Florida Injury Attorney Blog

When you apply for auto insurance in Florida to cover you for injury accidents, the insurance agent will ask you if you want uninsured motorist protection. While vehicle owners are required to have a certain level of insurance in Florida, they are not required to have uninsured motorist insurance coverage. It is completely discretionary. In order to decide whether you should purchase uninsured motorist coverage, you should know what you are buying and what it covers.

First, I will explain what liability insurance policies cover. A liability insurance policy covers you if you cause an accident and injure or cause the death of another person. In other words, if you run a red light and crash into another vehicle and injure that other driver, that other driver may make a claim for damages against your insurance company (and your liability policy) and possibly sue you for the damages. Your liability insurance policy is there to compensate that other driver for any damages you caused him/her.

Uninsured motorist coverage is different. It compensates you for your injuries caused by another driver who is either uninsured or underinsured. Uninsured motorist coverage is also referred to as underinsured motorist coverage. In other words, if you are stopped at a red light and another driver crashed into your vehicle causing injuries to you, you can make a claim against his/her insurance company for your damages. However, if that person has no insurance, you have your own uninsured motorist insurance policy that will pay you for your damages since the other driver has no insurance. Alternatively, if you are injured and your damages are $100,000, what if the other driver only has $25,000 in insurance? In that case, you make a claim for the other driver's $25,000 and get that money. But, since you still have $75,000 in unpaid damages, that other driver is considered underinsured in this case. As a result, you can make a claim against your own insurance company for that $75,000 (assuming you purchased at least $75,000 in uninsured motorist coverage).

As you can see, uninsured motorist coverage is there to protect you and compensate you in case you are injured by someone with little or no insurance. Unfortunately, you cannot predict how much insurance the driver who hits you will have or whether or not he/she will even have insurance. If you want to be sure there will be sufficient, or at least additional, insurance funds available if you are injured in an accident by someone who may have no or little insurance coverage, then uninsured motorist coverage is what you want to buy.

A woman turned into a parking space and hit the accelerator, flipping her car and pinning a man underneath at the Cobblestone Shopping Center in St. Augustine, St. Johns County, Florida, according to an article on Firstcoastnews.com. Apparently, the man was taken to the hospital but was not hurt.

As personal injury and wrongful death attorneys, we get questions regarding when insurance policies are applicable to compensate a victim for damages when he/she is injured from an accident or a family member is killed. In a situation like this, even thoguh the accident did not occur on the roads andf the victim was a pedestrian, the insurance ppolicies for both parties should apply. In other words, the woman's liability insurance coverage should be applicable to compensate the victim for his injuries if he had any. Even though the man was not driving, his own uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage would apply to compensate him for his damages that exceeded the insurance policy limits of the woman's liability policy if he had uninsured/underinsured motorist protection and was injured.

In an accident where the at-fault vehicle was off of the normal roadway and/or the injured party(s) was a pedestrian, auto insurance policies will typically apply to compensate the injured or deceased family member(s).

If you have been involved in an accident that resulted in injuries, the insurance company for the other driver will begin working on their defense immediately. You may be thinking only of your injuries, your compromised ability to work and make money and how you are going to accomplish all of the other things you need to do on a daily basis. However, the insurance company for the other driver who caused your injuries will be quickly focused on defending your claim for damages and limiting what they have to pay.

Whether your accident was a serious accident with serious injuries or a less serious accident with moderate injuries, you may be getting calls from an insurance company adjuster or investigator who will ask you questions about the accident and your injuries that you are not in a proper state of mind to effectively answer. Sometimes, the adjuster or investigator is not completely honest about for whom they work and the purpose of their questions. But, you can be sure that they have the goal of limiting the compensation their insurance company has to pay for your injuries when they call and ask questions.

So what should you do if you have been injured in an accident and receive a call from an insurance company adjuster or investigator (or anyone else for that matter) about the accident and your medical condition? In order to protect yourself and your rights, you may want to call a personal injury attorney who can advise you of your rights and assist you through the process of dealing with insurance companies and obtaining the compensation that the law allows for you. If you have any questions or need assistance dealing with your insurance company after an accident, feel free to contact us at no charge to discuss your case.

One thing that may not be clear to people who are considering filing a claim or a lawsuit for personal injuries or a death from an accident is where the money comes from after a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit and subsequent trial. I have heard people express concern about the defendant's ability to pay a claim or verdict in a personal injury or wrongful death case. Similarly, people have expressed concern about how a big claim or verdict would affect the financial condition of a defendant who caused a serious accident. The fact is that the financial resources of the defendant who actually caused the accident and resulting injuries or death really have nothing to do with the lawsuit or the money that is ultimately paid to the plaintiff. It is the defendant's insurance company that has set aside a certain amount of money to pay these claims for injuries or deaths. However, those same insurance companies want people to think that the defendant him or herself has to come up with the money to pay a personal injury or wrongful death verdict. Insurance companies know that a jury would be less likely to fully compensate an injured plaintiff or family member of a loved one killed in an accident if the jury thinks the individual defendant, or company defendant, has to pay the verdict as opposed to the insurance company who already has funds set aside for that exact purpose.

In a personal injury or wrongful death trial, the jury will never hear that the individual or company defendant has an insurance company that has paid for the defense lawyer and has funds set aside to compensate the plaintiff for his/her injuries or family member's death. The rules of evidence in Florida prevent such evidence from being mentioned at trial, and the insurance company paying for the defendant's lawyer(s) and the defendant's obligations want to keep it that way. However, keep in mind that in the majority of cases, it is not the defendant compensating the injured party but the defendant's insurance company.

On occasion, a person driving in the Jacksonville, Florida area will be hit by another car and injured and not know who caused that accident. For instance, another car may hit your car, injure you and drive away while you are too injured to determine who hit you. Or, for example, you may be driving on a multi-lane road, a car in another lane may swerve into your lane causing you to drive off of the road and crash and the at fault vehicle drives away whether that driver knew he/she caused you to crash or not. In those crashes, you may have been involved in a serious accident and injured but not know who caused the crash.

Typically, when someone causes an accident and injures you, you can make a claim against that person's insurance company for your damages. But how do you recover damages if you do not know who caused you to crash? Well, you can only sue a person and recover damages from his/her insurance company if you can identify the person and show that person negligently caused or contributed to the accident which resulted in your injuries (you can also file a lawsuit and recover damages against the owner of the at fault vehicle and possibly the employer if the driver was working at the time). If you do not know who that person is, you can still make a claim with, or file a lawsuit against, your own insurance company if you have uninsured motorist coverage. This insurance coverage protects you and provides compensation when you are involved in an accident with another person who is uninsured, has less insurance coverage than the amount of your damages or leaves the scene without identifying himself/herself.

Ideally, if another driver causes a car or truck accident and injures you, that person will remain at the scene and provide his/her insurance and contact information to the police officer as the law requires. If that does not happen, you still may be able to recover your damages from your own insurance company pursuant to your uninsured motorist coverage.

An SUV was driving on the Buckman Bridge in Jacksonville, Florida last week when the driver hit a tow truck that had stopped for slowing traffic, according to an article on Firstcoastnews.com. The 16 year old passenger in the SUV was killed in the crash.

According to the article, the crash was caused when the SUV driver failed to stop for traffic on the Buckman Bridge and crashed into the back of the tow truck. The accident occurred at rush hour when motorists are supposed to be on alert for slowing or stopped traffic, particularly on the Buckman Bridge. One issue that arises from such an accident is whether the family of the deceased passenger can make a claim against the driver of the vehicle in which she was riding. The answer is yes. A passenger, or in a wrongful death case that passenger's family, can make a claim against the driver of the vehicle in which he/she was riding if that driver was negligent in causing the crash. Also, in Florida, the deceased passenger's family can also make a claim against the owner of the SUV if the owner is different from the driver. If one or both of those individuals do not have sufficient insurance to cover the death of a young girl due to negligent driving, a third alternative would be for the deceased passenger's family to make a claim against the passenger's own insurance company for uninsured/underinsured motorist benefits.

In a tragic accident such as this involving the death of a young girl, it is important to identify all possible insurance policies that may cover the victim's family for the crash. I have referenced a few insurance policies that likely apply to an accident such as this, but there could be more. If you or a family member has been involved in a serious accident and you have questions about the insurance policies that are available, feel free to contact us for a free consultation.

There were two separate auto accidents in Columbia County, Florida (which is about an hour west of Jacksonville, Florida) that resulted in two deaths and one serious injury over the weekend, according to an article on News4Jax.com. Both accidents apparently occurred on rural roads and resulted from each driver having difficulty negotiating curves in the road. One crash occurred on County Road 138, and the other occurred on County Road 133 in Columbia County, Florida.

The drivers of both vehicles were killed in the two single vehicle crashes. The passenger in the second crash, Timothy Smith, was ejected from the vehicle and seriously injured. One question that may arise after a single vehicle crash involving a driver and passenger is whether the passenger can file a personal injury lawsuit against the driver of the vehicle in which he was riding when no other vehicles are involved in the accident. The answer is yes. If, in the second accident it is determined that the driver was responsible for causing the crash, the passenger who was seriously injured can sue the driver. In most single vehicle crashes, the driver of that vehicle is partially or completely at fault for the crash. In that case, he/she is partially or fully responsible for the injuries suffered by the passenger and can be sued as a result. If the driver dies in the crash, as in this case, the passenger can still seek compensation from the driver's liability insurance policy.

Scott Treaster was walking along US 1 in St. Johns County, Florida (one county south of Jacksonville, Florida) when a truck apparently drove off of the road and struck and killed Mr. Treaster, according to an article on Firstcoastnews.com. The article does not indicate why the truck drove off of the road and hit the pedestrian or whether alcohol was a factor, but St. Johns County police and/or the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) will surely investigate those issues.

One question people who have been injured as pedestrians, or family members of victims killed as pedestrians, may have is whether auto insurance policies apply the same in a personal injury case or wrongful death case when the victim is a pedestrian as opposed to a driver or occupant of a vehicle. In other words, are pedestrians covered by insurance designed to compensate people who have been injured or families when a family member has been killed the same way vehicle drivers and passengers are covered? While auto insurance policies contain different provisions and terminology, the answer is likely that the same insurance policies will apply to the same extent whether the injured or deceased victim was in a vehicle that was hit by another vehicle or walking along the road and hit by a vehicle.

At this point, in a case like this, wrongful death lawyers would investigate and analyze all of the factors that caused this truck driver to hit and kill the pedestrian and seek out all possible insurance policies to make sure the victim's family is fully compensated.

A Dunns Creek Baptist Church van and a pickup truck were involved in an accident in Satsuma, Putnam County, Florida that resulted in injuries to ten people, according to an article on Firstcoastnews.com. The article indicated that the pickup truck ran a stop side and struck the van on Hoot Owl Road and Squirrel Tree Trail. The article does not say how serious the injuries were.

One question that may arise from a motor vehicle accident that results in injuries and/or deaths to multiple people is how the insurance money is split to compensate the injured and family of the deceased. In any personal injury or wrongful death case resulting from an accident, personal injury and wrongful death lawyers for the injured party or the family of the deceased party will look to the insurance policy (or insurance policies) of the at-fault driver, as well as the owner of that vehicle if different from the driver. There may be other applicable parties and insurance policies but for this example, let's just assume there is one insurance policy belonging to the at-fault driver.

That driver may have what is called bodily injury or liability insurance, which is insurance coverage that compensates other people injured or damaged by that driver. The policy limits are typically listed as two numbers: x/y or, for example, $50,000/$100,000. The first number represents the available insurance policy limits for each individual who is injured by the at-fault driver. In other words, if only one person is injured, he/she is limited to recovering $50,000 in damages for his/her injuries under that insurance policy. The second number, $100,000, is the total insurance coverage available for the entire accident. So, if five people were injured by the at-fault driver, they would be limited to a total of a $100,000 recovery for their injuries and damages. For instance, if each person's damages were the same, they may recover $20,000 each.

If you have been involved in an accident with multiple vehicles and injured individuals, it is important to quickly determine how much insurance coverage is available for everyone and make a claim. If you have any questions about the process of recovering damages for your injuries resulting from an accident, we invite you to contact us for a free consultation.

It seems like the roads in Jacksonville, Florida are getting more and more dangerous and serious accidents are occurring daily. One question that personal injury and wrongful death lawyers often get after an accident is about insurance. What role does insurance play after an accident and how do you find out if the other driver who caused the accident has insurance?

Let's take a typical Jacksonville, Florida car accident as an example. An important initial question is whether the other driver has liability insurance. That is the insurance policy that a driver has to compensate someone if that driver causes a car accident and injures another person. In other words, if you were injured by someone in an accident, that other person's liability insurance is designed for that driver to compensate you for the injuries he/she caused you. The first place to look to see if that other driver has insurance is the accident report prepared by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office officer or other responding law enforcement officer. On that accident report, the officer is supposed to document the insurance company and policy number for all drivers involved in the accident.

In Florida, there may be an additional source for insurance coverage after a car or truck accident. In Florida, the owner of a vehicle is responsible for injuries caused by the driver of his/her vehicle. So, if Owner lets Driver borrow Owner's car and Driver runs a red light and crashes into your vehicle injuring you, Owner's insurance policy should cover your damages in addition to Driver's insurance policy.

A third source of insurance coverage in Florida, Georgia and most other states may be the other driver's employer. If that other driver who caused the accident that injured you was working at the time, Florida law says that his/her employer may be responsible for compensating you for your injuries. In that case, you would look to the employer's insurance policy for additional insurance coverage.

Sometimes after an injury accident this insurance information is not readily available. It is not always on the accident report. Additional or excess insurance policies may require more investigation to discover. As a result, if you have been injured in an accident with another car or semi truck or some other way, it is a good idea to contact a personal injury/wrongful death law firm whose attorneys understand the various issues involved in determining all of the available insurance policies so you can be fully compensated for your injuries.

As prevalent as auto accidents are on the roads in Jacksonville, Florida, many people who have been injured in an accident do not fully understand the process that immediately follows such a serious accident. One question injury victims often have is how to deal with insurance companies after an accident that results in injuries or a death to a loved one.

One thing is certain: after you have been injured in an accident, both the insurance company for the other driver who caused the accident and your insurance company are ready to start the process of saving as much money for themselves as possible. As a result, it is important that you know what to do to make sure you are fully compensated for your injuries, medical expenses and time lost at work. After an accident, you are required under your insurance policy to notify your insurance company of the accident. This should be done as soon as possible. A representative from the other driver's insurance company and one from your insurance company may try and contact you and ask you detailed questions about how the accident occurred and your injuries. Usually, the days and weeks after a serious accident are not a good time to respond to such questions. You do not have to speak to the representative for the other driver's insurance company. You do have a duty to cooperate with your own insurance company and give a statement. However, you have a right to give that statement on your own terms with your personal injury lawyer present. Therefore, the best practice is to notify your personal injury lawyer before speaking with anyone who contacts you about your accident or your injuries.

After your injury accident, it is important that you receive the necessary medical treatment. Medical records documenting your injuries and treatment are important to establish your claim for damages. Your Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance offers immediate medical coverage for the treatment you need after the accident. You, or your personal injury attorney, can contact your insurance company to obtain your PIP benefits and make sure your initial medical bills are covered.

As you go to the hospital and/or your follow up doctor, you will want to make sure the appropriate evidence is being gathered to establish your claim for personal injury damages with the other driver's insurance company and your insurance company. A personal injury attorney can help you with this process by collecting the appropriate documentation and information so you can concentrate on the recovery process. Once the appropriate information is obtained, that information is organized in a demand package to be sent to the insurance company(ies) so the negotiation to obtain the compensation you deserve can begin.

If you have any questions about how to deal with an insurance company after an accident of any kind in Florida or Georgia, feel free to contact us any time.

At Shorstein & Lasnetski, we often get questions from clients who have been injured in auto accidents in the Jacksonville area about insurance policies and coverage. After an accident involving injuries or a death, the types and amount of insurance play a large part of any subsequent personal injury or wrongful death claim or lawsuit.

Liability, or bodily injury, insurance coverage refers to insurance that covers you if you cause an auto accident that results in injuries or death to someone else. For instance, if you are driving on Beach Boulevard in Jacksonville, Florida, run a red light and hit a vehicle in the intersection, chances are you will be cited by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office officer for the accident and considered partially or completely at fault for the accident. If the driver (and/or passenger(s)) in the other vehicle is injured, he/she may make a claim for damages with your insurance company based on your bodily injury/liability insurance policy. This insurance coverage protects you against that claim by providing money for the other party's damages so you do not necessarily have to pay anything out of pocket.

Uninsured motorist insurance coverage is different. If you are driving on Blanding Boulevard and another vehicle abruptly swerves into your lane knocking you off of the road and into a tree, that other driver caused the accident. When making your claim for damages, you will want to find out what bodily injury liability that other driver (or the owner of that vehicle) has. What if that driver is uninsured? If you have uninsured motorist coverage on your insurance policy, your own insurance company will compensate you for the damages from that accident. With uninsured motorist coverage, your own insurance company stands in the shoes of the other at fault driver who is uninsured and should pay your claim.

In this second injury accident example, what if that at fault driver had some bodily injury insurance coverage but not enough to cover your damages? For instance, what if your damages amount to $100,000 but the other driver only has $25,000 in liability insurance coverage? In this case, that other driver is considered an underinsured driver, and your uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage will pay you the difference, i.e. $75,000, assuming you have at least $75,000 in uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage.

After you have been involved in a serious accident or a loved one has been killed in an accident, there are many legal, medical and financial issues that arise immediately. One of those issues deals with insurance coverage and can be quite complicated. If you have any questions about an accident or related insurance coverage issues, contact a law firm whose lawyers have experience with the insurance laws and dealing with insurance companies so you can be sure that you are making a proper claim for all of the funds that are available.