Florida Injury Victim Lawyer Blog

As a Florida lawyer representing injury victims in workers' compensation and all personal injury cases people frequently ask me what they should do if they are involved in a work related accident. Here are some general guidelines I tell people to follow:

1) Call 911 and immediately get the emergency medical treatment or care you need for your injuries.
2) Notify your employer of the accident, preferably in writing. There are strict time limitations for notifying your employer of a workers' compensation injury under Florida's workers' compensation laws that need to be complied with or your claim could be denied.
3) Ask your employer to provide you with medical care through their workers' compensation insurance carrier. If your employer refuses to provide this immediately seek legal representation.
4) Do not go to your own personal physician unless your employer or their workers' compensation insurance carrier refuses to provide you with a workers' compensation doctor.
5) If your employer delays sending you to a workers' compensation doctor or at the very least providing you with the contact information for their workers' compensation insurance carrier immediately seek legal representation.
6) Always keep copies of all documents related to your employment and your workers' compensation accident including medical records, notice of the accident to your employer as well as any checks or documents you receive from your employer's workers' compensation insurance company.
7) Contact a Florida workers' compensation attorney for a free consultation to discuss your rights and obligations under Florida's workers compensation laws.

If you were hurt on the job, call Payer Law Group toll free at 1-877-854-4442 to find out about your right to recover workers' compensation benefits as well as your obligations under Florida's workers' compensation laws. There are technical rules about the amount of benefits injured workers may receive under Florida's workers' compensation laws and complex procedures for obtaining those benefits. It is vital that you act fast, so you do not risk losing benefits because you waited too long.

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A Florida student has died in a truck accident after a tractor-trailer rear-ended a school bus in an accident in northern Florida.

A spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol told reporters that both vehicles caught on fire in the accident Tuesday. About 20 people were aboard the bus, and all the students are believed to have been accounted for.

Six students and both drivers were taken to area hospitals with non-life threatening injuries. The bus was transporting students from North Marion Middle School and North Marion High School.

The cab of the tractor-trailer completely burned, while the back of the bus had some fire damage.

Posted by James Payer | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Truck Accident

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As a Florida personal injury attorney people often ask me what they should do if they're injured in an automobile accident. Here are the general rules I tell them to follow:

1) Call 911 to get help for anyone that may have been injured in the accident.

2) Call the police in order to document the accident with the appropriate type of police report or exchange of drivers' information form.

3) Do not discuss the accident with anyone, except to answer questions asked by police officers.

4) Do not take any blame for the accident.

5) Gather the following information from the other driver(s): Name, Address, Phone Number, Drivers' License Number, Date of Birth, Name of their Automobile Insurance Company and Policy Number.

6) Get follow up medical treatment with a doctor. Remember, it is common for pain to develop days after the accident.

7) Contact an attorney with Payer Law Group toll free at 1-877-854-4442 for your free consultation. We will explain your rights and duties as a result of the accident and will fight to obtain the maximum recovery for your injuries and losses.

Posted by James Payer | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Auto Accident

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As a Florida attorney who represents injured workers in workers' compensation cases I frequently deal with the strict time limitations placed on injured workers under Florida's workers' compensation laws. In most cases under Florida's workers' compensation laws an injured worker is required to notify their employer of the accident and/or injury within 30 days from the date of the accident and/or injury.

Florida Statutes 440.185(1) states:

An employee who suffers an injury arising out of and in the course of employment shall advise his or her employer of the injury within 30 days after the date of or initial manifestation of the injury. Failure to so advise the employer shall bar a petition under this chapter unless:

(a) The employer or the employer's agent had actual knowledge of the injury;

(b) The cause of the injury could not be identified without a medical opinion and the employee advised the employer within 30 days after obtaining a medical opinion indicating that the injury arose out of and in the course of employment;

(c) The employer did not put its employees on notice of the requirements of this section by posting notice pursuant to s. 440.055; or

(d) Exceptional circumstances, outside the scope of paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) justify such failure.

If an injured worker fails to notify his or her employer within this 30 day time period their claim will probably be denied by the employer and its workers' compensation insurance carrier.

In order to avoid this potentially devastating pitfall I strongly encourage injured workers to notify their employer of the accident and/or injury in writing and to keep a copy of that document for future reference. Having handled over a thousand workers' compensation cases in Florida I frequently encounter employers who deny notice of the work accident and/or injury even though they were verbally notified of the accident and/or injury by the injured worker verbally in an attempt to wrongfully deny the workers' compensation claim. At that point it's the injured worker's word against that of his or her employer and as you can see the chances of winning are 50/50 at best.

If you or one of your loved ones has been the victim of a work related accident you should get a free initial consultation with an attorney in your area in order to better understand you rights and just as important, your obligations under Florida's workers' compensation laws. These laws can be quite complex and place strict time limitations on the injured worker. If these time limitations are not complied with your workers' compensation can be denied. I can assure you that the adjuster on your claim has an attorney counseling him or her, shouldn't you?

Posted by James Payer | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Workers' Compensation

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