Trial Professionals | Orlando Personal Injury Law

Fewer than seven percent of attorneys of Florida are board certified civil trial attorneys. Only these board certified civil trial attorneys are permitted by the Florida Bar to refer to themselves as “experts” or “specialists”. Andrew Rariden is one of the few and one of the proud. As with attorney Don Williams, I first met Andy Rariden when we had a personal injury case against each other. I have a specific recollection of Andy being a very effective, professional, and reasonable attorney who “got the big picture”. We were able to effectively negotiate a settlement agreement on behalf of our respective clients at a mediation conference. I do recall Andy’s mediation presentation as being extremely thorough, professional, and pleasant. My pet peeve as an attorney is when a defense attorney unnecessarily makes an overly aggressive, hostile, or personal presentation at a mediation, which is always counterproductive to trying to reach an agreement. It’s pretty easy to recognize an experienced defense attorney from an inexperienced one based on how they conduct themselves at mediations.

Andy had a thriving practice as one of State Farm’s top trial attorneys for many years and had an absolutely fantastic trial record. Consequently, Andy and the Attorneys at the Trial Professionals were all able to get to know each other better and discovered many similarities in our personalities and approaches to the practice of law. We’re fortunate and proud to have Andy as a partner of the Trial Professionals. He has one of the busiest trial schedules at the firm. He is a very thorough and prepared trial attorney as he is quick to anticipate and research answers to expected evidentiary and procedural issues in cases. I’ll never forget my first boss telling me that the world is full of glib, strong, orators. Most attorneys are reasonably comfortable and articulate in front of a jury. Preparation, however, is what separates the men from the boys. The Trial Professionals don’t rely on our natural oratorical skills and just “wing it” at trials. We are extremely thorough in our pre-trial preparation which makes us all that much more effective at trial.

Call the Trial Professionals immediately at 1800trialpro (1-800- 874-2577), or email us at info@1800trialpro.com

Jason Gumula is one of the first friends I made when I moved to Orlando over ten years ago. Jason has proven to be one of my closest, most trustworthy, honest, and loyal friends ever since. To give you some perspective, Jason is the kind of friend who will drop what he is doing on a Friday night to help talk a friend through personal problems. Jason is the type of godfather (to my three year old son PJ) who will help me assemble toys on Christmas eve and who will have a special basket of treats ready for when my son shows up trick or treating on Halloween. He is also the son/sister to whom his family turns for help with the most important family issues. He is the type of grandson who will drive hours each way to help his grandfather connect a DVD player for his aunt. In other words, Jason Gumula is kind, generous, and dependable, a sentiment clearly and often expressed by many of his clients.

He and his wife Morgan recently got married in her home state of Texas, and Jason enjoys going back to Austin with her a couple of times a year. He now wears cowboy boots, tucked in shirts out at night, chews tobacco, and sings along with Shania Twain (joke).

Jason heads up our workers compensation department, and has spent his entire 14 plus year legal career specializing in workers compensation law. Jason represented several of the largest workers compensation insurance companies for many years before joining The Trial Professionals as a partner in 2006. These days Jason exclusively represents injured workers and puts his years of defense experience to work for our clients. Jason is a very well-prepared, persuasive, and respected trial attorney within the workers compensation community. There are no questions or cases too small for Jason Gumula and the other members of The Trial Professional’s workers compensation department. They understand that when accidents happen in the workplace, you’re going to be under a lot of stress and have a lot of questions. Workplace injury affects not only you as the injured person, but also your family and everyone who depends on you for support. We understand how serious these matters are and give you our word that we will treat them aggressively and seriously for you.

Call the Trial Professionals immediately at 1800trialpro (1-800- 874-2577), or email us at info@1800trialpro.com

David Sackman is one of those attorneys who “just gets it”. I can’t begin to tell you how many “brainiac” attorneys I have met over the years, they have brilliant legal minds, but are unable to communicate effectively with people, especially their own clients. You probably know this type of personality. A person who unnecessarily uses big words in a misguided effort to impress you. The person who makes even the most simple thought unnecessarily complicated. I really don’t have much patience for this type of person. One of the most important abilities any person, much less any attorney, can have is the ability to write and speak (and think) clearly and succinctly. Far too many attorneys “talk down” to their clients or try to impress them with “attorney speak” otherwise known as legalese.

I have been extremely impressed with David Sackman’s ability to communicate with our clients from the moment he joined The Trial Professionals. He’s very personable and has a great talent of explaining legal issues in a very comfortable, non-threatening, easy-to-understand manner. I’ve also been impressed with David’s tenacity in telling insurance adjusters and opposing attorneys “how it is.” David does a great job of laying his cards on the table at the appropriate time without playing games. David has earned a reputation within the legal community and amongst insurance adjusters as being honest and true to his word. If we tell an insurance adjuster that we’re going to file a lawsuit unless they come up with a certain amount of money, we mean it.

In his spare time, David Sackman is the current President of the Florida Lacrosse Officials Association (FLOA). David grew up playing Lacrosse in Long Island, New York, but is quick to point out that he is not from some stuffy background. David’s dad was a New York City Police officer for many years before going back to law school later in life to become an attorney. David and his wife Beverly have two children, and he spends most of his free time helping coach and referee his children’s lacrosse teams. David is also one of the funniest people I’ve ever met, and he can do impersonations of almost anyone. I always joke with David that if he could be as comfortable in front of a camera as he is telling jokes and doing impersonations around his friends, he really could have a future in show business. David has plenty of experience handling both personal injury and workers compensation cases, which comes in very handy. As you may have noted from some of our other blog entries, plenty of clients have both workers compensation and personal injury cases arising from the same incident.

Call the Trial Professionals immediately at 1800trialpro (1-800- 874-2577), or email us at info@1800trialpro.com

I’ve had the privilege of knowing Don Williams as a friend, an attorney, and a law partner for almost 10 years. We first met back in 2001 shortly after I founded The Trial Professionals (back then known as the Law Office of Piercy J. Stakelum) when his sister Patty worked as a receptionist for me and another attorney. It wasn’t until Don and I butted heads on opposite sides of a case several years later, however, that I got to know him better and really appreciate his skills as an attorney. Don certainly lived up to his reputation as an excellent attorney and was primarily representing defendants and their insurance companies for much of his career. We ended up having more cases against each other, and my respect for Don continued to grow the more I worked with him.

In my opinion, Don has the very rare and important ability to make everyone around him extremely comfortable, which is why he is so universally well-liked and respected by plaintiffs and defense attorneys, judges and mediators. Don was so well-respected that several of his largest defense clients tried to persuade him not to switch over to the plaintiff’s side, but I feel that Don was ready for a change. Since merging his firm with The Trial Professionals two years ago, Don has thrived defending injured individuals with all types of accident claims. As with most attorneys who have switched from the Defense to the Plaintiff side, Don particularly enjoys not having to keep track of his “billable hours.”

Given Don’s 28 plus years of experience as a trial attorney, Don spends a considerable amount of his time at work litigating some of the firm’s more complex and significant lawsuits. The Trial Professionals employ a team approach to our cases. While certain attorneys may cover depositions and hearings for each other depending on our respective schedules, we always have at least two seasoned, experienced trial attorneys participate in every trial for our clients. Attorneys at our firm are not about “our egos,” but rather are about making sure our firm continues to provide the best legal representation we can. As is often the case, two minds are better than one.

In his personal life, Don is certainly never bored. Don is recently widowed, and spends a considerable amount of time with his children and stepchildren. He is extremely active in all of their lives and very supportive of their interests. Don is the type of person who remains close to this day with many of his childhood friends where he grew up in Sanford, Florida. Don also visits regularly with his friends from his baseball team, his Fraternity at Western Carolina University and from his Law School at Florida State University. Don is a great ambassador of our firm to the Central Florida Community, and we’re very proud to have such an experienced, distinguished member of our Team. Many attorneys in Central Florida remember Don’s father, who was a long-time judge in Seminole County, very fondly.

Call the Trial Professionals immediately at 1800trialpro (1-800- 874-2577), or email us at info@1800trialpro.com

The answer to this question depends on the type of case you have as well as the type of insurance that is available to you. Do not worry if you do not have health insurance. If we accept you as a client, we will make sure that you are able to get the medical treatment that you need even if you don’t have health insurance without you having to pay a cent out of your pocket.

If you’ve been involved in an auto accident, you should be entitled to have the vast majority of your medical bills paid for through your personal injury protection coverage afforded under your automobile insurance policy. In Florida, each person’s own automobile insurance company pays for 80 percent of that person’s medical bills up to a limit of $10,000 regardless of who is at fault for the accident. Don’t worry though- an auto insurance company cannot raise your rates simply for filing a PIP claim. The remaining 20 percent of your medical bills as well as any additional medical bills are satisfied out of recovery that we obtain for our clients. Our clients never have to pay a cent out of their own pocket under any circumstance.

If you do not have any available insurance and if we agree to represent you, we’ll be happy to assist you in finding a doctor who will provide all of the medical treatment you need under a Letter of Protection. Simply put, a Letter of Protection “LOP” is an agreement that the client, the attorney and the doctor sign whereby the doctor agrees to provide all of the treatment that a patient needs without billing the patient directly for it. The parties further agree that the attorney will satisfy any outstanding medical obligations out of the recovery obtained for that client prior to disbursing any funds to the client. Accordingly, our clients do ultimately pay the doctors for the medical services, but it is at the conclusion of a case out of the proceeds of a recovery. If no recovery is made, then you will not have to pay the doctor for the services.

For those of you that do have health insurance, it is extremely important that you advise your attorney about it as early on in the process as possible. In many instances, we are able to obtain higher recoveries for our clients when we arrange for you to treat with a doctor under a letter of protection rather than through your own health insurance. Also, be aware that if you do choose to treat through your health insurance, your health insurance will have a right of “subrogation”. A right of subrogation means that your insurance company will have a right to be reimbursed for any money that it pays out for treatment related to your accident. Very rarely is there any strategic advantage to treating under your health insurance for injuries sustained in an accident. We’ll be happy to found upon these issues. Feel free to call us at 1800-Trial-Pro and we’ll explain any of these statements in more detail.

 Call the Trial Professionals immediately at 1800trialpro (1-800- 874-2577), or email us at info@1800trialpro.com

I moved to Naples, Florida, in 1997 for my first job out of law school with the law firm Johnson, Blakely, Pope, Bokor, Ruppel, and Burns, P.A. At the time, this large Clearwater/Tampa based firm had just opened an office in Naples with an emphasis on personal injury law. I’ll never forget my first impression of southwest Florida as I was driving down I-75 from Gainesville. I had recently graduated from University of Florida College of Law. I was absolutely struck by the sunshine, palm trees, and immaculately manicured foliage. In my first couple of weeks in Naples, I really came to appreciate the cosmopolitan feel of the city, especially the strong European presence and influence. On a funnier note, I have a specific recollection of calling my parents back in my home city of New Orleans to report that there were actually coconuts on many of the Palm trees. I’m not quite sure why I was so impressed by the coconuts, but I was.

Over the next couple of years, I gained valuable experience working at this Naples law firm, and learned a very strong foundation from my mentor John Blakely both in the practice of law and in life generally. I would describe those two years as the most formative years of my life without question. I take seriously the pledge I made to John Blakely to pass on the life and legal lessons I learned from him to other attorneys and young people generally.

After a couple of years in Naples, however, I decided that I wanted to explore life in a bigger city, so I moved to Miami. I worked as an associate for the very large law firm of Shutts and Bowen, which is one of the largest and oldest law firms in the state of Florida with offices around the state. While at Shutts and Bowen, I had an opportunity to practice many different areas of the law, including but not limited to complex commercial litigation, bankruptcy litigation, and insurance defense work. During this period, I gained valuable insight into many of the business practices and legal strategies employed by insurance companies and insurance defense law firms to defend law suits. I saw how first-hand insurance companies delay and frustrate injured plaintiffs, bury plaintiff’s attorneys in irrelevant paperwork, and could care less about treating injured plaintiffs fairly. Most importantly, however, I was able to appreciate the legal strategies used by a very select group of plaintiff attorneys to apply pressure to the insurance companies, which resulted in much higher recoveries for their clients than other attorneys with a little less drive, experience, and guts obtain for their clients.

In June of 2001, I moved from Miami to Orlando, and founded The Trial Professionals (which at that time was named the Law Office of Piercy J. Stakelum, P.A.). In early 2011, we opened a permanent law office in Naples, Florida.

I am really proud and excited that the Trial Professionals now have a permanent presence in Naples from which we serve the entire southwest Florida community. Our Naples office is open from 8:30 to 5:30 Monday through Friday, but our attorneys are available to assist potential new clients twenty four hours a day/seven days a week. Simply call 1-800-Trial-Pro.

I still can’t get over how much Naples, Florida has grown in the last fifteen years. The entire north Naples area, which is where our office is located, was new to me. Some things don’t change though. The beaches, the palm trees, the restaurants, the landscaping, and the people are all as great as I remember. I’m very thankful to be back in Naples, and we expect to become as much a part of our community in the Naples/Ft. Myers area as we have become in the greater Orlando area.

Call the Trial Professionals immediately at 1800trialpro (1-800- 874-2577), or email us at info@1800trialpro.com

We have clients with open claims switch from their current attorneys to The Trial Professionals almost every week. The process of switching attorneys is very simple and pain free. Some people are dissatisfied with their attorneys not being aggressive enough, others feel that their case has been neglected in favor of other “bigger” cases, and still others are just frustrated because they can’t get their attorney to return a phone call. You’d be surprised by how many clients tell us that they never actually spoke with much less met their former attorneys. We’re happy to meet with you to discuss whether we might be able to help you. If we are able to help you, we’ll simply have you sign a one sentence letter stating that you no longer want your former attorney to continue representing you for your accident. Well have you sign and date it, and then we’ll have fax it to your attorney along with a formal request for a complete copy of your file. You never have to have an awkward moment or conversation with your attorney, and we’ll take care of any housekeeping matters.

Under Florida law, if an attorney withdraws from representing a client, then the attorney is not allowed to assert any type of charging lien or fees or costs against the client’s subsequent recovery period. If, on the other hand, a client terminates an attorney, then that attorney does have a right to assert a lien against the file for fees and costs. In almost every instance, we will take care of satisfying the former attorney’s lien out of our attorney’s fees. We do not want our clients to be penalized with additional fees and costs simply for switching to our firm. Accordingly, if we decide to take over and assume the handling of your case from a prior attorney, it will not cost you any extra money.

As a quick side note, please be aware that you always have a right to request a complete copy of your file. Our firm and most others are happy to provide a copy of our clients’ files to them for free. I have heard of other law firms, however, being cheapskates and insisting that their clients pay them for a copy of the file. I’m touching on this issue only because in many instances we need to see a copy of your current file, especially if your former attorney has already filed a lawsuit, to help us determine whether or not we will be able to take over representation of you for your claim. If your attorney has already filed suit, we want to find out exactly who has been deposed and what type of discovery had been completed and what still remains. We also want to know the status of settlement discussions as well as if your case is already scheduled on a trial docket. If your attorney has not already filed suit, we may not need to see a copy of your file in order to make a decision whether we will agree to represent you.

 Call the Trial Professionals immediately at 1800trialpro (1-800- 874-2577), or email us at info@1800trialpro.com

Most people don’t really know for sure what type of auto insurance coverage they have. People think they have “full coverage,” when in fact the have far from it. I didn’t even know what my own coverage was until I started practicing law. Our insurance is one of those “out of sight, out of mind” things that most of us don’t pay much attention to until we need it, and, in many instances, until it’s too late.

I’m going to give you some straight talk about car insurance. After all, I’m not some insurance salesman trying to sell you a policy. In Florida, everyone is required by law to carry minimum insurance known as Personal Injury Protection “PIP”. Florida law requires people to carry a minimum of $10,000 in PIP coverage, although people can pay extra premiums to purchase more, which I do not recommend. The obligation to carry PIP insurance is the result of Florida’s “no fault laws.” In short, when someone gets in a car accident in Florida, each person’s own car insurance “the PIP” pays for that person’s medical treatment and a portion of their lost wages, REGARDLESS OF WHO WAS AT FAULT.   A person’s insurance rates and premiums cannot be raised simply by filing a PIP claim.

By far and away, the most important two types of insurance relating to car accidents are bodily injury coverage and insured/underinsured motorist coverage. Bodily injury coverage protects you against the injury claims of another person when you are at fault for the accident. When a new client hires us, one of the very first things we do is ascertain the bodily injury coverage available pursuant to the other side’s (“at fault driver”) insurance policy. Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage provides coverage for you in the event that you are hit by a driver who does not carry any bodily injury coverage at all or has very low limits of coverage that are not enough to fairly compensate you for your injuries. I strongly recommend that people purchase this type of coverage in an amount equal to your bodily injury coverage given the number of uninsured drivers in Florida. Nothing is more frustrating to us and our clients than pursuing a claim against a driver for negligently causing an auto accident with injuries only to find out that this other driver doesn’t even have bodily injury coverage. You only have the option to purchase underinsured motorist coverage up to the limits of your bodily injury coverage. For example, you could not choose to purchase $100,000 in available bodily injury coverage and $300,000 in underinsured motorist coverage. If you do have more than one vehicle in your household, insured under the same automobile policy, however, then you can pay a little bit extra to purchase “stacked” underinsured motorist coverage which will increase your coverage limits by the number of vehicles that you have insured on the policy. If you only have one vehicle, however, there is absolutely no reason why you should pay extra to purchase “stacked” underinsured motorist coverage as I have seen in some instances.

Also, there are some optional coverages that you may choose to purchase such as collision coverage, medical payment coverage, and gap coverage. Collision coverage, as the name implies, relates to property damage claims. It’s always a good idea to carry enough to coverage to repair or fix your vehicle in the event that the at fault driver does not have suitable coverage. I personally do not see a need in purchasing medical payment “medpay” coverage for strategic reasons. We are usually able to get more money for our injured clients if they have not purchased additional PIP or medpay coverages. Finally, I do recommend that people purchase gap coverage, especially if you are leasing or financing your vehicle. In the event that your vehicle is totaled in an accident, that coverage will pay the difference between the value of your vehicle at the time of the accident and the remaining balance you owe on the vehicle. If you do not have gap coverage, you could find yourself in a position where your vehicle is totaled, you get a check for the value of your vehicle, but you have to continue making the remaining payments on that vehicle even though you no longer have it.

I hope this information helps. Please feel free to call one of our Trial Professionals if you’d like advice on purchasing automobile insurance. In addition to answering your questions, I’ll be happy to candidly tell you which insurance companies are better than others in my opinion. The insurance company you select as well as the types of coverage’s you purchase are very important decisions that should not be taken lightly.

Call the Trial Professionals immediately at 1800trialpro (1-800- 874-2577), or email us at info@1800trialpro.com

PRAY! Without question, many of our most significant injury claims have arisen from accidents involving semi-trucks and 18 wheelers. Given the severity of the hell that can be wrought by these behemoth semi-trucks and 18 wheelers, you need attorneys with specific experience in suing these big trucking companies to represent you from the beginning. I’m going to take this opportunity to touch on only a few of the reasons why.

As mentioned, most motor vehicle accidents involving semi-trucks and 18 wheelers result in catastrophic injuries. Given the severity of the injuries and the resulting long-term needs of our clients and their families, we usually employ engineers and accident reconstruction experts within a matter of HOURS of being retained in a trucking case. These experts are very expensive, but they are also very well trained to investigate fresh accident scenes, photograph and measure skid marks, inspect the vehicles involved, and interview all relevant witnesses as soon as possible to help preserve evidence and strongly position our claim. We advance these and all other costs on behalf of our clients who never have to pay a cent out of their own pockets. The work of these engineering experts sheds light on several important issues of the case, including but not limited to the speed and direction of the vehicles prior to and at the time of impact, the view or vantage point the drivers of the vehicles, whether any mechanical defects contributed to the accident, whether either vehicle attempted any evasive action prior to the accident, etc. In some instances, our experts will go so far as to actually obtain similar vehicles to those involved in the accident to recreate and demonstrate to juries what each driver saw or should have seen prior to the accident.

There are also certain very important laws that apply to commercial trucking. For example, laws limit the number of hours that truckers can drive continuously without rest. Other laws limit the tow capacity or weight that certain types of commercial trucks are allowed to haul. A truck’s braking ability is certainly influenced by the amount of weight it is hauling. An overloaded truck will not have the same braking distance as a lighter truck. An experienced trucking attorney will know how to review truckers’ logs, decipher maintenance records, weight station reports, and other documents with a fine toothed comb to indentify information that can be used to our client’s advantage. Experienced trucking attorneys will also know the right questions to ask the defendant trucking company, its driver, its other employees, and any independent witnesses.

Finally, given that many of trucking accident injuries are catastrophic in nature meaning very serious permanent life-altering injuries and death, experienced trucking attorneys needs to be prepared to properly develop the damages portion of a claim by retaining the proper medical and other expert witnesses. In addition to making sure that our clients are receiving the best available medical treatment, we also usually retain vocational rehabilitation experts and economists to help determine the economic damages that will be experienced by our clients and their dependents. The Trial Professionals will not leave any stones unturned and will be prepared to aggressively pursue your trucking case from the very beginning. We fully understand that better results come from better preparation. Call 1-800-Trial-Pro now.

 Call the Trial Professionals immediately at 1800trialpro (1-800- 874-2577), or email us at info@1800trialpro.com