Have you experienced a personal injury due to another party? If you have, then you should immediately contact a personal injury defense attorney in Gainesville. Depending on the extent of your injury, you could be facing some seriously costly medical and doctor bills. These are expenses that the offending party should pay for. Not to mention the fact that you should also be compensated for the pain and suffering resulting from the injury as well as any punitive damages owed to you due to the negligence of the offending party. If you have been injured, you should never try to take the offending party to court or deal with the insurance company on your own. There are a number of reasons why you’ll be able receive better compensation if you are working side by side with a personal injury defense attorney in Gainesville or Ocala. The following are just a few of the reasons why you should take advantage of the services of a local attorney.
Protecting your Interests
Many people make the mistake of allowing their insurance companies to handle the costs of their injuries. Even if it’s the insurance company of the offending party that is paying for your injuries, you may not see any of that money for an extended period of time. Because insurance companies are businesses, they are seeking to get away with paying you the absolute bare minimum. A personal injury defense lawyer in Gainesville represents you and not the insurance companies. This means that the lawyer will give you professional advice on how much you should truly expect to receive in terms of compensation for medical bills, lost time at work, pain and suffering and punitive damages. Insurance companies will often work quickly in order to get you to accept a settlement. It’s easy to cave when you don’t know the extent of your injuries yet and how much they will cost. An attorney will be familiar with the costs of all types of injuries, which means that he or she will be able to give you advice when it comes to any initial offers the insurance company makes to you.
Knowing the Process
A personal injury defense attorney in Gainesville will have extensive experience with personal injury cases. Attorneys who specialize in personal injury cases have also dealt with larger insurance companies for years, so they know exactly what an insurance company will do. An attorney will also be able to help you recover evidence in your favor. This includes carefully inspecting evidence collected by police officers at the scene of the accident, reviewing eye witness testimony, speaking to witnesses one on one, speaking with medical professionals about the extent of your injuries and more. This is valuable information that will help determine how much you should be receiving in terms of compensation for your injuries. This is an extensive process that can be very time consuming. Without this information, you may not know how much money you should be compensated for and can easily be taken advantage of by the insurance companies. Not to mention that you probably won’t have the time or ability to do this kind of research yourself – especially if your injuries were serious. You should be focusing on recovering and allow your attorney to do the work.
Knowing the Statute of Limitations
One of the dangers of trying to take an offending party to court over causing your personal injuries is that most people are unaware of the statute of limitations. The statute of limitations refers to how much time you have in order to file a lawsuit. Once the statute of limitations has passed, you can no longer take the offending party to court, even if the evidence is overwhelmingly in your favor. The reason that there is a statue of limitations in place is that it helps to preserve the integrity of personal accounts, witness testimonies, and evidence. As time passes, these become less and less reliable. In Florida, the statute of limitations is four years after the exact date of the accident for most personal injury lawsuits. One exception is medical malpractice cases, which have a two-year statute of limitations. A personal injury defense lawyer in Gainesville or Ocala will not only be fully aware of what the statute of limitations are for your case, but will be able to keep your case on track in order to meet the deadline for filing your lawsuit.
If you have experienced a personal injury due to the negligence of another party, then you should obtain the services of a personal injury defense attorney in Gainesville immediately. An attorney will help you deal with the insurance companies and ensure that you are properly compensated for your injuries.
