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If you are involved in an accident, health insurance can be extremely important in assisting with the medical bills you will incur. If you are in an auto accident, so long as you have personal injury protection (or PIP) benefits, your initial medical treatment will be covered to some extent. If you are involved in a slip and fall for instance, you will not be entitled to PIP benefits. PIP also has it’s own downfalls.

PIP will only cover 80% up to $10,000.00 of your medical bills. Not including that you may have a deductible on your PIP benefits and you may even have some lost wages that you want paid by your PIP benefits.

PIP can get exhausted extremely quickly, especially if you required emergency room treatment. Who is going to cover the rest of the medical bills once these types of benefits are exhausted?

Health insurance is the answer. If you cannot afford health insurance, we encourage you to apply for Medicaid or some other benefit to which you may qualify for.

We recently had a case which is a perfect example of why health insurance is vital. Our client got into an auto accident. The client was transported to the emergency room with serious injuries and required emergency surgery as a result. The emergency room bill was significant. Way more than the PIP coverage. The tort-feasor had a minimal $10,000.00 bodily injury policy and the client had no UM coverage (which is another issue altogether that we discussed in a prior blog post). Luckily, the client did have health insurance coverage.

PIP made their payments and the client’s health insurance picked up the rest of the bill. Client was lucky and was able to get all of the medical bills paid for and walk away from the accident with a little bit of the settlement proceeds after we got a reduction on the health insurance lien against the case.

Had the client of not had health insurance, the case would have went a very different direction and the client very well may have ended up filing for bankruptcy. That is not a scenario you ever want to be in. Having to file for bankruptcy due to someone else’s negligence is just wrong.

Please, do yourself a huge service and get health insurance. I know it can be expensive, but it could mean the difference of having to file for bankruptcy or walking away from an accident debt free.

If you have any questions about health insurance or how it affects your injury case, please give us a call at (561) 722-7710 and we are more than happy to discuss this with you for free.

Every client typically asks this question at the beginning of their case. It is a very important question. Unfortunately, the answer is always “it depends.” Every single case is different. No two cases will resolve in the same amount of time. There are many factors that go into each case which will help determine how quickly it will get resolved.

Some cases may resolve within just a few short months. For example, let’s say that you get into a bad auto accident and there is only a $10,000.00 bodily injury policy from the at-fault party and there is no other insurance to pursue. That is a case that should resolve very quickly, depending on the injuries and property damage involved.

I can always give an average time frame for a case. But, that may not apply to your specific case. For instance, if a lawsuit is not required, you can typically expect the case to resolve in under a year. Again, some cases do not fall into that category. For instance, let’s say that you get into an auto accident and there is a large bodily injury policy or a uninsured/under-insured motorist policy involved. Let’s further say that you are having ongoing treatment, including pain management and eventually a surgery. It MAY be in your best interest to wait until after the surgery is completed and recovery is done before trying to resolve the claim.

What you should be most concerned about is that the attorney you hire is pursuing the case diligently to get it resolved as quickly as possible so that you may move on with your life. Here at Markwood Law, you can be sure that we are trying to get your case resolved as fast as possibly, while also making sure that your rights are protected. We will do whatever is in your best interest at the end of the day.

If you are involved in an accident, please give us a call at (561) 722-7710. We handle cases throughout the state of Florida.

You have unfortunately been involved in a slip or trip and fall accident. What are your next steps? If you are able to do so physically, get plenty of photographs and video of the condition that caused you to slip or trip. For example, broken steps, foreign substances or liquids on the floor, etc. Many times, it is these photographs and videos that can make or break your case. Florida Law is not “plaintiff friendly” when it comes to slip or trip and fall accidents, so it is vital to preserve as much evidence as possible. In some cases, the property owners will repair or fix the dangerous condition before Markwood Law Firm can get to the scene for an inspection. Unfortunately, we typically cannot use any evidence of the property owner fixing the dangerous condition as evidence that they knew it was dangerous. This is called the subsequent remedial measure rule. This is one of the reasons it is vital to get photographic and video evidence of the scene, if possible.

After you properly get photographs and video of the scene, it is always best to ask to create an incident report with the store. Immediately ask for a copy of the incident report after it is made. If you are feeling any pain immediately on scene, request that ems come and treat you at the scene and if your condition is severe to have them transport you to the emergency room. Insurance companies will always use it against you if you do not complain of any pain at the store but then seek medical treatment days or weeks after the incident. It is best to get it documented by medical records the day of the incident, if possible.

Next, call Markwood Law Firm so that we can immediately get involved to make sure all evidence needed, such as surveillance video, is preserved and to make sure that you are getting the necessary medical treatment. We can be reached at (561) 722-7710.

You have been in an accident. You wonder to yourself whether you should hire an attorney or try and resolve the case yourself. You may think “I can save money if I can settle my case without an attorney.” While you may save money not paying the attorney, you are most likely leaving a lot of money on the table with regards to the settlement amount.

There have been studies that show when an injured person hires a personal injury attorney their cases settle for three times what it would have without representation! That is a huge increase. Those numbers include the deduction of attorney’s fees and costs.

Here at Markwood Law Firm, we know what it takes to make sure you get the full value of your personal injury case. From gathering evidence, making sure you get to the proper doctors, to getting the right treatments for your symptoms.

As an example of what we have been able to achieve for our clients, we had a client come in who tried to settle his case without representation. The were some serious injuries involved. The client was a pedestrian that was hit by a vehicle. After we got involved, we were able to resolve the case for 20x what the insurance company was offering our client prior to our representation. While this case specifically may not be representative of the increase in an offer we can get you, it is a good example of how insurance companies will take your case much more seriously with our involvement.

Give us a call at (561) 722-7710 if you have been involved in an accident. We represent people all over the State of Florida.

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I got a call last week from someone who had hired an attorney to help them with their personal injury case. What happened to them saddened me – and it was caused by the attorney that was hired. This was an auto accident case in which the person’s vehicle was a total loss.

The attorney handling their injury claim refused to assist with the property damage claim. This is apparently more prevalent than I anticipated because the person informed me that they spoke with several law firms and none of them would assist with the property damage claim, but all of them were happy to help with the injury claim. The reason why? They don’t get paid on the property damage claim.

To be honest, helping a client with their property damage claim does not take up a ton of time and should be done as a courtesy. After all, these people are suffering from injuries and have to go to doctors visits, worry about work, paying bills, etc. The last thing someone injured in an accident should have to worry about is whether or not they are going to be treated fairly by an insurance company regarding their property damage.

Even though the injury claim for this person was already resolved and I knew I would not make any money, I decided that I was going to help them resolve their property damage claim. Guess how long it took me to help this person get the amount that was reasonable for their vehicle? Two days. The fact that the prior attorney could not be bothered to spend an extra two days to assist this person was baffling. It was not a complicated issue, they were just not being offered a proper amount for the total loss. It was resolved easily.

If you are injured in an accident and suffer property damage – here at Markwood Law, you will be given expert advice (for free) on how to handle that aspect of your claim and what you are entitled to recover from the insurance companies involved. Furthermore, if you hire us and we find out later on there is no bodily injury coverage, we will not drop you as a client until your property damage claim is resolved.

You have been involved in an auto accident in which you are not at fault. You have sustained injuries and monetary damages due to the negligence of someone else. How do you get compensated? When you hire Markwood Law to pursue your case, we leave no stone unturned regarding how you will be compensated. I will explain more below.

In Florida, unfortunately there is no requirement that drivers carry bodily injury coverage (which would compensate you in the event of their negligence). Hopefully, the at-fault party does have bodily injury coverage. Many people only carry a 10/20k bodily injury policy however, which in many cases is not sufficient to compensate the injured party.

Sometimes, the driver of the vehicle that hit you is not the owner of the vehicle. That can be good news if the driver has his or her own insurance policy. Next, we will find out whether the owner of the vehicle also has an insurance policy that applies. In this scenario, both the driver and owner are on the hook for your injuries. In Florida, this is called the “Dangerous Instrumentality Doctrine.” The owner of the vehicle who allows someone else to drive that vehicle can be liable for the driver’s negligence.

We do not stop there. Next, we will check to see if there is UM(uninsured/underinsured motorist) coverage that can apply. As I have stated in a previous blog, UM insurance is vital in Florida due to the lack of requirement to carry bodily injury coverage. As stated, many people who do elect for bodily injury coverage get the bare minimum. If your case involves very little bodily injury coverage but your injuries exceed that limit, we can look to see if you are entitled to UM benefits.

Depending on the case and the injuries involved, we can do an asset check on the at-fault party to make a determination on whether it would better off to pursue them individually in litigation as opposed to settling your case pre-litigation. This is exceedingly rare and typically it will not benefit you financially or mentally to elect this option, but we at Markwood Law want you to know all of your options before making a life long decision. Once your case is settled, it is over.

There are other means of receiving compensation in your case, but these are the basic ones. If you have any questions about other potential coverages that may apply to your case, give us a call at (561) 722-7710 or email us at Jsnyder@Markwoodlaw.com.