The kinds of car accident matters the firm handles
The Golinowski Law Firm P.A. reviews injury matters arising from collisions on Broward County roads, highways, and surface streets, including intersection and left-turn collisions, rear-end impacts, lane-change and merging collisions, multi-vehicle crashes, and collisions involving motorcycles, bicycles, pedestrians, rideshare vehicles, or delivery drivers.
Attorney Jordan Joseph Golinowski handles matters directly, which means the person reviewing the facts of your collision is the person you speak with about them. Some matters turn out to be straightforward; others involve disputed fault, several insurers, or injuries that are still being diagnosed. A review is the point at which those differences become visible.
What to do first, and what to preserve
Medical care comes first. Beyond that, most of what proves useful later is simply information that existed briefly and then disappeared: a photograph of a vehicle before it was repaired, the name of a witness, a symptom described to a physician on the first visit.
Where it is safe and practical to do so, it generally helps to keep the following:
Records worth keeping
The crash report number and the responding agency
Photographs of the vehicles, the roadway, traffic controls, and any visible injuries
Names and contact details for drivers, passengers, and witnesses
Insurance information exchanged at the scene
Medical records, discharge instructions, referrals, and prescriptions
Receipts for out-of-pocket costs, including transportation to appointments
A short written note of what happened while the memory is fresh
Notes of any calls from an insurance company, including who called and when
Who may be responsible
Responsibility depends on the facts, and it is not always limited to the other driver. Depending on what the evidence shows, more than one party may be involved in a claim, or a party who appeared responsible at first may not be.
Possibilities that are sometimes considered include another driver; a person or business that owned the vehicle; an employer, if a driver was working at the time; a company responsible for maintaining a vehicle; or, in some circumstances, a party connected to a roadway condition or a vehicle component. Whether any of these applies to a particular collision is a factual question, not an assumption.
How insurance and investigation generally unfold
Insurance companies usually open a file quickly. An adjuster may call within days, ask for a recorded statement, request broad authorization to obtain records, or raise the subject of settlement before the medical picture is clear. None of that is unusual, and none of it obligates you to respond immediately or without advice.
Investigation in a car accident matter generally means gathering the crash report, identifying available insurance coverage, collecting medical records and bills as treatment progresses, and, where the facts warrant it, looking for photographs, video, or witnesses that help establish how the collision occurred. Because treatment and documentation develop over time, a claim is often best evaluated once the medical course is reasonably understood.
Issues that can complicate a claim
Several recurring issues can make a car accident claim harder than it first appears: disputed fault between drivers, gaps or delays in medical treatment, prior injuries to the same part of the body, limited or contested insurance coverage, an unidentified or uninsured driver, recorded statements given early and out of context, and social media activity that is later read against the injured person.
None of these necessarily ends a claim. They are reasons to be careful, and reasons to have the facts reviewed rather than guessed at.
Damages that may be considered
What a claim may seek depends entirely on the facts and the evidence. Categories that are commonly considered in injury matters include medical expenses already incurred, care that is reasonably expected to be needed, lost earnings or lost earning capacity, property damage, and the human consequences of an injury such as pain, inconvenience, and the loss of activities that mattered to the injured person.
Whether any category applies, and what it may be worth, is specific to the matter. Nothing on this page is a prediction, a valuation, or a promise of recovery.
What happens during an initial review
An initial review is a conversation. You describe what happened; the firm asks about the collision, the treatment so far, the insurance contact you have had, and what records exist. The purpose is to identify what is known, what is missing, and what questions still need answers.
You should expect a direct answer about whether the firm can help, what the realistic next steps are, and what information would need to be gathered. If the matter is not one the firm is the right fit for, it is better to say so early.
Why direct attorney involvement can matter
Car accident claims are decided on details: the sequence of a collision, the consistency of a medical record, the timing of an insurance communication. Those details are easier to handle well when the attorney reviewing them is the attorney handling the matter, rather than a file passed between staff.
That is the way this firm is organized. It also means candid conversation about weaknesses in a matter, not only its strengths.
Should I speak to the other driver's insurance company?
You are generally not required to give a recorded statement to another driver's insurer, and it is reasonable to get advice before doing so. Statements given early, before the medical picture is clear, can be read narrowly later. Your own policy may have separate cooperation obligations, which is one of the things a review can help sort out.
I felt fine at the scene but hurt the next day. Does that matter?
Delayed symptoms are common after a collision, and the fact that pain developed later does not by itself defeat a claim. What tends to matter is that symptoms were reported and documented once they appeared, and that treatment followed the guidance of the treating providers.
How long does a car accident claim usually take?
There is no standard timeline. A claim often cannot be sensibly evaluated until the medical course is reasonably understood, and matters involving disputed fault or multiple insurers generally take longer. Timing questions specific to your situation, including any legal deadlines that may apply, should be discussed directly rather than assumed from a website.
What if the other driver had little or no insurance?
Available coverage is one of the first things worth identifying, because it can come from more than one place depending on the circumstances. Whether other coverage applies to your collision is a factual question that depends on the policies involved and the facts of the crash.
Do I need a lawyer for a minor collision?
Not every collision calls for representation. If the injuries were minor and resolved quickly, some people handle a claim themselves. A short conversation is usually enough to tell whether legal involvement would actually add something, and the firm will say so if it would not.
Next steps
Talk through the collision with the attorney handling it.
Bring what you have: the crash report number, photographs, the name of a treating provider, any insurance letters. The conversation begins with the facts.
