If you’ve been injured in a car accident while on the job you may understand that you qualify for workers’ compensation to assist with medical bills and lost income while out of work. But, as workers’ compensation attorneys, we see people all the time after work accidents who don’t recognize that in some cases they can pursue separate personal injury claims as well.
Job-related car accidents that leave workers injured raise several questions about how the injured worker should proceed legally. Options require examining circumstances of the accident and details of the law pertaining to Florida’s workers’ compensation system, personal injury liability, auto insurance and health insurance. At Payer & Associates, we answer these questions for clients and help them to pursue the maximum compensation available for their losses through the workers’ compensation and civil claims systems.
The best way to ensure you obtain all of the money you deserve after a work-related car accident in the Greater Miami area is to enlist the help of the experienced and aggressive Miami work car accident lawyers of Payer & Associates. Our goal is to re-establish your financial security after a car accident. We work to make things right for you.
Workers’ Comp and Personal Injury Lawyers Fighting for You
Payer & Associates is uniquely positioned to help you if you or a loved one has been injured in a job-related car accident. Our practice is dedicated to helping injured individuals and their families in the Greater Miami area and all of South Florida We pursue both workers’ compensation and personal injury cases. We can work to seek the greatest total compensation available to you by law.
Attorneys James D. Payer and Christian G. Payer have more than 40 years of combined legal experience in South Florida, where they were raised and educated. They have committed 100 percent of their practice to aggressively protecting the rights of injured Floridians and their families. They and the rest of our firm will be with you from the day we are retained through trial, if a trial is necessary.
The attorneys at Payer & Associates are available by phone any day of the week and any hour of the day. We offer free initial consultations and are ready to come to you to meet if you are hospitalized or if that’s simply what you prefer. After an accident with injuries you are under a lot of stress and we know that we are here to help elevate some of that stress, not to add it.
Where Will You Find Maximum Compensation for Your Work-Related Car Accident?
Many types of work require employees to travel by car, from delivery jobs to sales positions, in-home medical care and assistance, and other client or customer service. In almost any job, you might have to drive from one site to another as part of your job duties, which creates the possibility of getting into a car accident while on the job.
If you’ve been injured in a car accident that occurred while you were performing routine job duties or while on a business trip, there are several immediate questions to be answered:
- Are you covered by Florida workers’ compensation insurance? In most cases you are.
- Were you acting on behalf of your employer or in furtherance of their business?
- Were you in your own vehicle or a company car?
- Do you have personal car insurance?
- Is the company car insurance or business liability insurance?
- Were you driving?
- Was a co-worker driving?
- Were you at fault for the crash or was someone else?
If you’re a delivery driver, courier, caretaker, someone who runs personal errands for a client or boss, a property-showing real estate agent, consultant, a working Joe driving between multiple job sites or any type of employee, how you answer these questions after a car accident can dictate financial recovery and need to be analyzed by an experienced personal injury attorney.
Remember, too, you could be a passenger in a job-related car accident or a pedestrian hit by a car while working and qualify for compensation (“damages” in legal parlance) through workers’ compensation and/or a personal injury claim.
As car accident and workers’ compensation lawyers experienced in South Florida, the attorneys of Payer & Associates are uniquely qualified to help you answer these questions. We can examine the circumstances of your accident, your employment status, your injuries and your medical needs and losses and provide answers for you.
Each car accident at work is different, but our objective is the same: obtain the most money the law allows you to receive in order to compensate you for your injuries and losses.
Workers’ Compensation after a Car Accident at Work in Florida
In most case, if you are injured while “on the job” or performing assigned job duties in Florida, you qualify for benefits from the Florida Workers’ Compensation program. Workers’ comp is an insurance program that employers are required to maintain for employees. It is “no fault” – injured workers are to get benefits regardless of how they were hurt.
Workers’ compensation pays benefits for:
- All medical bills related to the accident
- A portion of lost wages / income (usually two-thirds of your average weekly wage)
- Impairment benefits
- Permanent disability
Workers’ comp will also pay death benefits to family members of a breadwinner who dies in a work-related car accident.
Though it is intended to be a straight-forward benefit program for injured workers, changes in recent years have made the Florida workers’ compensation system very complex and challenging to navigate. Our attorneys at Payer & Associates help injured workers file workers’ compensation claims in order to get them everything they’re entitled to by law.
Our first move after a job-related car accident would be to help you meet strict deadlines for filing a workers’ comp claim and make sure your claim is accurate and complete, so we limit the available defense the insurance company may have. But there’s more to decide after work-related car accident.
Do You Have a Third-Party Liability Claim in Your Work Car Accident?
Workers’ compensation may not be the only source of compensation available to you after a car accident that injures you while you are on the job. Our investigation of your car accident may indicate that you could seek compensation through a personal injury claim against a third party liable for causing the accident.
The easiest example of a third-party claim in a work car accident is an accident caused by another driver. You would seek compensation for you losses from that driver’s insurance company. But you might also pursue a third-party claim if you were riding with a co-worker who wrecked the car. Again, money would come from their insurance, not out of their pocket.
In some cases, car accidents become product liability claims, such as cases of tire or airbag failures that cause injury. If you were hit by a drunk driver, our investigation might indicate an establishment that served alcohol to driver could be held accountable with a third-party claim known as a dram shop claim.
A third-party personal injury claim could seek the types of damages workers’ compensation provides, plus:
- Pain and suffering
- Property damage (car repair or replacement if your car was in the accident)
- Emotional distress, including anxiety and/or depression
- Interference with family relationships (loss of consortium)
- Additional costs or losses directly resulting from your injuries
- Scarring or disfigurement
- Loss of enjoyment of life
A third-party personal injury claim may increase the amount of money available to help you deal with the financial consequences of a work-related car accident. However, if you receive a personal injury settlement of court award, your employer’s workers’ comp insurer could seek to be reimbursed for a portion benefits it paid to you. But don’t worry we’ll handle that for you too.
Therefore, it is crucial to understand how both workers’ compensation and personal injury law work in Florida, and to develop a thorough accounting of your losses, as well as potential benefits and damages before proceeding. Only then can you determine the course of action providing the greatest financial benefit to you.
You need a Florida attorney well-versed in both workers’ comp and personal injury law, and who has been successful in work-related car accident cases to help you make this important decision. Especially in cases of long-term recovery or disability, an incorrect decision could have damaging financial consequences.
Don’t forego compensation you deserve and need after a car accident injury. We fight and win for our clients. Don’t count on the insurance company or the workers’ comp system doing what’s right. You need someone in your corner who’s ready to fight. Contact Payer & Associates for a free consultation now.
