Surprisingly, yes! You can hire a Florida lawyer for your personal injury claim even if your car accident was in a different state.
Typically someone who is involved in an accident in some distant jurisdiction returns home and resumes their life here. So, his or her family physician is here, as is a treating doctor. They go back to work but may have lost some time due to recuperation. It makes sense to hire someone locally to navigate your care and your insurance claim, locally. We know your doctors and can generally assist you more efficiently.
There are two differences: Even though you live in Florida and have Florida car insurance, if you’re involved in a crash in another state, your car insurance is subject to the laws of that foreign state. That state may have very different limits of liability on paying your medical bills as you go – the so-called “no-fault” part of your policy. That state may not even have no-fault.
The other difference is, if your case does not resolve amicably after you’re done treating and a lawsuit needs to be filed, your local attorney will need to “team up” with an attorney in the other state, if he’s not already a member of that other state’s bar.
Typically, I find an attorney in the other state at the beginning of representation so he or she can assist me with the foreign car insurance laws. If the claim doesn’t settle (and in my experience more than 50% of cases do resolve without litigation), then I already have a lawyer in my back pocket to file suit.
The best part for our clients is, even though there are two attorneys working on his or her claim – both foreign and domestic – the client is only responsible to pay one attorney’s fee.