screaming kids in the background – so we have a disproportionate amount of injuries and fatalities here in central Florida due to automobiles impacting motorcycles, as well as the disproportion amount of elderly drivers that we have in central Florida who tend to be involved in more car accidents than other demographics.
The type of case that you have will very much mirror what an automobile accident is like if you’ve been involved in one of those before, but there are key differences. It’s very important that you don’t hire an attorney who is only experienced in automobile accidents. It’s very important that you hire an attorney who is experienced in handling motorcycle accidents specifically. Please reach out to the Victory Law Firm if you’ve been involved in a motorcycle accident here in Florida.
How Do I Determine the Value of My Motorcycle Accident Claim?
One of the most common questions we get from clients who have been involved in motorcycle accidents is, “What is the value of my claim?” Of course, every case is different, but certainly a good starting off point to consider is what your medical bills are related to your injuries in that motorcycle accident.
From there, an experienced attorney will be able to raise the value of that case based on several factors; first and foremost, would be pain and suffering. That’s when a jury will generally award you for what you had to suffer in relation to your accident, on top of physical injuries and medical bills, but there are other factors to consider – if you lost time from work because of your motorcycle accident, if you lost the ability to earn future income because of your motorcycle accident, any special accommodations you’ve had to make, the impact on your family.
There are several things that could affect the value of your case, and an experienced attorney will be able to raise the value of your case to its maximum potential. That’s why it’s critically important that you contact us at the Victory Law Firm if you’ve been involved in a motorcycle accident.
How Do I Select the Best Motorcycle Accident Attorney?
Here in central Florida it’s critically important that you pick the right attorney for your motorcycle accident. Florida is number two in the entire nation as far as registered motorcycles and, unfortunately, we lead the nation in motorcycle accidents and fatalities. This just doesn’t just have to do with our famed Bike Week over in Daytona. Throughout the state of Florida, many people enjoy riding motorcycles year-round thanks to our fantastic weather, and people come from all over the country.
Central Florida is also home to many tourists, and a lot of them don’t necessarily drive as safely as they should; they’re distracted, they’re not familiar with the roads, and oftentimes motorcycle riders are the victims of their negligence. Also, central Florida has a very large population of elderly drivers who tend to be disproportionately involved in motor vehicle accidents.
When choosing a motorcycle accident attorney, it’s very important that you choose one that has significant experience in this field and is willing and able to take your case to trial if necessary. Please do reach out to the attorneys here at the Victory Law Firm if you’ve been involved in a motorcycle accident and we’d be happy to speak with you.
How Long Is It Going to Take to Resolve My Motorcycle Accident Injury Claim?
We were recently speaking with a new client who was involved in a motorcycle accident and one of his first questions was, “How long is this case going to take to settle?” It’s a common question. Every case is certainly different. If injuries are more substantial in one case than another, certainly that case is going to take a little bit longer to settle.
The attorneys here at the Victory Law Firm pursue all our cases aggressively and quickly. Sometimes there’s a need to file that case into litigation, which is to say file a lawsuit and prepare to go to trial. Obviously, those cases can take some time. The time it takes for your case to settle will be dependent, first and foremost, on the extent of your injuries and the subsequent treatment that you might need. Again, from there and that point on, once the case is in our hands, we fight aggressively and quickly to resolve your claim. Please reach out to us here at the Victory Law Firm if you’ve been involved in a motorcycle accident.
I Was Forced Off the Road by a Driver, Causing Injury. Do I Have a Claim?
If you’re a motorcyclist here in central Florida and you were forced off the road, you absolutely may have a claim for damages for that injury. Just because a car did not strike your motorcycle doesn’t mean you don’t have a case. Oftentimes in Florida, what happens is, due to our large number of tourists and elderly drivers, motorcyclists end up getting the short end of the deal on the road. While they may not get impacted, because they do what they need to do to avoid that impact, they could strike another vehicle themselves. They could be run off the road and strike a curb, poles.
Any number of incidents can happen when a motorcycle is pushed off the road. They are very dangerous accidents, and they are very common. Many motorcycle accidents never involve actual impacts with other vehicles. If you’ve been pushed off the road by another vehicle, you absolutely may have a claim. It is very important that you contact an experienced motorcycle accident attorney, like those here at the Victory Law Firm.
What Are Common Mistakes People Make if They Have Been Injured in a Motorcycle Accident?
In dealing with motorcycle accidents here in central Florida, we find that sometimes clients make very key mistakes immediately after their accident. One of the most important things you can do when involved in a motorcycle accident, obviously, is to reach out to an attorney right away who can help you, but there’s things that you yourself can do right away, which includes documenting photographs of the scene, injuries you had. If you were struck by another vehicle, any information you can gather about that driver, that vehicle, is critical, and any witnesses to your accident. You’re going to want to gather as much information as possible. Now, sometimes that’s not possible depending on the circumstances.
The biggest mistake we find clients make when involved in motorcycle accidents, number one, is not reaching out to an attorney right away and not gathering as much information as possible. If those types of things aren’t gathered right away, the case sort of becomes a process of recreating those types of things, discovering what happened, and it just makes it a little bit more of a process than it has to be.
If you’re involved in a motorcycle accident, obviously, the first thing you’re going to want to be able to do is dial 9-1-1. After that, you’re going to want to contact an attorney who is experienced in motorcycle accidents to guide you through the process and help increase the value of your case to its maximum potential. Please reach out to the Victory Law Firm if you’ve been involved in a motorcycle accident here in Florida.
What Happens if a Poorly Maintained Road Caused My Injuries?
Here in central Florida the roads are constantly under construction. It’s part of life. Oftentimes motorcyclists suffer grave injuries because roads are either not completed, under construction, there’s potholes, detours on unfinished roads. If you have been injured because of negligent conditions of the road, you absolutely may have a claim for any injuries you’ve suffered. It’s important to contact an experienced motorcycle attorney who will investigate your case to the fullest and see if there’s any claim to be made against a particular municipality – the city, the county, the state of Florida, the Department of Transportation – or any entity that may maintain or be repairing roads. Sometimes subcontractors of these entities may not have done what they needed to do.
If you have been injured because of these types of accidents, please contact us at the Victory Law Firm right away so that we can begin the process of getting you the settlement that you deserve.
Call Our Florida Motorcycle Accident Lawyers Today
We hope you reach out as soon as possible if you have been injured by someone who was acting carelessly or negligently on the road. We are dedicated to providing representation to victims in our community, and we want you to feel represented, as well. Get in touch with our Florida motorcycle accident lawyers today and set up a free consultation to get started as soon as possible. Justice is just around the corner– all you have to do is give us a call to get started.