1. Will it cost me anything to hire the CP Law Firm for my personal injury case?
The initial consultation on your personal injury case is free. That means that we will not charge you in order to come in and review your case. The case review can happen over the phone or can happen in our office. It depends on the needs of the client. We also have cases where we visit you at the hospital in order to discuss your case because it is imperative that we get the information as soon as possible and begin the investigation.
If your case is settled in most cases the attorneys at CP Law Firm charge 33 1/3% percent of the overall recovery, which is standard in Florida. Sometimes the law limits our attorney fee at 25% of the overall recovery and if the case is in litigation it will be a 40% charge to the client. If we do not recover any money for you, we will not charge you for our attorney’s fees or any cost associated with the case.
2. What should I do after a car accident?
Car accidents can be very traumatic and especially when there is personal injuries involved. It is important to remain calm at the scene. An officer will usually arrive at the scene if one of the parties involved in the accident called 911. If you are able to walk around the scene it is important to gather information like witness information, telephone numbers and also license plates. Often times when the police arrive the person at fault for the accident will give the wrong information to the police officer and if you can track his information through his phone number and/or license plate number the attorneys here will be better able to assist you.
It is important to take pictures at the scene, pictures of any injuries and also pictures of the property damage that was caused to the vehicles. Once you are stable enough to decide whether your injury requires emergency medical transport to the hospital it is important to contact an attorney immediately so that we can begin further investigation on your case and get you to the right doctors.
3. What is personal injury protection or PIP (for short)?
This personal injury protection is a law that was established in Florida to ensure that all persons that are involved in a motor vehicle accident have $10,000 in insurance coverage in the event that they are injured. The law can be very complicated as to its application and who is to receive the benefits. As often is the case in personal injury motor vehicle accidents, there are many insurance companies involved. It could be your insurance company, your passenger’s insurance company, your parent’s insurance company or your friend’s insurance company. You can be injured in a motor vehicle or you can also be injured on a bicycle or as a pedestrian and these benefits will apply, not everyone knows that. The benefits generally establish a $10,000 maximum recovery for personal injuries that are treatable by medical physicians. Generally speaking, the doctors are the ones that will be billing the PIP insurance company and receiving payment for their services. The personal injury protection generally does not pay 100% of your medical expenses. Most policies say that you are covered up to 80% of any bills submitted on behalf of you by a medical provider. The 20% responsibility is often referred to as patient responsibility. The personal injury attorneys at CP Law Firm, P.A. are trained in collecting the maximum amount of recovery from the person at fault so we can pay back medical bills that are not paid for by the personal injury protection.
In limited cases personal injury protection benefits can also be used to pay lost wages as a result of not being able to work due to your injury caused by the personal injury motor vehicle accident.
4. If I am injured in a car accident how do I know what doctors to go to?
If you hire the CP Law Firm we can refer you to one of the many physicians we have dealt with over the course of doing business in this South Florida Community for over 15 years. Part of our responsibility is to ensure that your treatment is being taken care of for your personal injuries. We will call and speak to physicians based on your geographical location and where you live to make it most convenient for you to see the doctors that are most qualified to treat your injuries. For example if you have a broken bone the CP Law Firm will set you up with an orthopaedic doctor who will take care of your broken bone. If you have a head injury and you are suffering from headaches or dizziness or loss of consciousness we can set you up with a neurologist in order to evaluate your traumatic head injury. It is important to meet with a physician at the earliest time because the personal injury protection law says that you must have an emergency medical condition in order to receive all of the benefits available to you.
5. Does this mean that I have to go to a doctor that you select?
No. You can seek treatment from any doctor that you please. We will just make recommendations based upon our experience and your personal injury needs.
6. What kind of personal injury cases does the CP Law Firm handle?
The CP Law Firm personal injury attorneys handle all types of accident cases that result in personal injury. These cases include, but are not limited to the following: Trip and fall, slip and falls, car accidents, train accidents, boating accidents, Workers’ Compensation accidents, bicycle accidents, pedestrian accidents, truck accidents, product liability, amusement park accidents, dog bite cases and homeowner accidents.
7. What kind of family law issues does the CP Law Firm handle?
The trained family attorneys at CP Law Firm have many years of experience in family matters such as divorce or dissolution of marriage, child support or child support modification, time sharing and/or time sharing enforcement and modification. We also handle domestic violence cases where our clients are being accused and/or they are victims of domestic violence.
8. What is the process for hiring the CP Law Firm attorney on a family law issue?
Generally speaking our clients will call to the firm and we will have a brief chat about the type of family issue the client is involved with. Assume, for example, a client calls and has a need for a divorce. Divorce cases are all handled differently depending on the circumstances of the case and it is impossible to give a 15 minute consultation on the case if the matter is complicated. We will take your information and we will discuss briefly the case so that we can make an initial consultation with the firm and the qualified family law attorney. At the initial consultation, which usually lasts approximately one hour, we will gather all the information necessary in order to give you an evaluation as to the case procedure and the timeline for settlement. We will also discuss attorney’s fees at the initial consultation. As a family attorney, the client will have to pay the attorney the reasonable hourly rate charged by the firm.
In some cases the primary breadwinner in the family can be held responsible for the attorney’s fees of the spouse that earns less money in the relationship. That is a detail that will have to be discussed at the time that the issue arises.
9. I have a child support order and I do not know what to do because the owing parent refuses to pay?
If you have a child support order that has been ordered either through dissolution of marriage or paternity case and the owing party is failing to pay it, there are many remedies that we can pursue on your behalf. If you hire the firm we can do enforcement actions and bring the defaulting party into court to explain why they are not paying and get them to pay or subject them to incarceration. Again this is a case-by-case basis and depends on what kind of facts your particular case has.
10. I am not able to see my child although there is a court order in place, what do I do?
Time sharing is a major term in family law. It means that both parents are supposed to be able to see and partake in the children’s upbringing and life. There are instances where some parents are not allowed to see their children and that usually involves abuse of some kind where the court feels it would not be in the child’s best interest to have the parent share time, however, if that is not the case, generally speaking, the courts will try to find the most amicable way to divide sharing of time between the parents. It is important to establish the kind of relationship and testimony needed in order to get what it is that you are seeking as far as time sharing. The lawyers at CP Law Firm are trained in pursuing time sharing issues and have a generally impressive track record of doing so.
11. Is there a time limit for filing of personal injury claim?
Yes. Depending on what kind of personal injury accident you have suffered there are time limits that must be discussed with an attorney at the earliest possible convenience because if those time limits are not maintained and are missed you could lose out on the opportunity to claim money for your injury.
