by skywaymedia | Oct 1, 2020 | Personal Injury
Hello everybody out there in social media land. it is your personal injury Attorney Derek Bernstein here for another edition of ask an attorney Friday it is of course Friday so we’re all getting ready for the weekend and Father’s Day coming up so happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there especially mine who’s out in Clearwater probably complaining about something about it being too hot but still that one nonetheless so today I was posed a question to get to talking about bad settlement offers or low settlements in general so I have a top four reasons why I believe people get low settlement offers and let go over them with you right now so number one having no representation at all and a lot of people out there think you know they could be very smart at what they do that computer analyst or teacher doctor and they say you know what I’m smart I know what I’m doing and I’m going to go for it on my own and I couldn’t warrant you more because these insurance companies know that you’re not an attorney know that you don’t know the ins and out of personal injury and they will exploit your weaknesses to the highest detriment of yourself and offer you low money and you will unbeknownst to you be taking something that you deserve much more for so always hire competent legal representation number two is having bad documentation in your file and that can come from your MRIs your chiropractor your dental if you needed surgeries etc. etc. having good notes physicians that take good notes can properly document properly show the insurance company that hey this person has a serious injury and they need to be compensated accordingly number three is having bad insurance so what do I mean when I mean bad insurance I mean not properly having enough insurance to protect yourself when somebody hits you and they don’t have enough insurance so this in the legal field is called uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage um is the term so if you can afford um insurance I highly suggest that you go out and get um insurance I have it which protects me and my family if I’m hit by somebody without a license with very minimum coverage their coverage lapsed for some reason their insurance companies not paying your uninsured motorist coverage would kick in and take care of your medical and pain and suffering and things of that nature so uninsured motorist coverage is a great way to get the proper valuation for your claim number three I’m sorry for is hiring the right attorney so when that means come out and hiring the right attorney what do you need to look at you need to look at somebody who’s competent who can communicate not just with you but with the insurance company as well as somebody who actually goes to court and why do I think this is so important because these inset these insurance companies do look at your attorney when evaluating your claims insurance companies they know who doesn’t do anything and they know that people enter in court and they know the people that they can’t push around they know the people that they can’t just give low numbers to and have them take it so you need to get an attorney like myself who’s in court all the time who’s taking depositions who’s fighting on summary judgments who’s ready to set things for trial it’s me P because confident legal representation like myself is very important to getting the right representation and settlement goals that you’re looking for so top four reasons not having representation bad documentation not having that um coverage and then hiring the right attorney so keep your questions coming Instagram Facebook email text stop me in the street keep them coming I love answering it so this has been another edition of ask of attorney Friday with your personal injury attorney Derek Bernstein see you guys next Friday have a good weekend.
by skywaymedia | Oct 1, 2020 | Personal Injury
Hello Facebook friends. It’s your attorney Derek Bernstein here. It is Friday May 11th about 4 o’clock right now we are at the offices of FL Legal Group where I work in beautiful downtown Tampa about one block from Emily arena where the lightning will play soon. one thing I wanted to start doing was answering some legal questions on Fridays for people who just kind of are afraid and don’t know what they’re getting themselves into or they’ve gotten to a car crash and they’re just not getting good advice or just generally have some legal questions that they’re just afraid to ask or can’t find on Google so I’d like to start doing a little weekly video where through the week people can send me a question they have and I’ll pick one on Fridays and I’ll try to answer it the best of my ability or I can reach out to some other other attorneys and get that answered for you so this is video number one let me know if you like it if you have any questions ways I can make it better just trying to give you guys some good advice pass it forward in multiple areas but today I wanted to talk about a question I get a lot as a personal injury attorney about should I go to the doctor after a car crash if I’m feeling good so the reason why I always answered people is yes is simple you have 14 days to go and get medical attention so what does medical attention really mean there well it could be getting seen at the scene of the accident by emergency medical it could be going to an urgent care it could be going to a hospital be going to a chiropractor technically you can go to a dentist as well even though that’s probably really limited use there but one of the things I tell the people is that they say I feel fine everything is Great and that may be true but there’s a lot of asymptomatic issues that you could have so I tell people go to an urgent care go to your chiropractor go to your family physician if you do feel like it’s emergency obviously go to the emergency room but go get seen quickly to make sure it’s that just everything’s Okay what you don’t want is three weeks from now you are sitting on your couch you go do something with your kid they jump on your back and now you’re in a ton of pain and now you go to the doctor and you have to pay out of pocket or you have to build your health insurance see if you’re in a car crash you have what’s called personal injury protection it’s ten thousand dollars per occurrence per person in your vehicle so if you and two of your children are in the back seat get into an accident bring them with you make sure that it opens up your pip coverage so that when you go to that doctor make sure you tell them I’ve been in an accident and I would like to be Evaluated and if everything comes back clean bill of health great if it doesn’t and something is wrong then at least you know and even if you were the person who’s at fault you ran a red light you didn’t stop at a stop sign you were on your phone watching a video I don’t recommend watching this one while you’re driving but you still have $10,000 to treat for car crash that could be chiropractic that could be physical therapy like be getting MRIs to make sure that you’re not really hurt or hurt could be some minor surgeries payment and whatever any necessary is it’s money that you pay every single month so you want to make sure that you go out to a doctor you get checked out and you just make sure that everything is fine or it isn’t so that when you’re sitting at home later and you go to the doctor if you didn’t get seen within 14 days there’s no money you’re basically giving up that money right then and there by not getting checked out so when in doubt go in get checked out if you don’t know of a good physician in anywhere in the Tampa Bay area I have the privilege and honor representing a lot of good chiropractors md’s dio’s physical therapist I can give you a recommendation on who I would go to in your area to get checked out there will be very little out-of-pocket so you don’t have to worry about paying a hundred to three hundred dollars your pip insurance will cover that you’ll have to cover a copay which gives a small amount there too so if you have any questions about that reach out to me if you guys have any questions in general it could be family law bankruptcy landlord tenant one of the reasons I got into law was just to help people so if you have any questions that you think you’d like to ask a lawyer Here I am trying to pass it forward and enjoy your weekend go bolts stay safe and happy Mother’s Day to everyone bye
by skywaymedia | Oct 1, 2020 | Business Law, Criminal Defense, Criminal Law, Family Law, General Legal Advice, Personal Injury, Probate & Elder Law, Real Estate
Through a personal injury attorney Derek Bernstein here today taking my walk to the courthouse this is right back there live on one’s East Kenny Boulevard so it’s a nice short walk to the courthouse or some hearings really important thing is that you must prepare for hearings even if you’ve done them before always lay out time during your day or the day before look at your calendar make sure you know what you’re going up against who your opposing counsel is the up everything printed if you need printed or if you can avoid the hearing entirely by making a phone call or an email do that too because if you are going to unnecessary hearings then you’re not sitting behind the desk enough and you can’t settle cases at unnecessary hearing so it’s all those young attorneys out there and get a lot done with a phone call or an email to prepare ahead of time but if you have to go to a hearing you know I don’t like to over prepare meaning don’t sweat every single nuance the reason I say that is sometimes you’re too stuck on every single nuance you forget to listen you forget to react to the judge and that in my opinion would be even more valuable than knowing every miniscule detail obviously you want to know as much as you can about the topic you’re talking about but remember when in court to listen and to react and I find that to always work so it’s all young you young attorneys out there we’re nervous about hearings prepare but don’t over prepare so a little bit of tips from I’d like to think myself is a little bit seasoned attorney here on my walk to the Hillsborough County Courthouse I take you along for the ride good day
by skywaymedia | Oct 1, 2020 | Business Law, Personal Injury
Hello everybody out there in social media land. it’s your boy Derek Bernstein here your personal injury attorney for a beautiful day in downtown Tampa as I take a walk to the courthouse for another fun and exciting hearing here to talk to you about a question I get a lot about HR Human Resources a lot of people say I’m unhappy my job my boss sure whatever maybe I went to HR and they didn’t do anything and then next thing you know the person was getting called into HR and I can fired what can I do about it I’m here to tell you that a lot of people have a misconception that HR is here to help you and they’re not they’re here to protect the interests of your employer so the reason what they want to hear about were Aspen and overtime and things of that nature is because they want to protect the company from a loss so when you’re having problems at work your boss is being a jerk and things like that and it’s not level rising to the level of harassment you want to make sure if you talk to your spouse they’ve talked to a buddy but not complain about everything to HR because they could take you as a nuisance and then want to get rid of you so use HR for important issues for the rest of the stuff you know work it out on your own so your personal injury attorney Derek Bernstein you’re walking to the courthouse beautiful day in downtown Tampa saying have a good day
by skywaymedia | Oct 1, 2020 | Personal Injury
It is your personal injury attorney Derek Bernstein here live from the Hyatt Regency for the national chiropractic Conference so there’s adjustable beds there’s everything going on but today I wanted to answer a question when you own a small business like a lot of these chiropractors do and you’re sending your employees out for a conference or to do business or to make a sale one of the things you need to take into account is you need to take into account the safety of the person you’re sending out there so if you’re doing a convention here you don’t have the budget and you want to put them in a hotel you have to make sure that hotel is safe so that when they come back at loan at night they nobody will attack them or put them into any danger because if they are in a dangerous position and you place them there they can come back and sue you for the damages that were incurred by another person so if you have employees and you’re sending them out in to do business for you have to make sure that the conditions in which they’re going to do business for you are safe so that is another piece of legal advice for you live from the National FCA conference in Orlando Florida your personal injury attorney Derek Bernstein see ya.
by skywaymedia | Oct 1, 2020 | Business Law, Criminal Law, Family Law, General Legal Advice, Personal Injury
Hello everybody out there in social media land. it is your personal injury attorney Derek Bernstein here for another legal blast shooting this video inside my 2015 Hyundai Sonata I know you’re all jealous with all that great Headroom so I’m here to talk about an issue that I’ve cried and people come to me when they ask can I go to court can I represent myself and one of the things we can go to court if you’re been there if your people say or you watch SVU or law and order or whatever and you hearsay your honor objection hearsay and you leave it on the judge they sustained or overruled and so what is hearsay how can you use it how can use it against you and how can you overcome it so hearsay is an out-of-court statement used to prove a Mac the matter at hand so an example would be your friend telling you what the person you’re trying to sue said so you bring up in court well here’s my friend Susie who I heard from her that that person I’m seeing said the light was bulletin I’m sorry blue green well you’re trying to prove what somebody else says through what somebody else said who probably has a by so inherently they’re unreliable that’s why the judges don’t let you but one way to get around it is that the person you’re suing if they made statements to you well then that’s a statement by a party opponent it is not hearsay and so if they after the car crash come out and say oh I’m sorry I was looking down at my cell phone I didn’t see you there well if when that person says objection your Honor hearsay you can say your honor that’s an exemption exception under the rule and that is a statement by a party opponent not hearsay the judge should go that was Awesome I’m going to allow it and then you have evidence then in that you can prove your case so there’s tons more exceptions and exemptions to the hearsay rule reach out to me we’re trying to go it alone I don’t recommend it but I can help you out as much as I can so it’s your personal injury attorney Derek Bernstein here asking you to subscribe to my YouTube channel just search my name and follow me on Instagram you can watch it on Facebook I appreciate if you found this video to be good or informative or maybe your grandma needs to watch it or your one of your friends please share it and I’m just trying to spread some legal knowledge out there to the community so thank you guys for watching spread the word and I’ll hit you with another one keep those questions coming.