Fort Myers Bicycle Accident Lawyer

What should I do after my bicycle accident if I am hurt? This video reviews hiring a Florida accident lawyer | Goldstein, Buckley, Cechman, Rice, Purtz, Smith & Smith, P.A.

Video advise from attorneys Christopher J Smith and Andrea P Smith on bicycle accidents in Fort Myers.

If you’ve been seriously injured in a bicycle accident, you might feel uncertain about what steps to take next. Suffering a life-changing injury can be overwhelming, and seeking justice may seem like an impossible task. However, with the assistance of our Fort Myers bicycle accident lawyers, we can work together to achieve the results you deserve. After your accident, we encourage you to contact us as soon as you’re able. Once you’ve received your initial medical treatment, please don’t hesitate to call us to schedule a free consultation and begin the process of pursuing justice for your case.

How Bicycle Accident Cases Work

We understand that after your accident, you may feel defeated, especially if your injuries have impacted your daily life. If you're feeling uncertain or unsure of what to do next, we want you to know that our Fort Myers bicycle accident lawyers are here to guide you. Over the years, we’ve handled numerous bicycle accident cases and are familiar with what it takes to build a strong case. Whatever questions you have, we’re here to provide the answers you need.

The first thing we’re going to help you find out is who the liable party is. We need to know who we are filing the claim against. In a bicycle accident case it might be as simple as labeling the vehicle driver as the liable party. It’s typically just one person, but there can be multiple people involved in causing an accident.

The liable party’s insurance company is going to be financially responsible for giving you a compensation award. This will be considered a settlement and the amount that you would receive is based on various factors. Through insurance negotiations, we will go back-and-forth with the insurance company until we come up with a number that we think accurately represents everything that you’ve gone through.

If the insurance company refuses to reach an agreement with us, we will prepare your case from the start with trial in mind. This ensures we are ready to proceed if it becomes necessary, rather than accepting an unfair settlement offer. As a trail attorney firm, we stay prepared to take the case to trial to pursue what we believe is a fair resolution.

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Your Case Value

When it comes to your bicycle accident case, during an initial meeting, it’s impossible to predict the exact outcome of your case. No matter how much experience the lawyer brings to the table, they should not promise you a specific amount of compensation right away. In fact, if any lawyer guarantees you a certain figure before fully understanding the details of your case, that’s a red flag, and you should think twice about working with them. It’s important for us to first assess the full scope of your situation, including what your medical recovery will entail, before discussing what kind of financial compensation you might expect. 

When we look to see what your medical recovery is going to be, we are getting to know your injuries and treatments. We need to know how long it will take for you to get back to full health. We also need to understand whether or not you are going to be able to get back to where you were before this accident. Sometimes people do not ever return back to the health that they were before the accident which is going to play a large role in how you are compensated for your injuries. We don’t want to rush your case as your condition might develop and if we were to rush into a settlement but later find out that you need extensive surgery that won’t be included in your results and you won’t be able to go back to get that.

Once our case is done and settled that is the end of it. That’s why you need to choose carefully who you want to represent you. This is your one fight to get justice and you don’t want to blow it.

Our Fort Myers bicycle accident lawyers understand how important this one opportunity is for you. We handle these types of cases all the time. This is your one opportunity to get justice and we don’t take that lightly.

Your compensation award is going to consist of two types of damages: economic and non-economic damages.

Economic damages can be described as losses that you suffer financially after your bicycle accident. This can include your medical bills and lost wages as well as the cost of the bicycle if it was destroyed. We have even seen people include the cost of their cell phone if it was ruined and the bicycle accident.

Your non-economic damages are going to be things such as pain and suffering as well as mental anguish. An example of this might be if you suffer insomnia because you had a traumatic brain injury after your bicycle accident.

We will not be able to tell you the full value of your case until we understand what your maximum medical recovery is going to be. That can take quite some time and it’s not something that we should ever rush. Our Fort Myers bicycle accident lawyers are going to thoroughly investigate your case top to bottom to ensure that we are getting every bit of justice that is available to us.

Of course, we anticipate some pushback from the liable party’s insurance company, as paying for your damages and injuries will come at a cost to them. Rest assured, we are committed to fighting tirelessly to ensure they are held accountable and do not violate your rights by offering you less than what you deserve.

Florida Fault Laws

Something you’ve likely realized by now is that the insurance company isn’t on your side in this case. Their goal is to protect their bottom line, and they know exactly how to do it. By using Fort Myers' state pure comparative negligence laws against you, they may try to reduce the compensation you’re entitled to, ultimately saving themselves money and increasing their profits. Even if they can shift just a small part of the blame for the accident onto you, it could significantly lower their financial responsibility.

Pure comparative negligence means that you could still receive compensation even if you are partially at fault for your accident; however, if you do bear a percentage of fault for your bicycle accident, then your compensation will be reduced. For example if you are found to be 40% at fault for the accident and you were given $10,000 in compensation you would be able to collect $6000 of that award. Pure comparative negligence also allows you to receive compensation even if you are mostly at fault. Theoretically, you could try to get one percent of a compensation award even if you are 99% at fault. Both the insurance company that represents the liable party as well as your Fort Myers bicycle accident lawyers are well aware of these laws and each will fight for them to go in their favor. We make sure that you are not getting shorted simply because the insurance company wants to make a profit. We fight to make sure your compensation award is as full as it can possibly be.

Please understand that there are more ways for the insurance company to reduce your compensation than going through insurance negotiations with your lawyers. They will try to reach out to you to gather a recorded statement from you personally after the accident. We strongly recommend that you refuse to give them a statement all together. You don’t have any legal obligation to give them anything so don’t. They may try to use your words against you.

When you set up a free consultation with our Fort Myers bicycle accident lawyers, you are ensuring that you have somebody fighting for your rights. It is important that you know you are entitled to the damages that the liable party caused. We will fight to get every penny worth of your case value from the insurance company. We don’t let the greedy companies get away with violating your rights by reducing your compensation.

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Call Our Fort Myers Bicycle Accident Lawyers

If you've been injured in a bicycle accident, we encourage you to contact Goldstein, Buckley, Cechman, Rice, Purtz, Smith & Smith, P.A. bicycle accident lawyers right away to schedule your free initial consultation. We are dedicated to assisting members of our community who have been harmed due to the negligence or carelessness of others. Please don’t wait to reach out. We are here to help you pursue justice and the outcome you deserve. Schedule your free consultation today.