T-Bone Car Accidents

A T-bone car accident is a type of accident where the front of one car or truck collides into the side of another vehicle. If you have been injured in a T-bone car accident in South Florida, you can claim compensation by filing a car accident injury claim. You may recover damages such as your medical expenses, any wages that you may have lost because of your injuries and recovery, and any pain that you have suffered. An experienced Miami T-bone accident lawyer will be able to help you build your soundest possible case so that you can recover the maximum amount of damages that you are entitled to. At Suarez & Montero, we have handled thousands of automobile accident cases and can help you get compensated for your injuries! The Miami car accident lawyers and personal injury attorneys at Suarez & Montero have been representing victims of T-bone accidents for over 19 years.

T-bone accidents are really just side impact collisions and they can occur for a number of different reasons, with many of the reasons involving driver errors. Generally, these types of accidents most often occur at intersections when one of the drivers failed to stop at a stop sign or traffic light, or otherwise fails to yield the right-of-way to the other driver. Some common causes of T-bone accidents include:

Failure to come to a complete stop. Some drivers may choose to roll through a four-way intersection. This is an illegal violation of traffic safety rules and one of the main causes of T-bone accidents.

Failure to yield. If the driver of one vehicle stops at a four-way intersection, he may not yield to the other driver who has the right to proceed first. In addition, when two vehicles enter the intersection at the same time, the driver on the left has the right to proceed first—often ignored by many negligent drivers.

Running red lights. Running a red light is especially dangerous because a driver may do what most drivers do in this situation—increase his speed to get through the light before it turns red. This is illegal and could be considered negligence when a T-bone collision results.

Turning across traffic lanes. Even when a driver is in a turning lane and can legally make a turn across traffic lanes, he must wait until it is safe to do so. If the driver cuts across traffic and does not make the turn in time, he most likely will be found liable if he causes a T-bone accident.

Driving Under the influence. If a driver is driving while impaired by drugs or alcohol, his reflexes, vision, and reasoning abilities may be affected.

If you’ve been injured in a T-bone car accident, it is important to seek medical treatment. It is also important to consider speaking with a car accident attorney if you have questions about what your next steps should be. Your insurance and the other driver’s auto insurance may provide some relief but filing a personal injury lawsuit may be the best means of being fully compensated for your damages. Here are some of the most common serious injuries we see after T-bone car accidents in Miami:

Spinal Cord Injuries:

Spinal cord injuries often affect victims for the rest of their lives. They often happen in T-bone car accidents where there is a high risk of serious trauma to the head, neck, or back. When the nerves of the spinal cord are damaged, it can be difficult or even impossible for the brain to communicate with the rest of the body. As a result, spinal cord injuries can result in loss of range of motion, numbness, pain, sensations of pins and needles, and even paralysis below the point of injury.

Traumatic Brain Injuries:

traumatic brain injury is usually the result of a forceful blow to the head or body. An object that penetrates brain tissue, such as a bullet or shattered piece of skull, also can cause traumatic brain injury.

Burn Injuries:

Serious burns can happen in a wide variety of accidents, including motor vehicle accidents, workplace accidents, explosions, fires, and electrical accidents. In serious cases, victims can be left with disfiguring injuries and permanent scarring that can significantly affect their appearance and physical ability.

Soft Tissue Injuries:

Soft tissue injuries encompass a wide variety of injuries, including sprains, strains, lacerations, and contusions. While these injuries are often minor, they can also be extremely serious and may even require emergency medical treatment such as surgery to correct.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a T-bone car accident in Miami, a T-bone car accident attorney can give you the legal help you need to obtain compensation to cover your medical bills and damages. You can potentially seek compensation for a T-bone collision if you can prove the defendant is at fault for the car accident. These crashes can cause serious injuries and the amount of no-fault coverage Florida requires may be insufficient to cover your injuries. Through a personal injury claim, you may be able to obtain compensation for your medical bills, property damage, and pain and suffering.

Determining fault in a T-bone car accidents requires the use of evidence like photographs, eyewitness accounts, and the official police report from the accident. In the moments following your accident, take as many pictures of the affected areas of both vehicles as you can. Show the crash from multiple angles and the damage suffered by both cars. Additionally, the official police report will include details about the collision that can be used to determine fault, such as whether any local ordinances were broken. In Florida, pure comparative negligence principles apply. Under the doctrine of “pure” comparative negligence, evidence that both the plaintiff and the defendant are guilty of negligence that is, in some degree, a legal cause of the injury to the plaintiff does not defeat the plaintiff’s recovery entirely. Rather, in assessing damages, the jury awards to the plaintiff such damages as in the jury’s judgment the negligence of the defendant caused to the plaintiff. If the plaintiff and the defendant are both at fault, the former may recover, but the amount of his or her recovery is only such proportion of the entire damages that the plaintiff sustained as the defendant’s negligence bears to the combined negligence of both the plaintiff and the defendant.1 For example, where it is found that the plaintiff’s negligence is at least equal to that of the defendant, the amount awarded to the plaintiff should be reduced by one-half from what it otherwise would have been.

Damages in T-bone car accidents can be divided into two major categories: economic damages and non-economic damages. Economic damages can be described as your out of pocket costs. They are damages that can be measured and calculated, and they are typically represented by expenses actually incurred or those which can be reasonably expected to be incurred at a future date. Economic damages are easier to calculate accurately because documents and medical bills and records are used to determine the amount of damages and prove them. On the other hand, non-economic damages reimburse injured victims for both physical and mental losses. Non-economic damages usually include the physical and emotional distress resulting from the accident that affects a person’s quality of life.

Medical Expenses: In Florida, damages are awarded if the plaintiff must undergo testing or treatment, or if the plaintiff must receive medical care of any type, such as hospital stays or physical therapy.

Lost Wages and Employment: Recovering from an injury often requires time off work. The length of time off typically depends on the type and severity of the injury. Calculating past lost earnings is easy. You simply add up the earnings and employment benefits that you lost from being out of work. If you are fully or partially disabled due to your injury and are unable to work going forward, then you may be able to seek compensation for future lost earning capacity.

Our firm believes that being involved in a serious car collision can be devastating for all of those involved. For one, it can create the financial burden of having to pay for medical expenses, vehicle repairs and the like. It can be especially difficult when the person who is injured cannot work as this reduces the amount of income available to pay for these expenses. Increasing medical costs not covered by insurance and lost wages due to hospitalization and injury adds another stressful element to the situation. By seeking a car accident lawyer to help you obtain compensation for your damages, you can help ease the stress of dealing with the aftermath of a car accident including some of the financial difficulties that come along with an accident. If you sustained serious injuries in a car accident or lost a loved one due to the negligence of another driver in a car crash, you may have the right to obtain compensation for your loss and to sue for damages under Florida law. Generally speaking, you are allowed to file a personal injury liability claim and a property damage liability claim to recover your losses.

After a car crash you expect to be compensated for your property damage and personal injuries. If you live in a no-fault insurance state, you can file a claim with the at-fault driver’s insurance company to get your car fixed, but you may be limited to your auto policy’s med-pay or personal injury protection (PIP) coverage to pay for your injuries. Even in a no-fault state, you may be able to pursue the at-fault driver for injury compensation if your damages exceed the no-fault limit. Don’t hesitate to speak with a car accident lawyer at Suarez & Montero about your claim. When you hire a Car Accident Attorney from the law offices of Suarez & Montero, your attorney will review the information that was gathered during the investigation and use it to file a lawsuit against the at-fault driver. If negotiations with the insurance company fail and an agreement cannot be reached, your attorney will prepare your case for trial, where a judge or jury will determine the amount of compensation that you are eligible to receive. If you have been injured in a T-bone car accident, call a car accident attorney at Suarez & Montero today! We have the resources and experience to help win your case.