No one rides a motorcycle expecting the worst to happen, but even with the most vigilant of precautions, accidents can — and do — occur. Unfortunately, the stakes can be a lot higher in motorcycle accidents than car accidents. Catastrophic injuries are distressingly common in motorcycle wrecks. Contact a Fort Walton motorcycle accident lawyer from Powell, Powell & Powell to help you recover compensation for losses related to catastrophic injuries.
Understanding Catastrophic Injuries in Florida
In most vehicular accidents, drivers have personal injury protection or PIP as part of their Florida auto insurance. These accidents are categorized as no-fault and each driver’s insurance company pays for each driver. But PIP doesn’t cover motorcyclists — and the injuries obtained during a motorcycle accident can be way more serious than what PIP covers.
Motorcycle accidents usually involve catastrophic injuries. The combination of the motorcyclist being exposed and the sheer, all-too-common negligence of car drivers lead to horrific injuries.
We help motorcyclists who have suffered or are suffering from spinal injuries, including paraplegia, quadriplegia and herniated discs, fractured or broken bones, traumatic brain injuries that impact functioning and memory and much more.
When these accidents occur, you need an experienced lawyer to help you bring a claim of negligence against the driver who hit you or caused your accident. Without a practiced attorney on your side, your medical expenses, lost wages or other costs might not be covered by your insurance company or the other driver’s insurance company — and these costs rise quickly.
How Your Attorney Brings Your Motorcycle Accident Claim
Often times, the easiest defense for a driver who hit you or caused your motorcycle accident is to claim comparative negligence. This is a doctrine in Florida that mandates that you are held responsible for any fault you contributed to the accident by reducing the amount of compensation the other party has to pay.
By working together, we are able to refute any of these claims to the greatest extent possible and help you obtain the amount of compensation you deserve. This is particularly important in a motorcycle accident where you may be subject to preconceived notions or stereotypes about your ability to be responsible and lawful or your right to compensation because of your motorcycling interests.
Some of the tactics or strategies we employ include collecting reports from responding law enforcement or emergency medical personnel, gathering witnesses, taking or analyzing photographs, investigating the background of the other driver or any parties responsible for your injuries, handling the often huge amounts of paperwork from insurance companies and working expert witnesses who can attest to your victimization.
Compensation After a Motorcycle Accident
Your attorney will use this evidence to argue you are entitled to compensation for all of your losses pertaining to the accident. This includes past and future medical expenses, including the cost of in-home care while you are rehabilitating, lost wages and earnings while you are unable to work and non-economic damages, including pain and suffering or mental anguish.
Please contact our offices as soon as you suffer a motorcycle accident in order to begin the process of obtaining compensation for your losses.