Tampa Personal Injury Lawyers / Tampa Motorcycle Accident Lawyers

Tampa Motorcycle Accident Lawyers

Experienced Tampa Motorcycle Accident Lawyers

We all know motorcycles are dangerous to drive. Because of this, you may face serious hardships in both your financial and medical future. Our Tampa Motorcycle Accident Lawyers have helped countless motorcycle accident victims fight the insurance companies to earn them the maximum compensation available.

Tampa Motorcycle Accident Lawyers

Were you seriously injured because someone else was not paying attention on the road and hit you on your motorcycle? Our Tampa Motorcycle Accident Lawyers have helped countless motorcycle accident victims fight the insurance companies to earn them the maximum compensation available.

Common Motorcycle Accident Injuries

In the event of a motorcycle accident, motorcycle riders are exposed to the possibility of great physical injury or death.  If you have been injured in a Florida motorcycle accident, you may face physical, emotional, and financial hardships. A motorcycle accident can change your life forever.  They can happen in an instant.  They can happen for the following reasons:
  • Hazardous roads
  • Hit and runs
  • Design defects in the motorcycle
  • Negligence of other drivers
The exposed nature of motorcycles, speed, and circumstances of the crash greatly influence the extent of injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident.  The most common injuries include:
  • Cuts and lacerations
  • Broken bones
  • Traumatic brain injury
  • Coma
  • Nerve damage
  • Spinal cord injury
  • Paralysis
  • Amputated limbs
  • Facial disfigurement
Many of these conditions may require extensive diagnostics, repeated surgeries, rehabilitation and may involve long standing effects on victims.  Our Lawyers are ardent fighters for your rights and interests. You may be worried that because you were not wearing a helmet, you won’t be able to receive compensation for your head injury. Since Florida does not require you to wear a helmet by law, there is some leniency here. Your claim may be reduced in value because you were not wearing a helmet, but you can still file a claim. Especially if your injuries are not head related. If you have a broken arm, that had nothing to do with your helmet not being on you.

Why You Should Hire a Lawyer

The Tampa Motorcycle Accident Lawyers at Morgenstern & Herd, PLLC are ready to help you quickly.  We assist you in all aspects of your case:
  • Dealing with insurance companies
  • Counsel on your medical treatment
  • Documenting your lost work and wages
  • Obtaining a just settlement
The attorneys at Morgenstern & Herd, PLLC understand the devastation of a motorcycle accident injury and help you pursue legal action against the individuals who caused or contributed to your injuries. You need an attorney who is prepared. You should hire someone who is knowledgeable in motorcycle accidents and can defend your case properly. They will be able to get you the compensation you deserve.

Understanding Insurance and Compensation

Many people assume that a motorcycle accident case is going to be just like a car accident case. That is not true. One of the big differences between an automobile accident and a motorcycle accident is if you are riding on a motorcycle, you will generally not have personal injury protection coverage, also known as PIP. Generally, PIP covers 80% of the allowable amount of your medical bills and 60% of your gross wage loss up to a maximum of $10,000. The only way to get those bills covered is to bring a claim against the negligent party involved in the accident. However, that may be to your advantage. Florida is a pure comparative negligence state. That means that, unlike some states, you can receive compensation even if you were more at fault than the other party. It truly is a lucky thing if you were fairly at fault for the accident. The only draw back is that for the amount you are determined to be at fault, your award will be reduced by that percentage. For example, if you were 80% at fault, you would only be able to get 20% at fault. In most motorcycle cases, the other party is at fault for the accident due to there being a lack of awareness of motorcycles on the road. If a driver swerved into your lane, or made a left hand turn from the other side of the road and side-swiped you, you may be found at fault for none of the accident. Let’s say, however that you were only at fault for 10% of the accident. Because Florida is a pure comparative negligence state, you will be able to collect 90% of your award. Getting the compensation you deserve will be possible with an experienced lawyer who can guide you through this legal process. The insurance companies will try to get a statement from you early on. They will ask you questions that will put the blame on you. If they can get you to admit fault, they don’t have to compensate you for the accident. Our Tampa motorcycle accident lawyers will make sure they do not do that to you. We will fight to protect your rights.

Aggressive Tampa Motorcycle Accident Lawyers

Don’t lose out on compensation you deserve just because the insurance companies are bullying you. If you have been injured in a motorcycle accident, contact Tampa Motorcycle Accident Lawyers Morgenstern & Herd, PLLC to set up a free consultation as soon as possible. We will fight for you and your rights after this traumatic crash.

Frequently Asked Questions | Florida Motorcycle Accidents

How do I choose the right attorney for me? In the state of Florida, if you’re involved in a motorcycle injury case due to the fault of someone else, you want to make sure you do your research. You want to make sure that you find a lawyer, like ours here at Morgenstern & Herd, who have handled other motorcycle injury cases, who’s familiar with the laws, the prerequisites for motorcycles, and what kind of coverages you need. You want to make sure you do your research. The internet is used by everybody for information, so you should do it and go to the websites that talk about lawyers and their credentials, like Martindale-Hubble, Avvo, and find out information about your attorney. Do I have a claim if a hazardous road caused my accident? We’ve had a couple of clients in the past five years who have sustained injuries because the road was not properly maintained. In the example with our client, the road wasn’t maintained and it was allowed to build up furrows or indentation marks that retained water, so that when it rained it made it more difficult for a driver to stop. In those circumstances, you have a cause of action against the county or the government. There are limitations in damages that you can recover from the county, and also the driver has to be observant of those conditions on the roadway and take appropriate action for them. What compensation can I get? If you’re injured in a motorcycle accident in the state of Florida, you can receive compensation for all of your damages. There are different kinds of damages for different injuries. There is bodily injury, as well as mental injuries. Motorcycle accidents are generally very serious. We have a couple of clients right now who also have psychological injury. You can receive compensation for your lost earnings if you’re out of work for an extensive period of time. You can receive what’s called consortium damages. If you have children and can’t take care of them and can’t pick them up, those are damages that you can also recover for in your lawsuit. Do I have a claim if I wasn’t wearing my helmet? In the state of Florida, if you’re a motorcycle rider, you’re not required to wear a helmet. There’s no prerequisites that you do so, and you’re not prohibited from filing a claim or bringing a lawsuit if you’re injured due to the fault of someone else while you’re riding your motorcycle. The problem is, there are certain injuries that you could sustain for which the failure to wear a helmet could be used against you. For example, if you get a head injury, the defense insurance company can take the position that your damages would’ve been less if you had that helmet on. It works for and against you because there are also neck injuries that can be made worse by wearing a helmet, which is one of the things that, when we handle motorcycle cases here at Morgenstern & Herd, we use against a carrier who wants to assert that your head injury wasn’t caused by the accident, but it instead was caused by your failure to wear the helmet. Do I have a claim if I was a passenger? We have a client now who was riding on the back of a motorcycle. She was a passenger and the motorcycle driver was partially at fault. The person who was also involved in the collision in another vehicle was also at fault. The passenger has a claim, if she wants to bring it, against the driver of the motorcycle and the driver of the vehicle. Being a passenger on the back of a motorcycle in no way prevents you from bringing a claim for your injuries because you can’t possibly be at fault unless you’re hanging off the motorcycle, or hiding the eyes of the driver, or something that we certainly hope no one would ever do. Do I have a claim if I was run off the road? Recently, someone contacted us because they were forced off the road by a driver who wasn’t paying attention. They came from behind and almost came right up onto the driver, so our client moved off the road, and doing so caused injuries. If not for the actions of the driver who forced them off the road, our client would never have been injured. In that scenario, it’s certainly permissible to bring a claim against the driver who forced you off the road.

Aggressive Tampa Motorcycle Accident Lawyers

If you or a loved one has been injured in a motorcycle accident, contact Tampa Motorcycle Accident Lawyers Morgenstern & Herd, PLLC to set up a free consultation as soon as possible. 

Tampa Personal Injury Lawyer Denny Morgenstern was accepted into the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, one of the most prestigious group of trial lawyers in the United States.