By Christian Carrazana, Esq.
"Why am I suing my auto insurance company, if I wasn't at fault for the accident?" This is a question I often hear from many clients because they are unaware that Florida is a no fault state. Prior to 1972, Florida citizens had the right to sue negligent drivers for their economic (i.e., past and future medical expenses and lost wages) and non economic injuries (i.e., pain and suffering). The Florida Legislature, in order to curb or eliminate personal injury lawsuits arising from automobile accidents, passed the Florida No Fault in 1972. The objective of this legislation is to shield Florida citizens from personal injury lawsuits; in other words, one cannot be sued for pain and suffering as a result of motor vehicle accident unless the injured party can prove he or she suffered a permanent injury such as broken bones, scars, etc. Consequently, this has eliminated most personal injury suits for soft tissue injuries (e.g., sprains/strains) caused by car accidents. But in order to have immunity from such claims or lawsuits, one must maintain personal injury protection insurance as required by law.
Personal injury protection insurance is like health insurance. With PIP insurance, your insurance company, not the auto insurance of the party at fault, covers your medical expenses regardless of whether you were at fault. In other words, even if you are at fault, your insurance carrier covers your medical expenses and lost wages.
Under the current PIP law, your insurance carrier must cover 80% of your medical expenses up to $10,000 assuming such expenses are for medical services that are medically necessary and related to the accident. The PIP law also provides that your insurance carrier must cover 60% of your lost wages up to $10,000; and also provides $5,000.00 in funeral expenses.
The Florida no fault law is also designed to protect all resident relatives of a vehicle owner. If you do not own a car, but reside with a relative who owns a car that is insured, you are "insured" under your relative's personal injury protection coverage. If, on the other hand, you neither own a car nor reside with a relative who owns a car, you qualify for PIP coverage attached to the vehicle in which you occupy as passenger or struck as a pedestrian.
Returning to the initial question - i.e., "Why am I suing my auto insurance company, if I wasn't at fault for the car accident?" - the answer is because your insurance carrier has refused to pay your medical expenses. As is often the case, insurance carriers deny coverage for a number of reasons; but the most common reason for denying PIP coverage is for lack of medical necessity. Although the legislature managed to eliminate most personal injury lawsuits for soft injuries, lawsuits involving PIP claims skyrocketed because of the reluctance of PIP carriers to pay claims. As is most often the case, without a competent attorney, the average person cannot go toe to toe with the insurance carrier; especially in a lawsuit for personal injury protection benefits. The technical aspects of such cases are complicated; and without the assistance of competent counsel, the average person is at severe disadvantage.
Christian Carrazana, Esq.
Panter, Panter & Sampedro, P.A.
6590 N. Kendall Dr.
Miami Fl 33030
