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Orlando Personal Injury Attorney Interview: An Interview with Jason Turchin |
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Q. Tell us about yourself and your practice
A. My name is Jason Turchin and I am a Victim’s Rights Attorney. I represent victims of personal injury crime accidents and wrongful death throughout the entire State of Florida including Orlando and the surrounding cities like Winter Park Maitland Altamonte Springs and Kissimmee. I’ve handled over 4 000 personal injury crime victim’s rights accident and wrongful death cases and represent victims against nearly all insurance companies who insure properties and vehicles in the Orlando area.
Our website is Victimaid.com and Turchinesq.com and our main consultation line is (888) 99-VICTIM. We work on a contingency and take cases regardless of our client’s financial status.
I am licensed to practice law in all State and Federal Courts in Florida all State Courts in Washington DC and New York and several Federal Courts of Appeals. I am also a member of Mothers Against Drunk Driving the National Crime Victim Bar Association American Bar Association and American Trial Lawyers Association among several other organizations.
We have several satellite locations for consultations and statements throughout Florida including an office in Orlando on Sand Lake Road just off I-4. The phone number for Orlando is (407) 742-0265.
Q. Do you offer free initial consultations?
A. All initial consultations are always free. We also work on a contingency fee which means that we never charge the client any money unless there is a recovery. This includes costs too so if there is no recovery for some reason we waive all fees and costs.
Q. Do you accept any of the pre-paid “legal plans” that are offered to help with legal fees?
A. Since we work on a contingency fee we do not participate in the pre-paid legal plans. One of the biggest concerns I hear about fees in personal injury and accident cases is that the victim doesn’t want to have to pay anything out of pocket since it was not their fault they are in the situation. I agree and this is one of the reasons we get paid after the settlement.
Q. Does your office offer paralegal services for simple forms and filings?
A. Since our practice is limited to personal injury crime victim’s rights accidents and wrongful death cases I think it is important to have an attorney handle the work for the client.
Q. Do you always pay the expenses up front?
A. Yes. I don’t think a victim should have to pay our expenses unless they get paid for what happened. I’ve always handled cases this way.
Q. How soon should one file a lawsuit?
A. A claim should be filed as soon as possible! There are several reasons for this. Evidence can disappear over time. Witnesses may not remember as much as time passes. Insurance companies may downplay the significance of the case or injuries if there is a delay in reporting the claim. Insurance companies may also deny the case if there is a delay in reporting the accident.
As for a lawsuit it is not always necessary that we file a lawsuit. Many cases are actually settled before we even get to Court. Lawsuits are very expensive in Florida and can be extremely time consuming for the client. We look at each case individually to see what really is in the client’s best interest. If the only way to get resolution for the client is to go to Court we can do that. However I would say about 95% or so of the cases we handle are able to get settled without us filing a lawsuit.
Q. Does one need to hire a personal injury lawyer in their city or town?
A. The short answer is absolutely not. Many insurance companies and corporations have one central claims office. It doesn’t matter where in the State you were injured. The claim will be handled by the same claims office. Often the claim may be handled in another State altogether. For example Wal-mart and Target’s claims department is out of State. Publix’s claims department is in Lakeland FL. GEICO’s claims are in Lakeland FL. A victim should consider an attorney with experience against that particular company.
Our office handles personal injury crime victim’s rights accidents and wrongful death cases throughout Florida. We have several satellite locations throughout the State that we can use for client meetings and statements.
Q. Is there any time limit to file a personal injury lawsuit in Orlando?
A. Yes. For Orlando and throughout Florida there is generally a 4 year time limit to file a lawsuit for a personal injury or negligence claim. For cases in Orlando where the one who caused the accident or injury was a government entity the time may be reduced since you generally have to put them on notice which certain required language within 3 years and then cannot file a lawsuit for another 6 months after sending the government entity the notice. For Orlando wrongful death medical malpractice and nursing home negligence cases the law generally limits the time to file a lawsuit to 2 years. If someone is injured on a Carnival Royal Caribbean or Disney Cruise which departs from Orlando / Port Canaveral there is usually a 6 month notice requirement and a 1 year time limit to file a lawsuit against the cruise line.
Q. Can a person recover damages for injuries sustained on someone else\\\\\\\'s property?
A. The short answer is “it depends”. Florida does not create strict liability for property owners. This means that if a person is injured on another person’s property they have to prove that the property owner or manager was somehow “negligent” in causing or contributing to the injury.
Properties may have different insurance coverages though. Some properties have “medical payment” coverage which will pay for medical expenses up to the policy limit which are incurred within a certain period of time (generally 1 year from the incident). “Medical payments” are usually paid regardless of fault as long as you were injured on someone else’s property. There may be exclusions like if you lived at the property as a tenant.
For liability claims there are several possible avenues we look at to recover for someone injured on another’s property. For a slip and fall case for example we look to see if the property owner failed to properly clean and maintain their floor fail to put our client on notice of the dangerous condition fail to properly train their employees fail to properly supervise their employees fail to provide adequate protection or security etc. We almost have to recreate the incident to see what could have been done to prevent it from happening. If it turns out that the property owner somehow caused or contributed to the fall Florida law will allow a claim to go forward against the property owner.
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