Florida is referred to as a “no fault” insurance state.  “No fault” does not mean you are  responsible for paying for someone else’s negligence when someone else causes a crash.  “No fault” means that Florida requires each vehicle owner to carry personal injury protection (“PIP”) insurance in the amount of $10,000.00 on their vehicle.  If a crash occurs, PIP insurance covers the owner of a vehicle and any resident family members involved in the crash who do not own vehicles.  Regardless of fault, PIP usually pays 80% of the medical bills and 60% of the lost wages that a covered occupant incurs, up to the $10,000.00 limit.                                                       

If a driver is at fault for causing a crash which results in injuries to you or a loved one, the at fault driver’s bodily injury (“BI”) coverage is triggered.  BI insurance pays for damages, including but not limited to, future medical care, pain and suffering, mental anguish, and other damages not covered by PIP.  If you or a loved one are the victim of a car crash caused by a negligent driver, BI insurance may cover the loss.  However, if the damages exceed the policy limits of the BI insurance, or if there is no BI insurance, it is important to attempt to find other coverage for your loss.

Uninsured or underinsured motorist (“UM”) insurance is important coverage for Florida drivers to purchase.  When negligent drivers carry no insurance, or when they have BI insurance that will not cover all of your damages, UM insurance may be available to pay for the loss.  Typically, a UM policy covers you and any relative in your household injured by another person’s negligence when there is a no BI coverage or when there is inadequate BI coverage.  The UM policy pays for future medical care, pain and suffering, mental anguish, and other damages not otherwise covered by PIP and BI insurance.  Sadly, many of our clients first learn they do not carry this important coverage when they have a collision with an uninsured driver.  We encourage everyone to check their insurance policies to make sure they carry ample UM coverage.

In addition to the basic insurance coverages mentioned above, there may be other insurance to cover your loss.  The lawyers at Lesser, Lesser, Landy & Smith have handled thousands of motor vehicle crash cases and can help you discover what insurance will cover your loss.  If you, your child, a friend, or loved one has been injured in a car crash and you have questions about what insurance coverage is available to cover the loss, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Reality, of course, is much different from television drama.  Many civil disputes are resolved before a lawsuit is even filed.  Of those that are filed, well over 9 out of 10 are settled without the client ever setting foot in the courthouse.  Florida has a very strong pre-trial mediation program.  This program is mandatory, and no case can go to trial in Florida without first going through the mediation process.  Trained mediators help the parties try to reach a compromise they can live with.  We have had great success in resolving cases through pre-trial mediation.

Of course, not every case settles before trial.  We have found that, after getting over the initial butterflies, our clients almost universally agree that the process is not as bad as they expected.  Palm Beach County is blessed with the finest judiciary in the State of Florida.  Our Judges do not allow the sort of behavior seen on television dramas, and the experience is simply not as nerve-wracking as TV would suggest.

Our lawyers have a vast amount of trial experience. Insurance companies and defense lawyers know this.

Our abilities in the courtroom allow us to resolve most of our cases before trial.  While it might be natural to have feelings against “going to court,” that should never be a reason for not pursuing a valid claim.

In this challenging economy, your agent realizes that many people are simply looking to secure the least expensive automobile insurance available in order to simply fulfill the minimum state mandated requirements. This agent may therefore sell you insufficient insurance out of concern that you may go to one of the agent’s competitors and purchase a less expensive policy from that competitor, or may not take the time necessary to make sure that all necessary information is disclosed on the insurance application. You MUST be proactive and take the time to review the insurance application to make sure the information is correct, and that all pertinent information requested is provided. 

On many occasions, I have seen clients frustrated over their insurance company’s denial of their medical benefits incurred following a car accident because they did not take the time to review their insurance application. During these occasions, after a claim for medical benefits, people then often receive the insurance company’s denial of medical benefits based on a “material misrepresentation.” The most common example of the insurance company’s “material misrepresentation” defense involves the named insured failing to disclose resident relatives in the same household. It does cost more to insure an individual who resides with his wife and kids than it does to insure that same individual who resides alone, but it is imperative to purchase not only enough insurance, but also proper insurance in compliance with the information requested on the application. In Florida, there is a presumption that if you signed it, you understood what you signed. It is typically not a good excuse to respond to a material misrepresentation claim by saying “my agent did not explain that I also had to list my household family members,” when the application clearly requests that information be provided. No one expects to be in a car accident, but you need to be proactive just in case one does occur. Therefore, review your insurance application carefully to make sure all the information requested is provided accurately. We are available to answer any questions you may have and to review your insurance information with you.