Every day on South Florida highways—whether driving Interstate 95 through Broward County or Federal Highway in Lighthouse Point—drivers pass billboards and see commercials from personal injury attorneys. Most of these advertisements deliver a lengthy, confusing list of legal tasks.

The real answer is straightforward. Only three steps demand your immediate focus after a collision:

1. Prioritize Your Health and Follow Medical Directives

Your physical and mental well-being is the single aspect of an accident where you retain complete control. Calling 911 must always take precedence over contacting a law firm.

• Allow paramedics to evaluate you at the scene. Even if adrenaline conceals initial symptoms, accept an on-site evaluation by trained first responders.
• Go to an emergency facility if you experience pain. Area facilities such as North Broward Hospital can detect internal trauma, perform vital imaging, and document crash-related injuries.
• Follow every treatment instruction. Attend follow-up appointments, complete rehabilitative therapies, and take prescribed medications to return to your pre-accident condition.
• Protect your insurance coverage. Under Florida’s 14-day Personal Injury Protection (PIP) framework, receiving prompt medical attention is legally required to preserve your personal injury medical benefits.

2. Document the Scene Without Endangering Your Safety

If your injuries allow you to safely move about the crash site, collect physical evidence before the scene is cleared:

• Photographs and Videos: Document vehicle damage, resting positions, skid marks, road hazards, and traffic signals.
• Identifying Information: Note vehicle make, model, license plates, and any commercial markings.
• Witness Information: Record the full names and contact numbers of any independent bystanders before they depart the area

If your injuries require immediate transport, ask a passenger or witness to document these details on your behalf. Never compromise your personal safety on a high-traffic roadway to gather evidence.

3. Record Your Recollection Confidentially for Legal Counsel

Memories degrade quickly following a traumatic crash. Specific facts regarding weather conditions, vehicle speed, and driver statements can become unclear within days.

Write an email, create a written document, or record an audio file detailing everything you recall about the event.

Draft or record this summary specifically as a communication addressed directly to your attorney.

Structuring your account as a direct client communication ensures that your impressions remain protected by attorney-client privilege, preventing insurance adjusters and defense counsel from compelling its production during initial claim inquiries.

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ADVERTISEMENT. All content in this post is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Viewing this post, submitting a contact form, or communicating with the firm does not create an attorney-client relationship with Wites & Rogers. Past case results, verdicts, or settlements are described for informational purposes and afford no guarantee, warranty, or prediction of a similar outcome in any future legal matter. The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely upon advertisements. Before you decide, ask us to send you free written information about our qualifications and experience. Wites & Rogers is responsible for the content of this publication. Our primary bona fide office is located at 4400 North Federal Highway, Lighthouse Point, FL 33064.

Have questions about your rights? We are here to help.

You do not have to navigate this stressful time alone. At Wites & Rogers, P.A., we invite you to schedule a Friendly & Free Consultation with our legal team. We handle cases on a pure contingency-fee basis, which means you pay absolutely no upfront attorney’s fees or litigation costs unless we successfully recover money for you.

• Call Us 24/7: Toll-Free at 866-277-8631 or locally at 954-933-4400.
• Contact Us Online: Submit your details directly on our secure Contact Us Page to receive a rapid response.

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Attorney Marc Wites announced the release of the 24th edition of the Florida Litigation Guide. The Guide, which is available at https://floridalitigationguide.com/, lists more than 80 popular common-law causes of action, the elements of each action, the most recent state and federal court cases that cite the elements of each action, defenses to each cause of action, and the action’s statute of limitations. The Guide also contains links to all of the cited case law.  Thousands of Florida lawyers have relied on The Florida Litigation Guide since it was first introduced in 1997.

No longer need young lawyers feel frustrated when a senior partner requested to “quickly” find the most recent Florida Supreme Court case citing the elements required to obtain a temporary injunction for a partner’s emergency motion. Experienced lawyers will also benefit from the ease at which they will locate information used in daily practice. From drafting complaints and answers, to motion practice, jury instructions and appeals, the Guide will be your starting and end-point for the research needed to build the cornerstones of your cases.

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Marc Wites returned to Gainesville recently to give a lecture to first-year law students at The University of Florida College of Law (his law school) entitled “How to Identify, Interview for, and Succeed at Your First Job”. He discussed topics such as proofreading resumes for spelling and formatting errors, researching the person conducting the interview, sending hand-written thank you notes, arriving at work before the partners and staying until after they leave, treating the non-lawyer support staff with respect, not using or posting on social media during the workday and, of course, working hard.

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Wites & Rogers is investigating potential claims involving the theft of two laptops on October 12, 2013 from a secured administration office of AHMC Healthcare Inc. (“AHMC”).  According to AHMC, the laptops contained protected health information for approximately 729,000 Medicare patients treated at the following AHMC hospitals: (1) Garfield Medical Center, (2) Monterey Park Hospital, (3) Greater El Monte Community Hospital, (4) Whittier Hospital Medical Center, (5) San Gabriel Valley Medical Center, and (6) Anaheim Regional Medical Center.  The protected health information contained in the laptops includes patient names, Medicare/insurance identification numbers, diagnosis/procedure codes, and insurance/patient payments.  AHMC has stated that about 10% of its patients’ social security numbers also have been compromised.

If you have any information regarding these potential claims, or believe that you might be one of the patients whose confidential information may have been compromised, and would like to speak with an attorney about your legal rights, contact the attorneys at Wites & Rogers by email at info@witeslaw.com or toll-free at 1 (866) 277-8631.

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A complaint has been filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against Tremor Video, certain officers and directors of the Company, and the underwriters of the IPO. Among other things, the action alleges that the Registration Statement issued in connection with Tremor Video’s IPO contained untrue statements of material facts or omitted to state other facts necessary to make the statements made not misleading. More specifically, the complaint alleges that the defendants failed to disclose certain facts which existed at the time of the IPO, such as that the online advertising market had materially shifted towards mobile browsing, as opposed to desktop browsing, where Tremor Video was at a significant disadvantage to its competitors, and that Tremor Video was losing sales to competitors as a result of inferior mobile browsing capabilities.

If you are an investor who purchased Tremor Video stock you may have a legal claim against the Company and could serve as the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit. The deadline to file a motion for appointment as the lead plaintiff is January 21, 2014. If you are interested in being the lead plaintiff, or would like to speak with an attorney about your legal rights, contact the attorneys at Wites & Rogers by email at info@witeslaw.com or toll-free at 1 (866) 277-8631.

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As litigation over consumer debt mounts, however, some of the tactics in these lawsuits resemble those that marred the mortgage foreclosure cases a few years ago.  “We are seeing more and more complaints and evidentiary filings that appear ‘robo-signed,’” commented attorney Marc Wites.  He explained, “we see lawsuits that are computer generated in a generic manner so that there is no way to tell to whom the company claims the credit card – or cards – were issued by, how the company claims to own the debt, or even the basis for the amount of the debt.  Sometimes, in collection agency lawsuits, they don’t even identify of the original creditor.”

The issue also comes up in later evidentiary filings in affidavits signed by company personnel with no apparent personal knowledge of the facts to which they attest.  “The affidavits are usually form documents which contain errors and information irrelevant inapplicable to the particular case that it is obvious that no one even read them before filing with the court,” observed attorney Marc Wites .

These concerns, which the firm has observed in cases over the last couple of years, have been the focus of recent media attention by the New York Times, Time magazine, ABC, American Public Media, and other news outlets around the country after a New York state court judge, who sees about 100 credit card collection cases a day, estimated that 90% of the cases are based on legally-flawed evidence.

As the number of consumer debt defaults increase, banks and other lenders bundle the debts and sell accounts in bulk to collection agencies who then pursue some of the consumers.  Many collection agencies, in turn, sell off accounts in bulkto other collection agencies.  In the process of these sales and transfers, records are lost, the source ownership and basis for forming the alleged balance of the debt becomes murky, and errors occur, such as lawsuits by more than one company suing over the same debt.

“The reality is that these companies file the lawsuits expecting that most consumers will not respond to them, and they will go into default,” Wites & Rogersobserved.  The number of lawsuits where this happens is overwhelming.  However, there are so many errors in these cases that consumers may find themselves facing court judgments for incorrect amounts, or from entities that do not even own the debt.

When representing consumers in court Wites & Rogers aggressively protects their interests, to ensure that the entity suing them can prove their right to collect any debt and prove that the amount sought is accurate.  “We scrutinize each boilerplate affidavit and call into question the record custodian’s trustworthiness and qualifications to provide testimony based upon a variety of factors including inconsistencies in the documents themselves, unsubstantiated testimony about account activity, and the record custodian’s lack of qualification to testify to the statements in the affidavit,” explained Wites & Rogers attorney Steven Canter.

“The rules of evidence apply to everyone in court; there is no exception for companies who claim to own consumer debt,” noted Law.  “Consumers need to understand that they have rights, and we do our best to protect their interests in these cases.  In fact, many debt collection lawyers seem annoyed when we appear in a case because it derails their usual practice of filing the case and getting a judgment without a fight from the consumer.

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USCIS has announced the following procedures:

• A form will be made available that has been created specifically for the purpose of submitting requests for deferral;
• Applications should not be submitted before August 15, 2012.  Early submissions will be rejected;
• The application form should be mailed with an application for an employment authorization document and all applicable fees; and
• Applicants will be required to provide biometric data, such as fingerprints, and will have to undergo a background check.

As had previously been announced, individuals will be considered qualified for deferral if they (1) are at least sixteen years old, but no older than thirty, (2) have been brought to the U.S. before they were sixteen, (3) have lived in the U.S. for at least the five continuous years before their application, and (4) be currently enrolled in school, have graduated from high school, received a G.E.D., or have been honorably discharged from the armed forces.  Potential applicants convicted of a felony or significant misdemeanor, convicted of multiple misdemeanors, or who pose some other threat to national security will be ineligible.

USCIS cautioned that potential applicants should be aware that there are likely to be people or organizations that will attempt immigration scams, and urged applicants to retain qualified attorneys if they seek assistance with their applications.  Law Partners Marc Wites and Marc Wites of Wites & Rogers, confirmed that their firm is ready to assist eligible individuals with processing their applications.

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The Wites & Rogers Dream Scholarship is named for the proposed Dream Act, after which President Obama modeled the newly signed Deferred Action immigration order, and supports students eligible under the order.  Applicants must meet all the following requirements as of the date of the submission of their application for the Scholarship:

• applicants are at least sixteen years old, but no older than thirty,
• were brought to the U.S. before they were sixteen,
• have lived in the U.S. for at least the last five continuous years,
• be (or plan to be) enrolled as a full-time student at any accredited college, university, technical or vocational school in the United States in the fall of 2012, and
• be of either South or Central American descent (including Mexico).

Applicants must submit an essay of at least 500 words on the topic “Why I Want to be a Citizen of the United States of America.” Wites & Rogers will also consider letters of recommendation, grades, test scores and community service, in choosing the winners. The application deadline is September 14, 2012.

Wites & Rogers will announce this year’s winners by October 1, 2012.  The first, second and third place winners will receive $2,500, $1,500, and $500, respectively, explained Marc A. Wites of Wites & Rogers.  Marc also noted that the scholarship funds may only be used for tuition, lab fees, and/or books during the 2012-2013 school year.  The firm will issue the funds directly to the winners’ respective schools.

Marc Wites explained that he was very excited to once again offer the Scholarship, something that firm has done several times in recent years.  Past winners include Aryanne Schommer (a graduate of Monarch High School of Coconut Creek who attended St. Thomas University), Pedro Falci (American Heritage School/Boston University), Diogo Alves (J.P. Taravella High School/Brown University), Mirna Martinez (Glades Central Community High School of Belle Glades/The University of Florida), Steven Rios (Boca Raton Community High School/ Florida Atlantic University), and Carolina Handal (Palm Beach Central High School/The University of Pennsylvania).

Marc Wites  and Marc Wites are no strangers to big dreams, or the opportunities available in the United States.  Both Wites’ and Law’s grandparents immigrated to the United States from Europe and, through hard work and education, their families have prospered in America.  Now, Marc and Alex want to give back to the community, and help others achieve the same dream their families had the opportunity to pursue when coming to this country years ago.

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“Jonathan is an excellent attorney and a valued member of our team.  Throughout his tenure at Wites & Rogers, he has continually achieved great results for our clients. We are pleased and fortunate to have him as a partner of the law firm,” said Alex N. Law of the successful personal injury and class-action firm.

Marc Wites continued, by explaining that: “Jonathan has great poise and presence with both clients and judges.  He has participated in many trials, and countless hearings, and is always a great reflection on the law firm”

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Burns practiced law with Thornton, Davis t Fein, a well-respected firm in Miami, where he defended major tire corporations in complex wrongful death cases,  and also represented major banks in negligent security cases.

“I am thrilled to be named a partner in such a great firm,” said Burns.  “I look forward to making a significant contribution in the years to come.”

Mr. Burns is a graduate of the St. Thomas University School of Law, and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Florida.  Mr. Burns is married with a one year-old daughter and is one of the top racquetball players in the state of Florida.

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