Hi. I’m Brent Probinsky of the law firm of Probinsky & Cole.
When clients come to see us that were in an accident, they often asked an obvious question, “What is the value of my case? What is it worth in dollars? How long will it take?”
Those are all good questions and it depends on a number of factors. First of all, what is the severity of your injury? Do you have permanent injuries? Will it require that you miss work? Will it require permanent disability where you can never go back to work? So you have lost wages and lost income.
What is the value of your medical care that you’ve had up until now? You need to be compensated for that. Your insurance company may have paid it through health insurance but they expect to be paid back, at least a percentage.
So what’s the cost of your medical care up until now? What is the cost of your medical care in the future? If you have a serious injury, you might need medical care for years and years. What is the cost of that? What is the value of your lost income? Also in an accident case, a negligent case, you’re entitled to pain and suffering. You may have scarring. You may have disfigurement. You may have pain. You’re entitled in Florida law to be compensated for that.
The seriousness of your injury is one important factor in determining the value of your case. The other issue is what is the insurance of the person who caused the accident, what are their limits of insurance? Do they have no insurance? Do they have $10,000? Do they have $50,000, $100,000, a million dollars or several million dollars in insurance coverage? That will obviously affect how much we’re able to collect from that person or win a trial.
The other issue is who is at fault. Is it clear that the person who we’re blaming caused the accident? Are they partially at your fault? Are you partially at fault? That doesn’t preclude you from making a claim if you’re 50 percent responsible for an accident, such as a car accident, and the other driver is 50 percent responsible. It really reduces the value of your case by 50 percent.
So the seriousness of your injury, the amount of the insurance that’s available and the responsibility, the culpability, the percentage of negligence that the other driver has or the other person has and that you have.
All those go into the factor of the value of your case and many times we have to see over six months to a year how you improve if you improve medically. We sit with you. We discuss the value and we try to reach a settlement out of court if possible with your full authority and if not, then we go to trial and we get just compensation for you.
Brent Probinsky, the law firm of Probinsky & Cole. Thank you.
