Articles Posted in Insurance Law

Once a case involving personal injuries has been settled or resolved by the payment of a final judgment, the injured party will receive no more money from the closed matter to cover any later incurred expenses such as those for medical care. This rule applies in both civil and workers’ compensation cases. The question often…

Personal Injury Protection (PIP), or “No-Fault,” is a type of Florida motor vehicle insurance available to a “named insured, relatives residing in the same household, persons operating the insured motor vehicle, passengers in the motor vehicle, and other persons struck by the motor vehicle and suffering bodily injury while not an occupant of a self-propelled…

With few exceptions, section 440.11, Florida Statutes grants immunity from tort liability to employers and the co-employees of Florida workers injured in the course and scope of their employment. In most cases, the doctrine precludes relief outside of the workers’ compensation system. Florida’s dangerous instrumentality doctrine is a common law doctrine which provides that the…

Florida Motor Vehicle No-Fault insurance (“Personal Injury Protection” or “PIP”) is a form of medical insurance used for motor vehicle crashes. It is mandatory on vehicles registered in Florida. It covers owners, certain family members and passengers, and pedestrians. The typical policy limit is $10,000 reduced by deductibles ranging from $500 to $2,000. PIP does…

Florida law requires every owner or registrant of an operable personal use motor vehicle to maintain Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and Property Damage (PD) – Liability insurance. See Florida Statute 627.733 Required security. While other types of coverage are available under the standard Florida motor vehicle insurance policy, these are the only two that are…

Uber is an app-based transportation service company. The company arranges for service through private motor vehicle owners. Naturally, some Uber drivers cause accidents. However, Uber does not require its Florida drivers to maintain bodily injury (BI) liability insurance. (BI is a type of liability insurance which compensates for personal injuries and economic losses caused by…

Florida Statute §627.737(2) provides that a plaintiff may recover tort damages for pain, suffering, mental anguish, and inconvenience because of injury arising out of the use of a motor vehicle only if that injury or disease consists in whole, or in part of: (a) significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function; (b) permanent…

Most Florida hospitals and many doctors have contracts with health insurance companies to provide services to covered insureds at discounted rates. The arrangement requires those providers to bill the carriers for covered services without seeking payment from insureds through self-pay and other sources such as third party liability insurance. Some contracts allow providers to collect…

Insurance companies selling coverage in Florida have a fiduciary obligation to protect their insureds from judgments exceeding the limits of their insurance policies. Berges v. Infinity Ins. Co., 896 So.2d 665 (Fla. 2004). The obligation was well articulated in Boston Old Colony Insurance Co. v. Gutierrez, 386 So.2d 783 (Fla.1980): An insurer, in handling the…

I have blogged here ad nauseam about the continual conflict between insurance companies and their insureds over claims. While carriers insist upon receiving premium payments timely, their all too common approach to the claims process is delay and deny. Carriers have at their disposal a bag of tools designed to effectuate this delay/deny business model.…