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Miami motorcycle accidents happen frequently. Unfortunately, Florida is leading the country in motorcycle accident fatalities. At least 1 in 5 traffic related deaths in Florida are due to motorcycle accidents. The reason for these sad stats is simple: motorcycles afford little to no protection for their riders.
Studies show that being on a motorcycle in a traffic accident is 27 times more likely to result in death or serious injury. Why? Drivers can be careless around motorcycles. According to the National Safety Council, many drivers simply fail to anticipate the movement of motorcycles, or notice to them.
Recovering for your injuries in a Miami motorcycle accident can be complicated. However, a Miami motorcycle accident lawyer can help you. The law that applies to Miami motorcycle accidents in the state of Florida is different than Miami car accidents.
Also, insurance regulations and even dishonest carriers can make the procedure more complex if you are pursuing your claim without the assistance of a Miami motorcycle accident lawyer.
Despite the requirement for motorcyclists in Florida to carry PIP coverage, there are still requirements to have some sort of insurance coverage. While there is no requirement for insurance before a motorcycle is registered, there are penalties for riders that are involved in an accident with no insurance.
These penalties may extend to having your driving privileges suspended or being required to purchase insurance coverage for 3 years. Riders are also expected to carry some type of physical proof of their insurance coverage.
Under Florida no fault laws, every driver is required to carry Personal Injury Protection (PIP) of at least $10,000. They are also required to carry Personal Damage Liability coverage of $10,000. A Miami motorcycle accident lawyer can help you determine the laws that apply to each specific case.
The essence of these no fault laws is to ensure that victims of car accidents have a recourse to compensation. So, in the event of a car accident, each driver or victim may simply claim compensation with their own insurer. In many cases, PIP coverage may pay for medical expenses up to the policy limit.
Regardless of whether you are claiming from the at fault party’s insurer or filing a lawsuit against the at fault party, you can generally recover two types of damages. These are compensatory and punitive damages. Note that damages mean the same thing as compensation.
Compensatory damagesin turn divided into economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages cover items such as medical expenses, lost wages, out of pocket expenses and other quantifiable loss. It is essentially a sum total of what you have lost due to accident, in money terms.
these damages refer to abstract loss or damage that is not ordinarily calculated in money terms. For instance, items such as pain and suffering, mental anguish and loss of consortium will fall under this category. Permanent disfigurement or loss of limbs are also items you can recover here.
These are damages aimed at awarding compensation to punish the at fault party. It is usually awarded in court, and only after the defendant has been shown to have acted recklessly or intentionally. It is meant to punish very bad behavior on the part of the defendant.
Depending on the circumstances of your case, you may be entitled to any or all of these heads of compensation. Your Miami motorcycle accident lawyer will help you understand what facts and evidence your case will require to prove that you are entitled to this compensation.
There is no real guarantee as to what amount you can recover as compensation in your motorcycle accident claim. The eventual dollar amount, if any, will depend on a variety of factors.
These will include the severity of your injury or the scale of damage suffered, the level of fault of the other party, the type of evidence you have to support your claim etc. It is a combination of all these factors that will determine how much you may expect to recover.
After you consult with a lawyer, we will carefully go over the facts of your case and necessary documents, including your medical report. These will help us understand the scale of your claim and possible compensation amount that will be fair to you.
Since economic damages usually aim to reimburse economic loss, you will be expected to prove every single item you are claiming. This proof can be difficult to prove.
If you are trying to prove loss of earning capacity, you may need to show your average earnings before your injury. You may need to show how much those earnings will be reduced due to your injury. This may be due to a permanent effect of the injury such as reduced capacity in a limb or loss of the limb.
It may also be necessary to show any limit in what kind of jobs you may be able to perform, because of the injury. Your damages here will be the difference between what you used to earn and what you may earn after the injury.
Lost wages, medical bills, out of pocket expenses, alternative transportation etc. must all be proved clearly if you are to receive compensation.
One way to make this easy is to ensure that you have proper documentation. It is better to carefully record your expenses during your recovery period. Your lawyer will know which ones are relevant and which ones are not.
You can prove lost wages by producing a letter from your employer. The letter should state your position and how much you would usually earn. If you don’t have an employer, you can show you’r lost income. You may be able to do this by providing your tax returns. These would provide evidence of your earnings. The evidence would be over the period before the injury and how it reduced after the injury.
Proving these forms of compensation may be difficult. Once you brief our team, all you have to do is instruct us on your goals. Our accident attorneys will do all the work for you.
You may be wondering how insurance loss adjusters or jury’s may arrive at a dollar amount for your non-economic loss. Specially considering it is non-quantifiable. There are a few methods that are used to determine these.
One of such methods is the per diem method. This method involves asking the jury to award a plaintiff damages based on how many days they suffered from the injury. It also includes possible future days of suffering. It is common to use a figure, such as the plaintiff’s daily wage and multiply it by the number of days of suffering to arrive at an amount for non-economic damages.
This method assesses the seriousness of the injury or level of fault on a scale of 1 to 5. A 5 represents the most serious category of injury, such as permanent loss of limbs, while a 1 represents the least serious category. The multiplier figure that your injury represents may be multiplied against whatever amount is awarded as compensation for economic damages.
If your injury is assessed at a 3, and you are awarded economic damages of $30,000, your non-economic damages will be 3 x 30,000. That’s a total of $90,000 for non-economic damages.
Even if you were partially at fault, you may be able to recover compensation. This is because Florida operates the pure comparative negligence system.
This system means that each party may be entitled to compensation based on the level of fault of the other party. So, if you were 10% at fault for the accident, you can still recover 90% of whatever sum is awarded as compensation.
On the other hand, the defendant may also be entitled to recover 10% of the awarded sum from you. However, the amount you are awarded will likely cancel out what you owe.
If you have been injured in a Miami motorcycle accident you may be entitled to compensation. Increase your chances of recovering what you deserve by getting in touch with us as soon as possible.
A Miami motorcycle accident lawyer from our office is ready to assist you. We can help you receive justice for your claim. Click here to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation or call us now at (786)650-0202.
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