How to Make Your Case Stronger

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hello my name is Robert Geller I am an
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attorney in the Tampa Bay area and our
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law firm handles personal injury cases
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wrongful death cases automobile accident
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cases and other injury type cases and
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today I want to discuss with you what
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you can do to make your accident auto
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accident case automobile case or any
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other case stronger so first thing that
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you need to do if you’re involved in an
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accident like an automobile accident is
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you need to make sure you get as much
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evidence as you can from the scene so
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what I mean by that is you should get
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the names and addresses of the witnesses
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or anybody else at the scene
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you should get photographs of the
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vehicles you should get photographs of
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where the vehicles end up on the roadway
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you should get video if you can get it
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you should do everything you can to
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accumulate the evidence and
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documentation of the scene the next
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thing that you want to do is you want to
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make sure you call the police so you
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have somebody confirming what happened
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at the accident scene of course one of
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the most important things to do in an
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accident or automobile accident make
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sure you wear your seatbelt before you
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get into it and that’s because if you
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are not wearing your seatbelt you can be
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considered comparatively negligent by
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the opposing side or the side that
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caused your accident and they can use
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the fact that you didn’t wear your
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seatbelt against you in that case so of
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course in any automobile accident case
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and you know this goes almost without
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saying please please please wear your
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seatbelts seatbelts really will save
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your life
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the next thing that you should do if
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you’re involved in an automobile
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accident case or any other cat
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kind of case is you should get medical
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treatment this is really important you
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need to document your injuries because
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if you don’t document your injuries the
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other side again will suggest that you
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weren’t injured in the accident or you
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didn’t seek immediate medical treatment
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and so your injuries really aren’t
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related to the accident or you really
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weren’t that hurt and so it really is
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important that you get immediate medical
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treatment in fact in an automobile
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accident case under Florida law you need
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to get medical treatment within 14 days
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of the accident or potentially you could
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lose very valuable insurance coverage so
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yes get media can medical treatment the
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next thing related to medical treatment
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is continue with your medical treatment
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if you’re involved in an accident in any
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kind of accident and you’re claiming
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that you’re injured and you’re claiming
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you’re suffering it’s important that you
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continue with your medical treatment and
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that you follow what the doctor tells
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you to do and that you do everything
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you’re supposed to do to make your
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situation or your medical situation
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better because if you don’t do that
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again that can be used against you by
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the opposing side so it’s always good to
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follow what the doctor tells you to
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continue on with your medical treatment
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that’s really important one of the
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things that happens when most people are
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involved in an automobile accident or
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sometimes this happens is that the other
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drivers insurance company and an
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automobile accident will try and gain a
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statement from you and they’ll ask you
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how are you feeling how you doing and so
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they want to try and take a statement
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from you and you know it’s our tendency
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to always kind of say we’re doing a
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little better than we are or many people
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would do that so you may tell that to
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the insurance company so what am I
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telling you never ever ever talk to the
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opposing insurance company because if
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you tell them that you’re doing fine
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you know you may mean well but they’re
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gonna use that some later date so don’t
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talk to the opposing insurance company
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never give a statement recorded state
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written state that leave that
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information up to you should give that
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information to your attorney under some
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circumstances you have to give an
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information or a statement to your own
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insurance company but never give the
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opposing side a statement one of the
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things that I found from my experience
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and I’ve been handling personal injury
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cases for over 30 years is what makes a
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case really successful is that you keep
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a diary because and what I mean by a
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diary is how you’re feeling you want to
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explain you know initially in an
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automobile accident you you you may feel
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really terrible and things may get worse
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and worse over the week or two weeks or
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three weeks or four weeks and so you
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want to record that just on a calendar
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on a notepad or something and you may
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get better but things may stay the same
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in the next month and they may stay the
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same next month so you don’t have to
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keep it every day but at least initially
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keep that diary but keep it up and the
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reason this is really important is that
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sometimes accident cases can take six
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months sometimes they can take a year
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sometimes they can take two years
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sometimes they could take four or five
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years and if you ever have to file a
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lawsuit in your case you’re gonna be
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asked by the insurance company’s
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attorney how you’re dealing or how this
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accident has affected you and many times
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people kind of forget about how
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difficult it was being injured and
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suffering and so if you keep this diary
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you can pull it out and you can read it
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and I assure you that if you have that
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diary and you hand it to the other
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insurer the other party’s attorney are
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you handed to their insurance company
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they’re gonna understand what you went
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through and nobody will ever be able to
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discount that or use that against you so
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a diary I think is really
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: I’ve had clients who have kept a diary
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and I encourage every one of my clients
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to do it I’ve had clients who’ve kept
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that diary and trust me when I tell you
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that makes a huge difference in their
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recovery because really nobody can
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really argue with that and that’s in my
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opinion one of the best ways of
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documenting pain and suffering and what
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somebody’s had to go through an
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automobile accident so please keep that
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diary so if you’ve ever been involved in
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an automobile accident you’ve been
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involved in any other accident or a
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wrongful death you lost a family member
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or any type of accident I would hope
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that you’d contact our law firm and we
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will show you the right way to protect
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your rights and how you can make your
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case stronger my name is Robert Keller
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thank you
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