http://www.727injury.com (727) 381-2300 St Petersburg Personal Injury Attorneys McQuaid & Douglas
The topic of this video is what happens if you are hit and injured by a DUI driver in Saint Petersburg. So this unfortunately is a situation that happens all too frequently and I've got a lot of uh, personal experience handling these types of cases, both from the defense side and from the plaintiff's side. So again, I've handled Dui defense work and I've handled personal injury, personal injury claims repeatedly. So, uh, I'm really on the front lines of these types of cases. So let's, um, this, this video is primarily focused on what do you do on the personal injury side, but let me tell you exactly what happens on the criminal side first before we get into that. So if you've been arrested in St Petersburg for a Dui and that driver, uh, I had, uh, caused an accident and you were injured, there will be a criminal case.
And in that criminal case there will be a prosecutor out there to represent you. So basically they're supposed to give you notices of the hearings and if you have restitution, it is possible to get that restitution repaid through the criminal court. So you've got a little bit of a hammer on the back end there to keep that Dui driver responsible for your out-of-pocket losses. But the bigger picture is hopefully that there's some type of insurance out there to pay the claims, not, uh, not only for the property damage but also for your injuries. So you really don't want to mess around with the criminal courts if there's an insurance company out there that's going to pay your claim. And that's really where I would come in to assist in a personal injury claim in Saint Petersburg. So again, uh, the way, the good, the good news about Florida law is that a DUI drivers, they, there is a, the removal of a punitive damages cap.
So it's pretty serious. So when an insurance company sees that their driver is Dui, they take note. So it really does, in my opinion, increased the value of the claim and it really increases the percentage that the insurance company's going to promptly and fully settle your claim. So that's a really good thing. So assuming you've hired a personal injury attorney and Saint Petersburg to, to represent you after that Dui driver has injured you, that lawyer will then pull all of the criminal documents, the arrest affidavit, the Dui citation, whatever, whatever other public records, and send that off to the personal injury or sorry to the, uh, to the insurance company to process that claim. Then you work it up like any other claim, you treat, uh, uh, there may be a permanent injury and then you make your demand to the insurance company and you include in that demand the fact that there is no cap on punitive damages for Dui in Florida.
So, uh, that's basically how it works pre suit. If the insurance company for some reason does not settle the claim with you, at that point, you file a lawsuit against the Dui driver. Insurance Company will sign a lawyer and pick up the defense of the claim, and then eventually your lawyer can come back in and add a, an amendment to seek punitive damages. And I'm telling you, that will really get the attention of the insurance companies. So basically that's how it works. Uh, when a DUI driver injures you in Saint Petersburg, there are a lot of moving parts. I highly recommend you hire a personal injury attorney to help navigate this with you. Um, there are a lot of these cases out there and unfortunately, a lot of people just don't know what they're doing. They've never handled both the criminal work or the civil work, and they sort of flounder the way through the system and they re they really give up a lot of dollars on a case, uh, that they should have obtained for their clients. So hopefully that answers the question.
*The above has been transcribed by a third party service and has not been checked for accuracy
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St Petersburg Personal Injury Attorneys McQuaid & Douglas
5858 Central Ave suite a
St. Petersburg, FL 33707
St Petersburg Personal Injury Attorneys McQuaid & Douglas are committed to helping their clients achieve the best possible outcome. If you or a loved one has suffered a personal injury due to someone else’s negligence, don’t hesitate, contact us today at (727) 381-2300. We are open 24/7 and you will be speaking with an attorney.
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