<![CDATA[car insurance - Jeffrey P. Gale, P.A.]]> https://www.jeffgalelaw.com/blog/tags/car-insurance/ Mon, 14 Jul 2025 22:51:33 GMT en-us <![CDATA[Jeffrey P. Gale, P.A. // Florida Fails Again at Mandating Bodily Injury Insurance Coverage]]> https://www.jeffgalelaw.com/blog/jeffrey-p-gale-p-a-florida-fails-again-at-mandating-bodily-injury-insurance-coverage/ https://www.jeffgalelaw.com/blog/jeffrey-p-gale-p-a-florida-fails-again-at-mandating-bodily-injury-insurance-coverage/ Mon, 29 Apr 2024 20:51:26 GMT For the eighth year in a row, the Florida Legislature has considered but failed to make bodily injury (BI) insurance coverage mandatory for every owner or operator of a motor vehicle required to be registered in this state. The two bills proposed for this reason during the recently concluded legislative session failed to receive a…

]]> For the eighth year in a row, the Florida Legislature has considered but failed to make bodily injury (BI) insurance coverage mandatory for every owner or operator of a motor vehicle required to be registered in this state. The two bills proposed for this reason during the recently concluded legislative session failed to receive a committee hearing.

Florida and New Hampshire are the only two states in the Union that do not require all drivers to carry BI coverage.

What Florida does require is personal injury protection or PIP and property damage (PD) liability coverage in the amount of $10,000 because of damage or destruction to the property of others in a crash.

Three years ago, Florida’s Legislature passed a bipartisan bill that would have required BI coverage. Pressured by the insurance industry, Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed the bill. This year’s proposed bills addressed some of the concerns expressed by Gov. DeSantis when he vetoed the bill. Nevertheless, the insurance industry kept the bills from gaining traction.

Florida’s auto insurance premiums are among the highest in the country. Last year, HB 837 was sold by the insurance industry as a solution to the premium crisis. It was passed into law. The law compromises the rights of individuals harmed by the negligence of others. Meanwhile, insurance rates continue to skyrocket.

According to an analysis by Forbes, Florida drivers pay twice the national average for full coverage. A 2016 report commissioned by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation found that moving from PIP to mandatory BI would reduce insurance premiums on average from 5.6 to 9.6 percent, and up to 24 percent in Miami-Dade County.

Mostly because of Florida’s prohibitively high insurance rates, more than 20% of at-fault drivers will not have sufficient BI insurance to cover the losses suffered by the accident victim. See Insurance Information Institute, “Facts + Statistics: Uninsured Motorists.”

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Contact us at 305-758-4900 or by email (jgale@jeffgalelaw.com and kgale@jeffgalelaw.com) to learn your legal rights.

Jeffrey P. Gale, P.A. is a South Florida based law firm committed to the judicial system and to representing and obtaining justice for individuals – the poor, the injured, the forgotten, the voiceless, the defenseless and the damned, and to protecting the rights of such people from corporate and government oppression. We do not represent government, corporations or large business interests.

While prompt resolution of your legal matter is our goal, our approach is fundamentally different. Our clients are “people” and not “cases” or “files.” We take the time to build a relationship with our clients, realizing that only through meaningful interaction can we best serve their needs. In this manner, we have been able to best help those requiring legal representation.

DISCLAIMER: This information provided by Jeffrey P. Gale, P.A. is for informational purposes only and is intended to be used as a non-legal guide prior to consultation with an attorney familiar with your specific legal situation. It should not be considered legal advice or counseling. No such legal advice or counseling is either expressly or impliedly intended. This information is not a substitute for the advice or counsel of an attorney. If you require legal advice, you should seek the services of an attorney.

]]> <![CDATA[Jeffrey P. Gale, P.A. // Who Pays Attorney’s Fees and Costs Assessed Against Defendant Under Proposal for Settlement?]]> https://www.jeffgalelaw.com/blog/jeffrey-p-gale-p-a-who-pays-attorneys-fees-and-costs-assessed-against-defendants-under-proposals-for-settlement/ https://www.jeffgalelaw.com/blog/jeffrey-p-gale-p-a-who-pays-attorneys-fees-and-costs-assessed-against-defendants-under-proposals-for-settlement/ Tue, 20 Dec 2022 01:39:05 GMT In an effort to extract attorney’s fees and costs from an opponent, any party to a lawsuit may utilize Florida Statute 768.79. In cases involving substantial amounts of litigation, the award under the statute can be sizable, even in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. For this reason, the statute is also a powerful mechanism…

]]> In an effort to extract attorney’s fees and costs from an opponent, any party to a lawsuit may utilize Florida Statute 768.79. In cases involving substantial amounts of litigation, the award under the statute can be sizable, even in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. For this reason, the statute is also a powerful mechanism for effectuating settlements.

If the award is against an insured defendant, who pays, the defendant or the insurance company?

Florida’s Insurance Code requires policies sold in Florida to provide various types of coverage. For example, motor vehicle policies must include personal injury protection (PIP). However, the Code does not require liability insurance policies to maintain coverage for 768.79 awards.

An insurance policy is a contract between the insured and the insurer. Hence, whether a policy provides coverage for a 768.79 award comes down to policy language.

In Government Employees Insurance Company v. Macedo, 228 So.3d 1111 (Fla. 2017), the carrier contended that the policy did not cover the awarded attorney’s fees. The Florida Supreme Court disagreed. Concluding that the policy was ambiguous on this issue, it found for the insured based on the long-established rule that “any ambiguity which remains after reading each policy as a whole and endeavoring to give every provision its full meaning and operative effect must be liberally construed in favor of coverage and strictly against the insurer.” See Wash. Nat’l Ins. Corp. v. Ruderman, 117 So. 3d 943, 948, 945-950 (Fla. 2013).

Even if the Florida Supreme Court had ruled against the insured in Macedo, not all would have been lost for the insured in getting the carrier to pay the 768.79 award. The insured might have been able to recover the award from the carrier by showing that the carrier had handled the claim in bad faith. This is a topic for another blog.

Insurance policies are not the easiest documents to read and understand. They can be lengthy and verbose, and deal with subjects only seasoned lawyers understand. Nevertheless, it is advisable that the insurance applicant make an effort to understand key topics like the one discussed here.

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Contact us at 305-758-4900 or by email to learn your legal rights.

Jeffrey P. Gale, P.A. is a South Florida based law firm committed to the judicial system and to representing and obtaining justice for individuals – the poor, the injured, the forgotten, the voiceless, the defenseless and the damned, and to protecting the rights of such people from corporate and government oppression. We do not represent government, corporations or large business interests.

While prompt resolution of your legal matter is our goal, our approach is fundamentally different. Our clients are “people” and not “cases” or “files.” We take the time to build a relationship with our clients, realizing that only through meaningful interaction can we best serve their needs. In this manner, we have been able to best help those requiring legal representation.

DISCLAIMER: This information provided by Jeffrey P. Gale, P.A. is for informational purposes only and is intended to be used as a non-legal guide prior to consultation with an attorney familiar with your specific legal situation. It should not be considered legal advice or counseling. No such legal advice or counseling is either expressly or impliedly intended. This information is not a substitute for the advice or counsel of an attorney. If you require legal advice, you should seek the services of an attorney.

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