Miller & Jacobs · Serving Hollywood
You may have left the hospital with a report number and a question nobody could answer: what happens to your bills while the DUI case moves through court?
Miller & Jacobs helps people injured by impaired drivers in Hollywood build the injury claim, check the insurance, and protect evidence before it disappears. Start with what you know. We can help sort out the rest.
Free consultation. No attorney fee unless compensation is recovered. We explain the fee agreement and costs before you decide.
Help for injured people
Hollywood and Broward County
Florida Bar admission
Mark Miller and Rick Jacobs
Pompano Beach office
1600 S Federal Highway, Suite 1101
Initial consultation
Talk through the next step
An injury claim can begin before the DUI case ends
You do not need a conviction to ask about an injury claim. Civil and criminal cases have different purposes, procedures, and proof requirements. We review how the collision happened and what it has cost you while prosecutors decide how to proceed with any charge.
For broader collision questions, our Hollywood car accident page explains the insurance and injury review. The Hollywood personal injury overview covers other situations.
Care and benefits
Get appropriate medical care and describe new symptoms. Florida PIP medical benefits generally require qualifying initial care within 14 days of the crash. Eligibility and payment limits need their own review under Florida's PIP law; the other driver's arrest does not replace that requirement.
Evidence that can be lost
Keep original photos, dash-camera files, witness contacts, discharge papers, towing information, and insurer messages. Tell us about nearby cameras or a returned rental car promptly. You do not have to retrieve another person's records yourself.
Messages from insurers
Give accurate information and avoid guessing at details you do not remember. Before a recorded interview or broad release, ask how it affects the claim. Your own insurer may have policy cooperation requirements that also need attention.
Different questions, different clocks
An arrest can supply leads. It does not identify every policy, prove every disputed fact, or put a value on your recovery. We develop those parts of the civil case separately.
The injury claim
We connect driving conduct to the impact and your injuries, identify fact-supported defendants, obtain available coverage information, and document medical and financial losses. Impairment evidence matters alongside vehicle movement, witnesses, and treatment records.
Responsibility
The driver and any other party whose legally responsible conduct contributed to the harm.
Available payment
Actual insurance contracts, benefit eligibility, coverage limits, and practical collection questions.
Your recovery
The care, missed work, assistance, and ordinary activities affected by the collision.
The prosecution
Police and prosecutors handle investigation, charges, and criminal penalties. Florida's DUI statute addresses impaired normal faculties and specified blood or breath alcohol levels. A citation or charge is not a civil compensation decision.
A pending prosecution does not itself protect a civil deadline. Florida negligence claims generally have a two-year filing period under section 95.11. The incident date, type of claim, government involvement, and exceptions must be checked individually.
The overlapping evidence
Testing, body-camera footage, witness accounts, and court records may be relevant, but availability and admissibility require review. Tell us which agency responded. If Hollywood Police handled the incident, its Records Unit explains report and footage requests. Requesting a record and preserving a claim are separate steps.
Alcohol service is a specific legal question
A driver leaving a restaurant does not automatically make the restaurant responsible. Florida's alcohol-service statute generally protects someone who furnishes alcohol to an adult, subject to narrow exceptions.
We ask about the person's age, what the seller or server knew, the transaction, and the connection to the injury. A receipt may identify a business; it does not establish every element of a claim.
Keep receipts, messages, and names of people who saw the service. Prompt preservation may matter for surveillance and transaction records. We explain whether the available facts justify investigating further.
Facts to examine
One exception concerns willful and unlawful service to a person under the lawful drinking age. Age, identification, and the actual circumstances of service need evidence.
Another concerns knowing service to someone habitually addicted to alcohol. Visible intoxication on one evening alone does not establish that exception.
We assess whether qualifying service caused or contributed to the injury. The driver claim and coverage review can proceed even when an alcohol-service issue remains disputed.
Coverage must be checked in the actual policies
A severe injury and a DUI charge do not guarantee adequate insurance. We look at the people, vehicles, household policies, and business relationships involved before discussing possible sources of payment.
PIP may cover part of eligible medical expenses and lost income regardless of fault. Health coverage, deductibles, liens, and reimbursement obligations also need review.
We confirm whether bodily-injury coverage was in force, its limits, and any coverage dispute. An insurer's initial offer is not a complete account of future losses.
Your or a household member's uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage may matter. Insured-person definitions, exclusions, selection forms, and notice terms can change the answer.
Ownership, permission, and work-related use may raise separate responsibility or coverage questions. We verify the relationship rather than assume an owner or employer must pay.
A qualifying alcohol-service claim or another independently responsible party may add a path. Each requires its own factual and legal basis; there is no promised recovery.
Where the Hollywood collision happened
A trip from Hollywood Beach, downtown, or a hotel can leave evidence in several places. Tell us the location, direction of travel, approximate time, and the responding agency even if you do not know an exact address.
The location helps us ask practical questions about records and witnesses. We investigate the circumstances of your collision before drawing conclusions about its cause.
Near the beach
On A1A or a beach approach, photographs may help explain lighting, crossings, parked vehicles, and where a pedestrian or cyclist entered the scene.
Downtown movements
Around Hollywood Boulevard and Young Circle, the route, traffic control, turning movement, and witness location may help explain the sequence.
Travel across the city
Along Sheridan Street, Federal Highway, or a connecting road, identify the lane, direction, access point, and where vehicles came to rest. Keep navigation history you already have.
Before and after the drive
Hotel, parking, restaurant, or rideshare records may help establish timing. Returning home after a visit does not remove the need to preserve those records promptly.
Make the consequences visible
Medical records describe treatment. They may not show the hours your family spends helping, the work you cannot finish, or the fear that follows you into traffic. Tell us about those changes so we can assess supported losses.
Treatment
Bills, rehabilitation, medication, and future care supported by medical evidence. Keep records of what has been paid and what remains owed.
Income
Missed shifts, used leave, restrictions, and a supported change in earning capacity. Pay records and an employer's documentation can help.
Daily assistance
Help with errands, meals, travel, household tasks, and care responsibilities. Record the need and expense without exaggerating what the injury prevents.
Pain and lasting effects
Physical pain, emotional effects, scarring, and changed enjoyment of life may be considered when the claim and applicable injury rules allow.
Punitive damages
Punitive damages may be considered in an appropriate impaired-driving case. They are not automatic: Florida law requires a factual and procedural basis before that claim can be asserted.
A fatal crash
If someone died, the personal representative and eligible survivors have distinct legal roles and potential losses. We can explain who may act and what records are needed.
The days after the collision
You may be managing appointments, a damaged car, missed shifts, and worry about someone else's choices. Those demands can make another insurance call feel overwhelming.
Tell us what you need to understand first. We can review the records, explain the available paths, and help you decide what to do next without promising an outcome.
Serving Hollywood from our Pompano Beach office
You can begin by calling from home, a hospital, or after returning from a visit to Hollywood. Miller & Jacobs serves Hollywood clients from its Pompano Beach office at the address below. If the collision happened in Pompano Beach, our Pompano Beach drunk driving accident page addresses help for that area.
Get Directions →Meet the firm's partners
Mark Miller and Rick Jacobs were both admitted to The Florida Bar in 1995. Their biographies explain their professional backgrounds. Ask us who will handle your matter and how updates will reach you.
Partner
Mark's background includes prosecution, insurance defense, and civil litigation.
Partner
Rick's background includes prosecution, civil litigation, and jury trials.
Questions you may be carrying
You can ask for help before you have a report, know every policy, or decide whether to pursue a claim. These answers explain starting points; the actual documents and circumstances still need review.
Yes. A civil claim does not require a DUI arrest or conviction. We review the driving conduct, collision evidence, injuries, and available coverage. If impairment is uncertain, say so; an assumption should not become a fact in your claim.
Not automatically. Tell us what you knew, what happened, and any testing or statements. Florida has comparative-fault rules and a separate alcohol-or-drug defense with specific requirements. The evidence and causal role of your own conduct need careful review; drinking alone is not a complete fault analysis.
Service alone does not establish liability. Florida's statute has narrow exceptions involving willful unlawful service to a person under the drinking age or knowing service to someone habitually addicted to alcohol. We need facts about the service and its connection to the injury.
Ask which insurer is requesting it and what policy or claim it concerns. Be accurate and do not guess. We can review the request before an interview or release. Your own policy may require cooperation, so simply ignoring every request can create another problem.
Send the policies or declarations you already have, including household coverage. We can check UM or UIM eligibility, vehicle ownership, business use, and other supported avenues. A claim against a person and an actual collectible recovery are different questions.
Yes. A first consultation can happen by phone. Keep your trip, treatment, and insurance records and send any deadline notices promptly. We serve Hollywood from our Pompano Beach office and explain whether later participation or an in-person step may be needed.
