Wellington FL Car Accident Lawyers

A car crash can leave you dealing with pain, missed work, vehicle repairs, and insurance calls all at once. You may not know which bills should go through your Personal Injury Protection coverage, whether the other driver has enough insurance, or what evidence still exists from the scene.

Drazen Mancini, P.A. helps injured people investigate Florida car accident claims, identify the available insurance, and understand what comes next. The firm’s principal office is in Boca Raton FL, and its attorneys represent clients throughout Palm Beach County.

If you were hurt in a crash in Wellington FL, tell us what happened. We will listen, review the circumstances, and explain your options.

Why Injured Drivers Turn to Drazen Mancini, P.A.

You should not have to wonder whether your lawyer understands car accident litigation.

Founding partner Eugenio Mancini has devoted his legal career to car accident and slip, trip, and fall cases. He has personally handled thousands of pre-litigation matters and hundreds of cases in litigation. He serves clients in English and Spanish.

Founding partner Dan Drazen has handled motor vehicle collisions, trucking accidents, and other personal injury claims through investigation, depositions, court proceedings, and trial preparation.

The firm emphasizes clear communication and careful preparation. Its published case results include a $240,000 recovery in a rear-end collision and a $100,000 recovery in a disputed-liability motor vehicle case.

Those details matter when an insurer questions whether you were injured, argues that you caused the crash, or asks you to settle before the long-term effects are clear.

Why Wellington FL Car Accident Cases Require Local Investigation

A Wellington crash may involve several public agencies even when it happens within a relatively small area.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office provides Wellington’s municipal law enforcement services. Road responsibility is more divided. FDOT has jurisdiction over SR 7/US 441, while Forest Hill Boulevard between the Florida Turnpike and SR 7 involves shared state and county jurisdiction. Lyons Road is county-maintained in the portion identified by the Village. Other roads may be maintained by Wellington, Palm Beach County, an Acme Improvement District entity, or a private community.

That distinction matters if a crash may have involved:

  • A malfunctioning traffic signal
  • Missing or obscured signage
  • Poor pavement or a pothole
  • Inadequate lighting
  • Standing water or drainage problems
  • Road construction
  • A government vehicle
  • A dangerous intersection design

The right records may be held by Wellington, Palm Beach County, FDOT, PBSO, a contractor, or a private property owner. Sending a request to the wrong entity can cost valuable time while inspection files, video, work orders, and electronic data become harder to obtain.

Questions about an injury in Wellington?

Drazen Mancini, P.A. offers a free consultation so you can ask questions before deciding what to do.

Free consultation
Call 561.783.4534

A Local Look at Wellington Crashes

According to the PBSO District 8 Wellington FY 2026 Law Enforcement Services Plan, Wellington had 1,221 crash and hit-and-run cases in fiscal year 2024. That was a 4% decrease from fiscal year 2023, but still averaged about 102 cases each month.

The Village’s fiscal year 2024 crash rate was 1.98 cases per 100 residents. Across fiscal years 2020 through 2024, PBSO recorded 6,049 crash and hit-and-run cases in Wellington. The same report notes that commercial-vehicle deputies conducted 1,723 truck stops in fiscal year 2024, reflecting Wellington’s continued attention to heavy vehicles using local roads.

These numbers include crashes and hit-and-run incidents with case numbers and exclude vehicular homicide cases. More importantly, they show that collisions are not occasional events here. They happen throughout the year and often require evidence from multiple local sources.

Where Serious Crashes Happen in and Around Wellington FL

Wellington’s roads bring together neighborhood traffic, major commercial corridors, shopping-center entrances, cyclists, pedestrians, equestrian activity, and vehicles traveling between western Palm Beach County and SR 7.

The Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency’s Vision Zero analysis, which studied fatal and serious-injury crashes from 2011 through 2017, identified the Forest Hill Boulevard and SR 7 area as a significant automobile crash location. Wellington’s own Vision Zero program later examined Village collisions from 2013 through 2022 and set a goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2030.

Crashes around Forest Hill Boulevard and SR 7 may involve heavy through traffic, turning vehicles, multiple approach lanes, commercial entrances, and drivers changing lanes near the intersection. A collision there may also raise questions about which agency controls the roadway, signal, lighting, or adjacent right-of-way.

Elsewhere, injuries frequently result from familiar but consequential situations:

  • A rear-end collision in slowing traffic
  • A driver turning left across an approaching vehicle
  • A sideswipe during a lane change
  • A vehicle entering or leaving a shopping center
  • A driver running a red light or stop sign
  • A hit-and-run in a parking area or residential community
  • Congestion related to large events or busy commercial destinations
  • A commercial vehicle using a road not suited to its size or weight

The location tells only part of the story. Traffic-signal timing, sight lines, lane markings, vehicle speed, weather, construction, and driver distraction can all become important.

Car Accident Cases the Firm Handles

Drazen Mancini, P.A. represents people injured in:

Different cases require different evidence. A rideshare claim may turn on whether the driver was logged into the app. A truck case may require driver logs and maintenance records. A hit-and-run claim may depend on uninsured motorist coverage and nearby surveillance video.

What to Do After a Car Accident

Your health comes first. If you may be injured, request medical assistance and do not put yourself in danger to gather evidence.

When you are able:

  • Report the crash. Florida law requires immediate notice to law enforcement when a crash causes injury, death, or at least $500 in apparent property damage. Within Wellington, PBSO will often be the responding agency, although the actual investigator depends on the location and circumstances.
  • Get medical care promptly. Some injuries become more noticeable after the initial shock wears off. Florida PIP benefits generally depend on receiving qualifying initial services and care within 14 days.
  • Photograph what you can. Include vehicle positions, damage, debris, skid marks, traffic signals, signs, lane markings, weather, lighting, and nearby businesses.
  • Collect names and contact information. Get information from drivers, passengers, and witnesses. A neutral witness may become especially important when the drivers disagree.
  • Preserve your vehicle. Do not authorize destruction or disposal of a seriously damaged vehicle before potentially important physical and electronic evidence has been considered.
  • Notify your insurer. Your policy may require prompt notice and cooperation. Keep copies of correspondence and ask before signing broad medical authorizations or releases.
  • Be careful with early settlement offers. Once you sign a release, you will usually be unable to seek additional compensation if your injuries turn out to be worse than expected.

Evidence Worth Preserving

Insurance companies rarely decide contested cases based on one photograph or the police report alone. Strong investigations bring several forms of evidence together.

Depending on the crash, useful evidence may include:

  • Dashcam footage
  • Photographs and phone video
  • Nearby business, shopping-center, residential, or doorbell video
  • Witness statements
  • 911 calls and dispatch records
  • The crash report and officer photographs
  • Vehicle event-data-recorder information
  • Cellphone and app records
  • Traffic-signal timing and maintenance records
  • Road construction and maintenance documents
  • Rideshare trip-status records
  • Commercial driver logs and inspection files
  • Medical records and diagnostic imaging
  • Wage, tax, and employment records
  • Repair estimates and total-loss documents

Surveillance systems often overwrite footage automatically. Vehicles may be repaired or salvaged. Witnesses become harder to find. When evidence may matter, preservation requests should be sent before those records disappear.

Florida Laws and Deadlines That Can Affect Your Claim

The 14-day PIP rule

Florida’s no-fault system generally requires qualifying initial medical care within 14 days of the crash. Under Florida Statutes § 627.736, PIP may provide up to $10,000 in medical and disability benefits and generally pays 80% of covered, medically necessary expenses. The available medical benefit may be limited to $2,500 when no qualifying provider determines that an emergency medical condition existed.

PIP does not necessarily pay every bill, and it does not resolve the entire injury claim. It is simply one potential source of benefits.

The filing deadline is generally two years

For a crash occurring now, Florida’s old four-year advice is outdated. Florida Statutes § 95.11 generally provides two years to file an action founded on negligence.

Waiting is risky even when the filing deadline seems far away. Evidence can disappear long before the right to file a lawsuit expires.

Pain and suffering requires a qualifying injury

Florida law limits when a person injured in a motor vehicle crash may recover damages for pain, suffering, mental anguish, and inconvenience. Under Florida Statutes § 627.737, the injury generally must involve:

  • Significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function
  • A permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability
  • Significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement
  • Death

Medical records and opinions therefore matter not only to treatment, but also to the legal claim.

Fault can reduce—or eliminate—a recovery

Under Florida Statutes § 768.81, a person who is 50% or less responsible may still recover damages, reduced by that percentage of fault. A party found more than 50% responsible for their own harm generally cannot recover damages in a negligence action.

That makes early fault allegations important. An insurer claiming that you were speeding, distracted, or made an unsafe turn may be trying to do more than negotiate a lower payment. It may be building an argument intended to defeat the claim entirely.

Who May Be Responsible for a Wellington Crash?

The obvious answer is not always the complete one.

Depending on the facts, responsibility may rest with:

  • A negligent driver
  • The vehicle’s owner
  • An employer whose employee was driving for work
  • A trucking, delivery, or transportation company
  • A rideshare driver or applicable rideshare insurer
  • A bar or vendor in a legally supportable alcohol-related claim
  • A repair shop or maintenance provider
  • A vehicle or component manufacturer
  • A road construction contractor
  • A public entity responsible for a roadway or signal

A lawyer should examine both who caused the crash and who may be legally and financially responsible for the resulting harm.

Get clear answers about fault, insurance, and next steps.

Talk through your options with Drazen Mancini, P.A..

Free consultation
Call 561.783.4534

Insurance After a Florida Car Accident

A Florida car accident claim may involve several policies:

  • Your PIP coverage
  • The at-fault driver’s bodily injury liability coverage, if available
  • Your uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage
  • Medical payments coverage
  • Collision or comprehensive coverage
  • A commercial policy
  • A rideshare policy
  • Coverage belonging to the vehicle’s owner or a driver’s employer

Uninsured motorist coverage can be especially important after a hit-and-run or a crash caused by someone without enough insurance. Florida law generally requires insurers issuing bodily injury liability coverage to offer uninsured motorist protection, although an insured may reject or limit it in writing under Florida Statutes § 627.727.

Do not assume the insurance listed on the crash report is the only coverage available. Ownership, household policies, employment, app activity, and the purpose of the trip can change the analysis.

Compensation That May Be Available

The losses considered in a car accident claim may include:

  • Emergency and hospital expenses
  • Follow-up care and diagnostic testing
  • Physical therapy and rehabilitation
  • Surgery, medication, and assistive equipment
  • Future medical care
  • Lost wages
  • Reduced future earning ability
  • Vehicle and personal-property damage
  • Pain, suffering, disability, and loss of enjoyment of life when legally recoverable
  • Funeral expenses and other wrongful death damages

A fair evaluation requires more than adding the bills already received. It should account for the likely course of treatment, future limitations, insurance payments, liens, employment effects, and how the injuries have changed daily life.

When a Government Agency May Be Involved

A public-entity claim may arise when an injury involves a government vehicle, negligent road maintenance, a traffic-control problem, or another condition for which a state or local agency may bear legal responsibility.

These cases have additional requirements. Under Florida Statutes § 768.28, written notice generally must be presented within three years. A state-agency claim may also require notice to the Florida Department of Financial Services. Claims against municipalities and counties follow different notice routing.

The agency ordinarily must deny the claim, or six months must pass, before a lawsuit is filed. Those notice provisions do not extend every other applicable deadline, and wrongful death claims may have shorter time limits.

If Wellington, Palm Beach County, FDOT, PBSO, or a government contractor may be involved, determine the correct entity early.

Local Hospitals, Courts, and Agencies

Treatment decisions should be based on your medical needs. Records may come from any provider that treated you, including:

Wellington uses PBSO as its municipal law enforcement agency. The Village provides information for requesting PBSO crash reports and records.

When venue is proper in Palm Beach County, civil car accident lawsuits may be handled through county or circuit civil court. The Palm Beach County Clerk states that county civil court handles claims up to and including $50,000, while circuit civil court handles claims above $50,000. The Main Courthouse is at 205 North Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach FL 33401.

You do not need to visit the courthouse to begin an insurance claim or speak with a lawyer.

How Drazen Mancini, P.A. Investigates a Car Accident

A useful investigation starts with the questions the insurance company may later raise.

Drazen Mancini, P.A. may:

  • Identify every driver, owner, employer, and insurer involved
  • Obtain crash reports, 911 records, photographs, and available video
  • Determine whether the road is controlled by Wellington, Palm Beach County, FDOT, or a private entity
  • Send preservation notices for video, vehicle data, and business records
  • Interview witnesses
  • Review physical damage and the crash scene
  • Examine medical records and the timing of symptoms
  • Document lost income and future financial effects
  • Consult reconstruction, medical, or economic professionals when needed
  • Handle insurer communications and settlement negotiations
  • Prepare the case for litigation when the evidence and circumstances require it

The purpose is not to make the case more complicated. It is to answer the questions that determine fault, coverage, and the full effect of the injuries.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I still have a claim if the other driver did not receive a ticket?

Possibly. A traffic citation is not the final decision on civil responsibility. Witness statements, vehicle damage, video, physical evidence, and other records may show how the crash happened.

What if my pain did not begin until the next day?

Delayed symptoms are common after a collision, but they should not be ignored. Seek appropriate medical care and describe when the symptoms began. Remember that Florida PIP generally requires qualifying initial care within 14 days.

What if the driver who hit me left the scene?

Report the hit-and-run immediately. Photographs, witness information, fragments from the other vehicle, nearby video, and license-plate details may help identify the driver. Your PIP, collision, medical payments, or uninsured motorist coverage may also apply.

Can I recover if I was partly responsible?

If you are found 50% or less responsible, your recovery may be reduced by your percentage of fault. Under Florida’s current comparative-fault law, a party found more than 50% responsible generally cannot recover damages in an ordinary negligence action.

Should I give the insurance company a recorded statement?

Your own policy may require reasonable cooperation, but you should understand who is asking, why the statement is requested, and how it may be used. You generally do not have the same contractual relationship with the other driver’s insurer.

Should I repair my car right away?

Routine repairs may be appropriate, but a severely damaged vehicle can contain important physical or electronic evidence. Before a vehicle is destroyed, salvaged, or materially altered, consider whether an inspection is needed.

How long will my case take?

It depends on the injuries, treatment, available insurance, disputes over fault, and whether litigation becomes necessary. Settling before the medical picture is reasonably clear may leave future losses unaddressed.

What happens during a free consultation?

You explain when and where the crash happened, how you were injured, what treatment you have received, and which insurers have contacted you. The firm can then discuss the information it would need to evaluate the matter and the possible next steps.

Related Resources

Tell Us What Happened

You do not need to understand every insurance policy or know who controls the road before asking for help. That is part of the investigation.

Drazen Mancini, P.A. offers free consultations to people injured in motor vehicle crashes. The firm’s principal office is at 1489 W Palmetto Park Road, Suite 500, Boca Raton FL 33486.

Call 561-783-4534 or contact Drazen Mancini, P.A. to ask your questions and learn what steps may be appropriate.

Palm Beach County Areas Served

Personal Injury

Car Accidents

Talk with Drazen Mancini, P.A.

Call 561.783.4534 or request a free consultation.

Free consultation
Call 561.783.4534

Sources

Firm information

Wellington and Palm Beach County information

Florida law

Courts and medical facilities

Get advice from an award winning lawyer.

Helping each and every one 
of our clients with tenacious representation when they need a strong and passionate advocate.

Free Consultation 561.783.4534

Areas of Practice

Wellington FL Car Accident Lawyers

Get advice from an award winning lawyer.

Helping each and every one 
of our clients with tenacious representation when they need a strong and passionate advocate.

Free Consultation 561.783.4534