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VOICEOVER: What are the two most important things to do when you’ve been hurt?
WES: The two most important things are your Bodily Healthyou’re your Financial Health. First, get the necessary medical care and stay with it. If you don’t, the person or company that hurt you will have an immediate defense and will use it against you. Make sure your first priority is your bodily health. The second priority is then your financial health, which you must secure through a legal claim. Getting legal representation early is critical. Your attorney can find and preserve valuable evidence that is often lost when there’s delay. And an attorney can take immediate steps that will make a solid foundation for your case.
VOICEOVER: What is the most important thing not to do?
WES: That’s easy to answer. Shortly after an injury happens, sometimes even while you’re in the hospital under medication, an insurance adjuster is likely to try to call to take your recorded statement. Don’t agree to that. It’s very dangerous. You aren’t obligated to talk to the defendant’s insurance adjuster, and you shouldn’t. Why? They are trained in techniques to gain your trust. Often a victim will let his guard down and a simple statement will ruin his case. When you are represented by an attorney, the insurance company is absolutely prohibited from contacting you for any reason. That’s why I’m available 24/7 when an accident happens. Some other lawyers are as well. I want to prevent that trained adjuster from calling at a time of confusion, uncertainty, and pain. On the other hand, if you’ve been hurt and you’ve already given a statement to the adjuster, don’t let it bother you too much. We’re trained to deal with that in various ways too.
VOICEOVER: How will my medical bills and lost wages be paid?
WES: If you’ve been in a motor vehicle accident, Florida law requires your own insurance company to pay 80% of your medical bills and 60% of your lost wages from your PIP, also called Personal Injury Protection, coverage. Most auto policies have $10,000 of that kind of coverage. The other 20% of your medical bills not paid by PIP coverage will be paid by the medical payments part of your policy, usually having limits of $5,000, and by your health insurance. Whatever isn’t paid by them is called your out of pocket expense, and your attorney will get that back from the defendant’s insurer. The same applies to lost wages. Whatever isn’t paid by PIP coverage will be obtained from the defendant’s insurance policy during the course of your legal claim or suit.
If you were hurt in some other way, such as by a slip and fall on something that shouldn’t have been on the floor of a store or maybe by a defective product or by medical malpractice, PIP coverage on your auto policy won’t pay your bills. Then, you’ll have to rely on your health insurance to pay the medical bills, and your attorney will collect the medicals that aren’t paid for you, like your co-pay, and all your lost wages from the defendant’s insurer.
That brings up another thought. What if you’ve been badly hurt and may not be able to work as much or at all in the future? Your loss of ability to earn money in the future is also compensable, but a complex formula is applied to determine the loss, taking into account inflationary trends and a concept called “reduction to present value.” Don’t worry. Your attorney can get those things done for you. The important part of this is that you probably have several insurance coverages in place to handle your medical bills and lost wages. You just need some guidance about which will apply and where to look for them.
