Orlando Pedestrian Accident Lawyers

Common Pedestrian Accident Claim Mistakes

There are several things you can do to build the strongest possible pedestrian accident case. There are also several things you should avoid doing if you want to build a strong case. Please review the following to avoid damaging your claim.

Not Getting Medical Attention for Your Pedestrian Accident

When you’re hurt in a pedestrian accident, even seemingly small injuries should be checked out by a medical professional. The amount of adrenaline that floods your system after such a traumatic event makes it unlikely you’ll be the best judge of how injured you are. This stress hormone, though meant to help you through the accident, can make it difficult to feel pain. Go to the doctor, even if you think you are okay.

Going to the hospital to get checked out serves two purposes. It ensures any injuries you do have are discovered and treated. It also creates a record of the pedestrian accident and a timeline for when it occurred.

Without the record of a doctor’s visit, the responsible party’s insurance provider may try to say that you weren’t injured in the accident. If you skip the doctor visit and later realize you are injured, insurance can claim you were injured later, somewhere else, in an event that had nothing to do with them. It may seem absurd for them to try this, but it happens more often than you might think, and you do not want to set yourself up to be put in that position.

Not Completing the Doctor’s Recommendation for Follow-Up Care

When you are released from the hospital, the doctor will likely give you a set of instructions for follow-up care. At the very least, you’ll probably have a prescription and a save-the-date note about a follow-up appointment.

Follow-up instructions may include physical therapy, cold or warm compresses, or any number of routines, depending upon your injuries.

The reasons for adhering to these instructions are the same as for getting checked at the hospital in the first place — to ensure you are okay, and to make sure the insurance company doesn’t claim you’ve been okay all along.

Don’t Give a Recorded Statement to the Insurance Company

Not long after your pedestrian accident, you can be sure the insurance company will come calling, asking you to make a recorded statement. They will sound very concerned for you, and make you think you are helping your case by speaking with them. You’re not.

The insurance company is not trying to speed your case along to get you compensation. They are trying to get it thrown out, and anything you tell them can be used to that purpose.

Insurance companies are very good at using the information you give them to their advantage. When you talk, they win. Your best bet is to hire a competent personal injury trial lawyer who has experience in pedestrian accident cases.

Don’t Wait to Call a Lawyer

Many people make the mistake of not contacting a lawyer soon enough.

Even if you think you’ve got lots of time to file a pedestrian accident claim, it’s important to remember that both evidence and witness memories will be at their strongest right after the accident. You only help the insurance company when all you can find months after the accident is weak evidence and zero witnesses.

The sooner you hire a qualified lawyer, the sooner your accident investigation will begin and the stronger your case will be.

Don’t Choose the Wrong Pedestrian Accident Lawyer

It’s vitally important that you don’t make the mistake of thinking all lawyers are the same. There are dozens of practice areas within the law. Each one has its own knowledge base, regulations, rules, and restrictions. An attorney who’s knowledgeable in one practice area is not necessarily going to know enough in another area to be of maximum benefit. Your brother’s real estate lawyer is not what you need. Neither is your best friend’s immigration lawyer.

You need a seasoned personal injury trial attorney who has successfully handled pedestrian accident cases.

Insurance companies know who the trial lawyers are and finding out who they’ll come up against in court can be all the incentive they need to bring them to the negotiating table. Help your case succeed by making sure your lawyer is the best fit for your case.

Orlando Pedestrian Accident Client Story

The following story will help illuminate numerous aspects of your pedestrian accident case. The names and details of the case have been changed to protect our clients. Be sure to read the story to the end to get the most value possible.

On a sunny day in June a couple of years ago, Linda Davis drove her best friend Emma to the bridal shop across from their favorite Thai restaurant to pick out Emma’s wedding dress.

While there, they would also find Linda’s Matron of Honor dress and the dresses for the bridesmaids. They were giddy with excitement about Emma’s upcoming November wedding.

Linda herself had just lost all the baby weight from her third child, and was excited to shop for anything that didn’t look like it belonged on the maternity rack.

After 90 minutes of laughing their way through trying on gowns, Linda and Emma had ordered all the dresses for the big day, including a stunning cathedral train tulle and lace wedding gown for Emma and a gorgeous asymmetrical chiffon evening dress for Linda, in a dusty purple color called “Stormy.”

Linda was thrilled, declaring, “This is  a dress I’ll actually wear after the wedding!”

Emma and Linda left the store toting their purchases, including a beautiful, glittering veil that complimented her dress perfectly.

Out in the parking lot, the women put their purchases in the trunk, deciding to leave the car and walk across the street to the Thai place for lunch. The day just kept getting better and better.

Before shutting the trunk, Linda pulled the veil out of its bag and secured it in Emma’s shiny, honey blonde hair. “You can’t order Pad Thai without THIS,” Linda said sternly to her best friend, as a happy tear slid down her cheek. They hugged and set off to the crosswalk on the corner for lunch.

They made it across the road before the light changed, marveling at the way the breeze made Emma’s veil seem to float through the air.

Just as they reached the other side of Colonial Drive, a sudden gust chased Emma’s veil off of her head and back into the street. Alarmed, Linda instinctively stepped back into the crosswalk to catch it, and was struck by a speeding car anticipating the green light. It hadn’t even slowed down.

The last sound Linda was aware of was Emma’s scream as her body was tossed 15 feet, right out of her shoes.

Linda was rushed by ambulance to the nearby medical center with extensive injuries. She had suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and spinal damage, as well as numerous lacerations and broken bones.

The speeding car fled the scene, but thanks to a traffic cam and eye witness descriptions, the driver was quickly apprehended.

In the days following the accident, the doctors felt confident Linda would recover completely from her TBI. The cuts and broken bones would mend. They couldn’t be sure however, about Linda’s spine.

We met Linda the day after she came home from the hospital. Her husband Neil had set up a hospital bed in the living room, where Linda could watch her little ones play, and the physical therapist could more easily work with her.

In the past two weeks, she had gone from feeling nothing below the waist to experiencing tingling and being able to wiggle her toes. It was a good sign, and though they couldn’t be sure if she’d walk again, she and her husband put on a brave face for their children.

As we sat down beside Linda, she told us there were three things she really needed to know before making a decision about hiring a lawyer: how much it would cost, what her case was worth, and how long a claim would take.

 How much does it cost to hire a pedestrian accident lawyer?

“How much will it cost to hire you?” Linda asked us first, adding, “The doctors think it may be two more months before I’m able to return to work in any capacity, so finances will be stretched pretty thin.”

We told Linda and Neil that we don’t charge anything upfront. We work on a contingency basis, which means we cover all case expenses, and we wouldn’t get paid unless we brought Linda’s case to a successful resolution.

Linda sighed with relief. “Okay, so far, so good,” she said.

How much is my case worth?

 Now it was Neil who asked, “How much do you think Linda’s case is worth?”

We told them that it’s hard to say in the very beginning, because we’d first need to conduct an accident investigation and understand Linda’s damages.

We assured Linda that we could start gathering evidence and witness statements right away upon being hired, and that we’d also begin working up all of the case paperwork.

“Right now, Linda, your job is to focus on your recovery and treatment plan. We need you to reach maximum medical improvement.”

Our lawyer went on to explain that maximum medical improvement meant the point at which Linda’s doctors declared her fully recovered, or, to have reached her point of maximum possible recovery.

We told Linda, “When you reach maximum medical improvement, we’ll know you’re done with surgeries, and we’ll have a good understanding of any future medical care for your injuries. This is the information we need to get an accurate assessment of your economic and non-economic damages.”

We went on to explain that when we’d completed the accident investigation and assessed Linda’s damages, we could give her the true value of her case.

“Makes sense to me,” Linda nodded, turning to Neil, she said, “Honey? Do you have any other questions?”

“Just the one you mentioned about a timeline,” Neil replied, as he cradled the baby and swayed. He turned to us.

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How long will my pedestrian accident case take?

“So, how long would a case like this take?” he asked.

We told Neil and Linda that before we could make an accurate timeframe estimate, we would need to know two things. The first was what those damages are that we’d discussed assessing. The second was whether or not the driver’s insurance company was going to play nice.

Neil looked stunned. “What do you mean, ‘if’ they play nice?” he asked, his voice rising, “Don’t they have to ‘play nice?’ That driver almost killed my wife!”

Linda patted his arm and reminded him that he was holding a sleeping baby. She turned to us, asking, “So if they won’t ‘play nice,’ what do we do?”

“You don’t have to do anything,” our lawyer assured her. “If they won’t settle, we take them to court. It’s no problem for us; we take personal injury cases before juries regularly. That’s why we prepare every case as if it’s going to trial from the beginning.”

 “Ironically,” the lawyer added, “because the insurance company knows who we are and knows our track record in the courtroom, just finding out who’s representing you may be enough to bring them to the bargaining table. The last thing they want is to let a jury decide how much they should pay.”

Linda smiled, “Really?”

“Happens all the time,” our lawyer assured her. “You are always going to get the best result by hiring a trial lawyer who specializes in the practice area your case falls within.”

Linda and Neil hired us then and there. Today, we can happily report that after taking Linda’s case to court, we were able to get her over seven times the amount the insurance company initially offered. We can also confirm that Linda did go on to walk on her own down the aisle, as Emma’s Matron of Honor that November.

Call Our Orlando Pedestrian Accident Lawyers Today

We hope this page has given you some valuable insight into the elements of a pedestrian accident case. Of course, every case is different, and we invite you to give our office a call to schedule a free consultation. You don’t need to handle your personal injury case on your own at the same time you’re trying to recover. Let us fight for you. Call us for free, pedestrian accident claim advice today.