Hollywood Car Accident Lawyer | Dolan Dobrinsky Rosenblum Bluestein, LLP

If You Have Suffered a Serious Injury Due to a Negligent Driver, We Can Help You Obtain Full and Fair Compensation

No matter how long you have been driving or riding in cars, nobody is ever truly prepared for an accident. A crash often takes just a couple of seconds. Yet the impact can last for weeks, months, and even years. Victims not only need this time to deal with their physical injuries but also the emotional trauma and financial fallout of a car accident.

A Hollywood, Florida, car accident lawyer can assist you in seeking compensation for these and other damages. Dolan Dobrinsky Rosenblum, LLP, is a personal injury firm serving clients throughout Broward County and south Florida. We have obtained over $1 billion in settlements and trial verdicts for accident victims. We understand that a car accident is a major event in your life and that it is important that you receive full and fair compensation for all of your losses.

How Car Accidents Occur in Hollywood, Florida

Florida has long had a poor reputation when it comes to car accidents. Unfortunately, the data supports that reputation. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Florida was the third-deadliest state when it came to auto accidents in 2021, trailing only California and Texas. Indeed, these are the only three states to report more than 3,000 annual fatalities in car crashes.

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles’ (DHSMV) own statistics paint an even more sobering picture. Among the findings from 2021 car accident reports:

There were a total of 401,540 reported accidents statewide–an average of 1,100 crashes per day.
A total of 683,869 drivers were involved in these accidents.
There were 3,454 Florida car accidents with at least one fatality, and a total of 3,741 deaths.
There were 16,826 car accident victims who suffered “incapacitating injuries.”
There were 236,145 car accident victims who suffered non-fatal, non-incapacitating injuries.

Nor surprisingly Broward County, which includes Hollywood, had more than its fair share of reported crashes. For 2021, Florida DHMSV recorded a total of 41,381 accidents in the county, including 280 deaths and 23,071 total injuries. This represented a nearly 22-percent increase in total accidents over the previous year.

So why are there so many car accidents in and around Hollywood, Florida? Most of these crashes were preventable. In fact, driver or third-party negligence plays a significant role in most car accidents. Here are just a few examples:

Drunk Driving: Hollywood is home to a number of high-profile adult entertainment venues, such as the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. It is not uncommon for people to drink to excess at such establishments and then attempt to drive home. But as we all know, drunk driving is negligent driving and it is one of the leading causes of preventable crashes.
Distracted Driving: Similarly, we all should know that texting while driving is dangerous. Any distraction that diverts a driver’s attention from the road creates an unacceptable risk for everyone else on the road. So any form of distracted driving is considered negligent.
Speeding and Ignoring Traffic Signals: While drunk and distracted driving accidents tend to draw the most attention from the media and law enforcement, the reality is that a good number of Hollywood car accidents are the result of drivers simply ignoring basic traffic laws. Speeding, running a red light, and trailing too close behind a vehicle in front of you are just some of the more basic “rules of the road” that drivers often ignore just before a collision occurs.
Maintenance and Vehicle Problems: In some cases, a car accident is less the result of negligent driving than it is an issue with the vehicle itself. Under Florida law, a car manufacturer is liable for any design or manufacturing defect that leads to an accident. Other companies may be held responsible for a defective part or performing defective maintenance with respect to a car or truck.

How Florida Law Affects Your Right to Compensation Following a Hollywood Car Accident

If you are involved in an auto accident, you need to notify your own insurance company as soon as possible. This is an important step because it preserves your right to Personal Injury Protection (PIP) benefits under Florida’s no-fault laws. Basically, in Florida you need to look to your own insurance company first for compensation following an accident even if the other driver was to blame for the collision.

PIP coverage does not provide you with 100 percent compensation for your losses. Rather, your insurer must cover 80 percent of your reasonable and necessary medical expenses following a car accident up to the limits of the policy, which is generally $10,000. So if your post-accident medical bills come to exactly $10,000, your PIP carrier will only pay for $8,000. You may then have to rely on health insurance or other sources to cover the rest.

Florida PIP coverage also covers some of your lost income. So if you are forced to miss time from your job due to a car accident, your insurer will pay for up to 60 percent of your lost wages. Additionally, you can use PIP benefits to cover the cost of obtaining some household services you cannot perform yourself due to your injuries. The same $10,000 policy limit applies to all of these benefits as well.

It is possible to step outside of the no-fault system and file a personal injury claim against a negligent driver in some car accident cases. Florida law requires the victim to prove they sustained a “serious injury” in the accident before they can sue. While you might consider any injury to be serious, the law defines it more narrowly. A serious injury consists of any or all of the following:

the significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function;
an injury considered to be permanent within a reasonable degree of medical probability;
significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement; or
death.

If your injuries meet the serious threshold, you can demand a full range of damages under the law from the negligent driver and their insurance company. This includes the following:

all of your past, present, and estimated future medical bills;
all of your lost income and estimated loss of future earning capacity;
damage to your vehicle and other personal property; and
compensation for your pain and suffering, emotional distress, and other intangible losses.

If someone is killed in a car accident, the personal representative of their estate can also bring a wrongful death claim against the negligent driver. Damages for a wrongful death case are meant to compensate the estate and the victim’s survivors for their losses, which include:

the future income the victim would have earned had they survived;
the victim’s final medical, funeral, and burial expenses; and
compensation for the survivors’ pain and suffering and loss of the victim’s companionship.

Finally, in some car accident cases it is possible for the victims to seek punitive damages. These are meant to punish egregious wrongdoing as opposed to compensating victims for their losses. Florida law normally limits punitive damages to the greater of $500,000 or three times the amount of compensatory damages awarded for an accident. But these caps do not apply to a drunk driver who causes a car accident.

Hollywood Accident FAQ’s:

I Have Been Injured in a Car Accident. Will My Insurance Company Pay My Medical Bills?

Florida law requires all registered vehicle owners to carry Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage as part of their standard auto insurance policy. PIP benefits provide “no-fault” coverage in the event of an accident involving you, your passengers, or members of your household. This means that you do not need to prove another driver was at-fault in order to receive benefits.

Unfortunately, while PIP coverage will pay for most of your medical bills in the event of a relatively minor accident, they will not fully compensate you for more serious injuries. Most Florida drivers only carry the minimum amount of no-fault insurance. This provides coverage for 80 percent of your medical bills up to a maximum of $10,000. Additionally, if you are forced to miss time from work due to your accident, PIP benefits will cover up to 60 percent of your lost wages, again up to the policy maximum. No-fault insurance does not cover most other accident-related losses, including non-economic damages such as pain and suffering.

Can I Sue a Negligent Driver If My No-Fault Coverage Is Not Enough?

In most cases, your recovery following a car or truck accident in Florida is limited to your no-fault insurance benefits. However, if you can prove that you or someone else sustained a “serious injury” in the accident, you can step outside of the no-fault system and file a personal injury lawsuit against any other party whose negligence caused or contributed to the crash. A serious injury is one that either results in the substantial and permanent loss of a body function, causes significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, or results in the victim’s death.

Unlike PIP benefits, there is no limit to recovery for medical bills, lost income, and non-economic damages in a personal injury lawsuit. So if your accident does meet the serious injury threshold, you will have significantly more options for seeking compensation than relying exclusively on your no-fault insurance.

How Long Do I Have to Sue a Negligent Driver in Florida?

Florida law imposes a time limit on most kinds of civil lawsuits. This is known as the statute of limitations. The Florida legislature recently reduced the statute of limitations in personal injury cases from 4 years to 2 years. This means that if you are injured in a car accident after March 2023, you typically have 2 years from the date of the crash to identify and sue the negligent driver or other responsible parties.

Why It Is Important to Work with an Experienced Hollywood Car Accident Lawyer

Given Florida’s “serious injury” threshold for filing a personal injury claim following a car accident, it is important for victims to seek out qualified legal advice as soon as possible. You should never assume that a judge will agree your injuries meet the legal standard for going beyond the scope of your no-fault PIP coverage. In addition, it is crucial to conduct a full investigation into all of the circumstances surrounding your car accident before you even file a lawsuit. This is where working with an experienced attorney often proves invaluable.

At Dolan Dobrinsky Rosenblum, LLP, we have a proven record of helping south Florida car accident victims obtain compensation. Among our results:

We obtained $9.8 million for a mother who was rendered a quadriplegic after a driver sped through a stop sign and smashed into her car.
We obtained $6.5 million for a man who was pinned between a car and an armored truck, forcing a partial amputation of his left leg. The negligent driver was operating a rental car at the time and we obtained a settlement that was more than 10 times the normal cap that applies to claims against rental car companies in Florida.
We obtained nearly $1.8 million for a pedestrian who was hit by a passing car while jogging. The negligent driver’s insurance company ended up settling for 150 times the policy limit due to its own bad faith in handling the case.

So if you need to speak with a skilled Hollywood car accident lawyer, call Dolan Dobrinsky Rosenblum, LLP, today at (305) 371-2692 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation. If we accept your case, you will pay nothing until we obtain a settlement or verdict on your behalf.

Driving Directions from Hollywood

If you are from the Hollywood area and looking for a personal injury lawyer, visit us at our Miami office. It is only a 37 min drive close to the exit A1 from I-95 S. For more detailed directions, click here.

Get on I-95 S from S Dixie Hwy and State Hwy 824/W Pembroke Rd;
Follow I-95 S, I-95 Express and I-95 S to Miami. Take exit 1A from I-95 S; and finally
Follow S Miami Ave and S Bayshore Dr to your destination.

Have you been injured due to another’s negligence? Then don’t hesitate to schedule an appointment today to get a free case evaluation. Our experienced attorneys are ready and eager to help you.