$200,000 Car Accident Tampa, Florida

Mark Hickey

PartiesPeterson v. Amica Mutual Insurance Company

Florida Injury AttorneysFlorida Attorney Frank F. Fernandez, III of the Fernandez Firm Accident Injury Attorneys.

Age/Sex/Occupation of Plaintiff15 / Male / High School Student

NegligencePersonal injury settlement recovery for a 15-year-old young man who suffered facial scarring, neck and head injuries in a T-bone car accident. On August 5, 2006, the Plaintiff, age 15, was a rear-seated passenger of a vehicle traveling westbound on Neptune Street, near the intersection of Dale Mabry Highway, in Hillsborough County, Tampa, Florida. As the vehicle he was riding in approached and attempted to cross through the intersection at Dale Mabry Highway, suddenly another vehicle driven by uninsured driver, ran the red traffic light at this intersection striking the rear driver’s side the vehicle in which the minor Plaintiff was a passenger. The violent impact of collision caused the vehicle to overturn and roll several times, until it finally came to rest on its side in the roadway. As a result, the Plaintiff sustained serious personal injury including a 4 inch forehead laceration requiring plastic surgical repair, a broken nose requiring surgical revision, a post-traumatic disc bulge in his neck and post-concussive syndrome.

Editor's Note

Prior to hiring the Fernandez Firm, the Defendant insurance company contacted this child’s parents and offered to pay the unrepresented family $75,000.00 to settle the claim. Confused with the terms of the settlement offer and concerned about the nature of their child’s injuries the Plaintiffs contacted attorney Frank Fernandez to review the case. After obtaining and reviewing all the child’s medical records it was clear that the case had a value well in excess of the insurer $75,000 offer, the “final offer” was declined and a lawsuit was filed. Just prior to jury selection on the first day of trial, Defendant’s insurer paid $200,000.00 -– almost three times original final offer --- to settle this case. This case is a very good example of how insurance companies frequently pay tens of thousands of dollars less when they are negotiating a personal injury case with an unrepresented and inexperienced person.
Frank Fernandez
The Fernandez Firm | Tampa