If you sustained injuries from a drunk driving accident in Titusville, Florida, the Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine can help. The damages in these cases are often substantial, which means that the insurance company of the at-fault driver is likely to defend against your claim for compensation aggressively.
Call us today to get a free consultation. A car accident lawyer in Titusville, FL can evaluate your situation and let you know if you might be eligible to collect damages for your losses.
What We Have to Prove to Win a Drunk Driving Injury Case
Liability for drunk driving accident injuries consists of four elements, and our drunk driving accident lawyers in Titusville, FL have to prove each one. These factors are:
- The at-fault driver owed you a duty of care. Florida law mandates that people operate motor vehicles with caution and in a safe manner.
- The defendant violated the duty of care. It is negligence when a person fails to live up to the standards of a legal duty of care. Driving while intoxicated, for example, violates the duty to operate a motor vehicle with caution and in a safe manner. As such, drunk driving is negligence.
- The negligence caused the accident. The drunk driver will be legally responsible for the crash if her impaired state caused the accident. Let’s say that she drove through an intersection against a red light because she passed out from her alcohol consumption. While running the red light, she struck your vehicle. This fact pattern satisfies the causation element for liability.
- You suffered physical damages from the accident. You must have quantifiable losses, and physical injuries satisfy this requirement.
Damages for a Drunk Driving Accident
Florida law allows you to recoup damages for all reasonable losses you sustained as a result of the car accident. Every case is different, so we cannot tell you the value of your claim without speaking with you and exploring the accident. We can tell you, however, some of the common categories of compensation in drunk driving accidents in Titusville, Florida, which include:
- Medical expenses, for the treatment you needed because of your injuries, beginning with the ambulance and going through to the emergency room, diagnostic testing, surgery, hospital, doctors, prescription drugs, and physical therapy, as well as any ongoing procedures you need because of the harm you suffered.
- Long-term care. This category can encompass services you receive in your home or the cost of a long-term care facility if your injuries cause you to need daily assistance with medical treatments and personal care.
- Lost wages, to replace the wages, salary, self-employment, and other forms of income you missed because of the accident and subsequent medical treatment and recuperation.
- Diminished earning capacity. Drunk driving crashes often cause catastrophic injuries that can change your life. As a result, you might not be able to continue performing your previous job after your doctor releases you from treatment. You might have to cut your hours or take a lower-paying job. If this is your situation, you have suffered a loss that can be compensable. We can work with vocational experts to determine the value of this category of damages.
- Sometimes people are not able to work at all to support themselves after significant injuries in a drunk driving crash.
- Pain and suffering. Merely getting compensation for your out-of-pocket expenses does not honor the physical discomfort or mental anguish experienced. Pain and suffering damages can compensate you for what you endured.
- Other noneconomic damages. It can be hard to measure some losses in terms of dollars, even if these damages have a substantial impact on your life. Depending on the facts of the case, drunk driving accident victims can get compensation for things like disfigurement, loss of enjoyment of life, psychological harm like depression or anxiety, psychological trauma like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and your spouse’s claim for loss of consortium.
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How a Lawyer Can Help You with Your Drunk Driving Accident Claim
The law does not force you to hire a lawyer to help with your case, but here are several reasons why it can be a wise decision to do so:
Avoiding a David and Goliath Situation
You are dealing with the aftermath of the drunk driving accident, including your injuries, financial stress, and uncertainty about the future. On the other hand, the insurance corporation has investigators, claims adjusters, and teams of lawyers who do their best to pay as little as possible for your injuries. By putting your claim in the hands of a drunk driving accident lawyer, you can give your full attention to your health.
Dealing with Insurance Company Tactics
All those people who work for the insurance company have one job to do, and that is to deny your claim for compensation or attack the value of your claim. Having a lawyer on your side can prevent you from being tricked by an insurance adjuster into signing away your rights to future compensation in exchange for a lowball settlement offer.
Another technique the insurers use to pay less than you deserve is to have you give a recorded statement. The adjuster might tell you that the statement gives you the opportunity to tell your side of the story, but in reality, a recorded statement can hurt, if not destroy, your claim for compensation.
The insurance company can take your words out of context and twist them to mean something you never intended. By the time the insurer finishes cherry picking your recorded statement, they can make it look as if you caused the accident and not the drunk driver. A lawyer can protect you from this shady tactic.
Do Not Settle Your Claim Too Early
Sadly, many people make the mistake of grabbing the first check the insurance company offers. They do not realize that that is the only check they will ever get, and they have to pay all of their medical expenses with that money.
If you have not yet completed all of your medical treatments, you do not know for certain the impact your injuries will have on your life. If you need additional treatments like surgery, the insurance company will not pay for it.
Automobile insurance questions in Florida are complicated. Because Florida is generally a no-fault state, you have to jump through extra hoops to sue an at-fault driver for your injuries. You will have to meet the “permanent injury threshold” before you get compensation from the other driver. We can navigate through the insurance issues on your claim.
If you or a loved one got injured in a drunk driving accident, you can contact the Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine and its drunk driving accident lawyers in Titusville, FL. Call 1-800-747-3733 for a free consultation. There is no obligation. We do not charge upfront legal fees. We get paid legal fees out of the settlement or judgment.
