Tampa Car Accident Lawyer
Injured in an automobile accident? I can help.
Brian Esposito Tampa Auto Accident Attorney
Text 813-992-4878 for fast answers.
Brian Esposito - Car Accident Attorney Tampa Bay
Have you been in a Tampa car accident? You need qualified representation ASAP.
Being in a car accident is always serious, even when the accident is minor. We understand that being in a car accident is hard and stressful, and we want to be there to help support you through it. Our car accident attorneys at Esposito Law Firm bring experience, competence, and compassion to the table after your accident.
Don’t wait until you’re struggling with the aftermath of your car accident. Contact a qualified car accident lawyer right away so we can help make the process easier.
A car accident doesn’t have to define your life. Having a car accident lawyer on your side will help you get back to normal life faster.
What Does A Tampa Car Accident Lawyer Do?
A lot of people think that car accident lawyers are only involved in car accident cases once you go to court, but that isn’t true. The truth is that most car accident cases never actually get to a trial court, they’re resolved long before.
So what do car accident lawyers do if they don’t just represent their clients in the courtroom?
A good attorney focuses on their clients and their client’s needs. Sometimes a client is better served by negotiating for a better settlement with an insurance company, while others are well served by taking a case to court and trying to get a trial verdict.
Attorneys also help put together the case, determine what a car accident might be worth, and put numbers to non-monetary costs.
For instance, if you’re a hairstylist and your arm is broken in a car accident with a negligent driver the cost of that car accident is much more than your medical bills for the care of the arm. A broken arm represents lost income, lost income opportunity, and potentially ongoing loss of income depending on how well it heals.
Car accident lawyers can help figure out what those costs are and argue on your behalf to make sure your accident settlement makes sense.
How Car Accident Cases in Tampa Bay Work
Unless you’ve been in a car accident that went to court you probably don’t know many details about what a car accident case means.
This is a brief overview of how car accidents work and what you can expect when you work with a car accident attorney.
Determining Fault in Tampa car accidents
Determining fault can be difficult with car accidents. There are a lot of car accidents that happen because of outside situations, like an unexpected part failure even in a well-maintained vehicle.
Even in cases where car accident fault seems clear, there may be legal considerations that make it difficult to assign fault in each situation.
In most cases, the fault is initially assigned by the police officers that respond to an accident. In cases where no police officer responded other kinds of investigation might be used to help determine fault in an accident.
What are Partial Fault Accidents?
In a lot of car accidents, no one is 100% at fault for the accident. This matters because it can impact who is liable for what and may make your case more complicated. In partial fault accidents, the people involved in an accident will be assigned a percentage of the total fault.
What Is The Difference Between No-Fault States and Having No-Fault In A Tampa Accident
Having no fault in an accident basically just means that the police officers determined that you were not to blame for the accident on the scene.
However, if you live in a no-fault state, that means that you can petition your own car insurance to cover personal injuries and other costs associated with a car accident regardless of who was at fault. Drivers in no-fault states are also usually required to carry personal injury protection, or PIP, insurance as part of their car insurance.
Pre-Litigation Phase
Very few accidents go straight to litigation. In most cases, you’ll have some time between the accident while you and your car accident attorney are evaluating the case and deciding if it’s worth pursuing additional litigation.
In some cases, your car accident lawyer may be able to get a good settlement for you just by calling the insurance company, or you may decide that settling out of court would be better than going through the formal process.
Your car accident lawyer may also advise you that it’s best not to move forward with a case, depending on the situation.
Evaluation
The evaluation phase is usually just the first meeting or the first couple of meetings with your car accident lawyer to determine if you have a good personal injury case.
In your meeting, you should expect to go over the details of your case, as well as your experiences since the accident. Your lawyer will ask a lot of questions, and some of those questions may seem repetitive. Don’t worry, they’re just trying to make sure they have the facts right and are exploring the case from different angles to make sure you have a reasonable case.
It’s also a good idea to ask your lawyer questions too! Asking questions will help you understand your case from a legal perspective. Plus, your lawyer’s answers may help you figure out if they’re a good fit for you, or if you want to work with a different attorney moving forward.
Most car accident attorneys offer these consultations for free since they happen before you start working on a case.
What Should I Document Regarding My Accident?
You may already have some documentation of the car accident before your evaluation with the car accident attorney. That’s a good thing, and you should make sure to bring any documentation you already have to your consultation.
However, chances are that you won’t already have all the available documentation, or that there may need to be ongoing documentation in the case of injuries.
That means that you and your attorney will work together to get a more complete picture of what happened in the accident and the effects of that accident and any ongoing costs.
There is a lot that can go into the documentation phase, and the more complicated your case the longer it may take to fully document your accident. That’s a big part of why it’s so important to contact your car accident attorney as soon as possible, that way they can start collecting documentation sooner and have your case ready faster.
Contacting your attorney right away also helps avoid issues with the statute of limitations on your accident. Plus, the more time your attorney reasonably has for documentation the easier it will be for them to build a complete case on your behalf.
his phase continues in many of the other pre-litigation phases we’re about to talk about.
Negligence Investigation
The Negligence investigation is another phase looking at who might be at fault for your accident. Negligence can extend beyond the people involved in the accident in some circumstances, like if a manufacturer knew about a part issue that contributed to your accident.
Your lawyer will typically evaluate pictures of all the vehicles involved, interview any witnesses, and look at police reports to build a case for negligence if negligence played a part.
What Type Of Experts Are Used During An Auto Accident Injury Case?
As part of building a personal injury case after a car accident, your car accident lawyer will need to consult with other experts. For instance, they may consult with medical professionals about your injuries to get a better sense of what recovery might look like so they can put an appropriate dollar value on your pain and suffering for that injury.
Experts your lawyer may consult with can include:
- Accident reconstruction experts
- Medical professionals and specialists
- Mechanics
- Economists
- Actuaries
- Life care planners
- Home medical care providers
These experts may also be called on later in your case to provide written or verbal testimony.
In fact, the experts involved in a case are one of the advantages working with a car accident attorney can give you.
Over the course of their career car accident attorneys develop a list of relevant experts that they can consult with for cases. That means you can often get better opinions faster if you work with an established car accident attorney.
How Do Lawyers Negotiate With The Insurance Companies?
Negotiating with the insurance for your car accident is one of the most important parts of any car accident investigation. Having documentation of your car accident as well as expert opinions to help counter any experts the insurance company might have is important.
At this phase, your attorney will try to get a resolution for your case without having to go to court. They’ll negotiate for a better settlement than the one you were initially offered and attempt to get a settlement that matches their evaluation of the accident.
Many car accident personal injury cases end here with the insurance company agreeing to pay more for the case. However, if the insurance company doesn’t want to increase the payment, if what they offer isn’t reasonable for the situation, or if there is a reason to bring a case against someone else involved in the accident, your attorney may recommend moving forward with a lawsuit after this negotiation.
Preparing For Trial And Filing Lawsuit
Filing a lawsuit is a complicated process. If negotiating with your insurance company fails, your lawyer may choose to put together more documentation (is available) or update your case before filing a lawsuit.
This process also isn’t as simple as scheduling a date with the courthouse. Here’s what you should expect if you’re in an accident and your car accident attorney recommends moving toward a lawsuit.
It’s important to get all the details of the lawsuit right. Small mistakes in filing or preparing for a case can lead to it being dismissed long before you get to court.
Discovery
Discovery is the phase where lawyers on all sides of the case provide information and documentation to one another.
That might seem odd to most people, especially since surprise evidence often plays such a big role in courtroom dramas, but it’s an incredibly important part of the process.
Discovery protects everyone’s right to have access to all the information about the case. That way the case can be decided on the facts instead of on surprise information or ‘gotcha’ evidence. In fact, there are times when evidence that wasn’t included in discovery might not be allowed in the case at all.
All of the car accident lawyers involved in these cases will ask a lot of questions in addition to providing documentation and any other information collected before discovery. Investigations can often continue during discovery, so more information and documents may need to be collected.
Deposition and Testimony
Your car accident lawyer will already have been working with experts from the start of your case, but this is the phase where that testimony is formalized and entered into the court records. Called deposition, this kind of testimony is given under oath.
You may be called to give a deposition about your car accident, and the police officers involved, witnesses to your accident, and consulting experts may all be called to give their own depositions as well.
Your attorney will spend some time preparing you for your deposition, including asking similar questions and coaching you on how you can safely answer the questions. This is important because ambiguous language and certain phrasing may be confusing in a deposition, and it’s critical to avoid getting confused or flustered during your deposition.
Everyone giving a deposition will probably have some of this coaching unless they are experienced in giving a deposition and already know how to communicate clearly in a court setting. Don’t feel bad that you’re getting this coaching, and feel free to ask questions so you can be sure you’re prepared before your deposition.
It’s also important to remember that you can always say ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I don’t remember’ if you’re uncertain of the facts of the case. Since your deposition is given under oath, it’s important to be as truthful as possible and to avoid hedging when you don’t know.
In some cases, like if your accident resulted in a head injury, you may need to say you don’t know or don’t remember more often because of the injuries. Your lawyer should help you prepare and give you some tips to tell when you can answer a question and when your memory is too foggy to answer.
Mediation Or Settlements
Going to court isn’t always the ideal scenario for your case, even after you’ve filed for litigation. There is a small amount of risk in even the most certain cases because juries can surprise lawyers and the courts. Unfortunately, a lot of car accident cases are anything but cut and dry, so the attorneys involved are likely to try and settle out of court.
If your attorney recommends trying to settle you shouldn’t be disappointed. A lot of car accident cases end in mediation and settlements, and you’ll still probably get a better settlement than you would have if you hadn’t moved forward with litigation.
If you move forward with mediation a trained expert mediator will meet with all of the involved parties to negotiate a settlement that works for everyone involved. Your car accident lawyer should be able to tell you if the negotiation has gotten you a good settlement, or if you should push forward with a trial.
Trial and Appeals Phase
Many car accident cases don’t get to this phase, so don’t worry too much. Contacting a car accident attorney for help with your case doesn’t automatically mean that you’re going to wind up in court over your accident.
But, just in case your situation does warrant a court case it’s important to know what to expect in court.
Trial Court
In most cases, if your car accident case makes it to trial you’ll be in a jury trial. That means that you’ll have both sides argue their case in front of a jury. They’ll go over the facts of the case, relevant details of the law, and any complications in the case that could change the jury’s mind.
Once the case is heard, the jury will give a verdict.
The whole process can take between a few days to a few weeks. Shorter trials are rare.
If the jury rules in your favor that’s the end of the trial. However, if the rule against you and you or your attorney thinks that the court might have made a legal error you can appeal your case.
Appeals Court
Appealing a court verdict is a difficult and serious process but may be necessary if the court made a serious error in your case. When you appeal you submit your trial to a higher court for review.
Appeals courts can overturn a decision, order a retrial, or say that there wasn’t anything wrong with your trial. Depending on the situation you can appeal the decision of an appeals court and move higher up the court system, but that process is difficult and rare.
Driver error is by far the most common cause of car accidents here in Florida. From distracted driving to not understanding the rules of the road to overreacting in the face of danger, driver error is an inevitable part of being out on the roadways.
Mechanical issues, improperly maintained vehicles, poor weather conditions, and damaged roadways are also major causes of auto accidents here in central Florida.
A review of the causes of auto accidents wouldn’t be complete without talking about alcohol-related driving and its devastating consequences. In 2019 alone, thousands of car accidents were caused by drunk drivers, and 814 people lost their lives due to those accidents, including 68 minors. These deaths accounted for 26% of all vehicle accident fatalities in Florida in 2019. While deaths due to drunk driving are a declining trend, even one life lost is too many. At Esposito Law, we can handle any type of car accident claim, no matter the cause.
The first thing you should do after a car accident is to move yourself and your vehicle to a safe location if possible. Once you’re in a safe location, check yourself for injuries and call 9-1-1 for help.
Once emergency services are on the way, if you are not injured, check on the other people in your vehicle and the other vehicles involved in the accident if possible. This is also a good time to start taking photos and documenting exactly what happened in the accident. Exchange contact and insurance information with the other drivers involved, and provide all your information to the police when they arrive.
We always recommend being checked out by medical professionals after an accident, no matter how minor. Some injuries can be masked by the symptoms of shock, so you may not even know you’re injured without professional evaluation.
Once you’re cleared by the emergency physicians, your next call needs to be to Esposito Law at 877-ESPO-LAW. Don’t try to deal with insurance companies and law enforcement on your own…trust Esposito Law to get you everything you deserve after your car accident.
Just because you were a passenger in a car involved in an auto accident doesn’t mean you don’t deserve compensation for your injuries. In Florida, passengers have the right to use PIP and health insurance after an auto accident to pay for required treatments. However, if you are seriously injured, PIP and health insurance won’t be enough. Passengers must often bring suit against multiple drivers, as more than one driver can be responsible for an accident. This makes receiving the deserved compensation even more difficult. At Esposito Law in Tampa Bay and Daytona Beach, we’ve helped many passengers navigate the complicated process of filing auto accident lawsuits and getting a fair settlement.
Well, that depends on the extent and severity of your injuries. For minor injuries that don’t require much care, your Florida Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance might cover enough of your expenses. However, PIP falls far short of covering all the potential expenses related to an accident. PIP only pays 80% of emergency care, 60% of lost wages, and a mere $5,000 in the event of death. If living on 60% of your income while trying to recover from serious injuries and paying thousands in unexpected medical bills sounds good to you, then give it a try with just PIP. If you want full, fair compensation for your injuries after an accident, call Esposito Law at 877-ESPO-LAW.
Some people believe that minor car accidents don’t require legal representation, but we strongly disagree. Serious injuries can result from supposedly “minor” accidents, and the onset of these injuries is often delayed. This means that while you may feel okay right after a minor accident, thousands of dollars in medical bills could be in your near future. Don’t let this nightmare situation ruin you physically and financially…contact a qualified car accident attorney like Esposito Law no matter what type of accident you’re in.
Whenever you’re in a car accident, a lot of things happen very fast. From calling 9-1-1 to visiting the emergency room to filing an insurance claim, there’s a complicated process to follow in an already stressful time. Hiring a good attorney with experience in auto accidents early in the process is essential to receiving the very best care at the least out-of-pocket cost. We recommend contacting a qualified attorney as soon as you are cleared by emergency services. If you’re in Tampa Bay or Daytona Beach, Esposito Law is ready to represent your best interests in your car accident case.
The most common accident variants that require a car accident attorney in Tampa in the Tampa/Tampa Bay area are the following:
If the other driver in the accident admits fault and has adequate insurance, do you even need an attorney? Yes! Just because a responsible driver admits fault does not mean their insurance company will pay you for all the expenses you deserve by default. Auto insurers will often offer a very low initial offer, perhaps just covering the cost of fixing your vehicle’s damage, in hopes that you will accept and not realize you are owed more. Since Florida allows injured, not-at-fault drivers to be compensated for much more than just damage to their vehicle, it’s essential that you have an experienced attorney review your case and help you accurately value your total damages and expenses. An attorney can also help negotiate for punitive damages, better medical care coverage, and potential future expenses. The average person typically doesn’t know everything they are entitled to under state law after an auto accident, but a credible attorney like Brian Esposito can help you get a full and fair settlement.
You’ll already be stressed right after a car accident, so finding a reputable attorney to handle your case might seem overwhelming. A simple Google search of car accident attorneys in Tampa Bay yields hundreds of results, each one claiming to be the best. Cut through the hype and go straight for the experience with Esposito Law. Brian Esposito has years of both public and private sector experience in criminal and civil law. He is known for his aggressive, New York style of litigation that gets fair results fast. Don’t take a chance on some random online listing or Facebook page…get all the compensation you deserve with high-quality representation from Esposito Law in Tampa Bay and Daytona Beach.
Every car accident case is different, so it’s impossible to say exactly how much you’ll pay for the services of a car accident attorney. Here at Esposito Law, we never charge an upfront fee for representing you in an auto accident case. If you win your case, we charge an average of 30-40% of your settlement, although it could be more or less depending on the details of your case. If you don’t win, you don’t pay anything.
The exact dollar amount of a potential settlement in your auto accident case will depend entirely on the details of your case. A judge will consider many factors when calculating a fair and just settlement award, including:
- Severity of the injuries
- Long-term effects on the injured person, especially regarding the ability to work and earn an income
- Proportion of blame the injured person shares for the accident
- Payments already made for medical and other care by the injured person
- Future potential expenses the injured person may incur related to the accident injuries
- Impact on the injured person’s quality of life
Other considerations may also be made in cases with special circumstances, like those that involve minors. For an estimate of your potential Florida auto accident injury settlement award, contact Esposito Law at 877-ESPO-LAW.
Even if you are partly to blame for the auto accident, you may still qualify to receive compensation for part of your damages and expenses. A judge will determine who was at fault for the accident using Florida’s pure comparative negligence system methodology. Often, more than one person is deemed to be at fault. When this happens, the judge will adjust each person’s settlement award to reflect their partial responsibility for causing the accident.
If you are deemed fully at fault for causing the accident, it is very unlikely that you will be eligible to receive any compensation.
As mentioned above, judges in Florida use the concept of pure comparative negligence to determine who is at fault in an auto accident, and to what degree. Using this methodology, the judge considers all factors that contributed to causing the accident, assigns each a percentage value, and adjusts each injured party’s award to reflect their burden of responsibility.
Yes! While it is possible to file an auto accident lawsuit without a police report, having the report as official documentation of the circumstances of the accident is incredibly beneficial. Without a police report, the other parties involved can claim anything when the case is heard in court, and it’s all up to the judge’s opinion on who is telling the truth. The police report adds a layer of protection for you when presenting your case for compensation from the drivers involved.
Most car accident cases in Florida must be filed within four years of the accident date. However, car accident lawsuits involving a death must be filed in just two years. Cases involving minors, government agencies, medical malpractice, and some other situations also have altered statute of limitations timelines. Consult with a knowledgeable attorney to find out the exact statute of limitations in your auto accident case.
There’s no way to know exactly how long it will take to settle your auto accident case in Florida. The timeline completely depends on how long treatment for your injuries and recovery takes. In some cases, this can be years. However, waiting until all costs and damages have been tallied is crucial for you to receive full and fair compensation for all your accident-related expenses.
Most of our clients are able to settle their auto accident cases before the case is ever heard in court. However, in cases where the responsible parties or insurance company doesn’t want to pay a fair settlement, you may have to appear in court to argue your side of the case. When you hire Esposito Law to represent you in your auto accident case, you can count on us being right by your side, bringing the professional and aggressive style of litigation we’ve become known for.
Florida is a state rich in diversity and culture, so it’s no surprise that many people who live here are not U.S. citizens. When a foreign-born individual gets in a car accident, they may be confused about their rights to compensation for their injuries. Even non-citizens are guaranteed protections under federal and state law, so we encourage anyone injured in an auto accident to seek the services of an attorney to get the compensation they deserve, even those not born here in the U.S.
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