Personal Injury FAQs

Medical bills incurred as a result of an automobile accident are primarily paid through your PIP/no-fault insurance. Even if you have health insurance, your PIP insurance is primary when you incur medical bills resulting from an automobile accident.

If the at-fault insurance carrier is not going to promptly locate your car and arrange for repairs, you will have a duty to mitigate your damages. This means if you have collision coverage, you may need to go through your own insurance to help limit the storage fees that will incur on a daily basis when your car sits in a tow yard or facility. This can add up to significant sums of money that you may be responsible for if you wait too long for the other insurance carrier to look at your car.

Each insurance carrier is different about how they charge or increase insurance when you are involved in an accident. If the accident is not your fault there is a less chance your rates will go up. However, there are no guarantees on how each insurance carrier increases rates due to accidents.

If you are injured, and do not seek medical treatment within two weeks, you will risk losing the PIP coverage you pay for if you are in an automobile accident. Furthermore, the insurance companies will look at your delay of treatment as an indication that you are not really hurt. Many times, trying to tough it out will be used against you.

Your medical bills will still typically be paid under your PIP coverage at 80 percent of what is reasonable and customary under a fee schedule. If you have collision coverage, your car will still be fixed under your insurance. If you are injured, your PIP/no-fault insurance will pay part of your medical bills. You need to check and verify that you purchased underinsured or uninsured motorist coverage. This is one of the more important insurance coverages you can buy to protect yourself in the event an uninsured or underinsured driver causes you injuries in an accident that was not your fault.

This is insurance coverage that protects you when the other driver either does not have enough insurance to compensate you for your injuries or does not carry any bodily injury coverage. In Florida, the law does not require people to carry bodily injury coverage. Therefore, you need to protect yourself by purchasing uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage.

Each case is worth a different amount depending on a variety of factors. These include, but are not limited to, the current out-of-pocket medical expenses, the future out-of-pocket medical expenses, the impact/damages to the vehicles, the limitations or restrictions you may suffer due to the accident, past lost wages, future lost wages, loss of consortium (when you are hurt your spouse suffers a loss as well). It is best to seek an attorney to properly ascertain and present the damages you may be entitled to in an automobile accident.

The liability depends on whether you could show that your fall was caused due to the negligence of the store or property owner. Typically, you need to show that the store knew or should have known of a dangerous condition that existed at the time you fell. It is important to obtain pictures if possible or secure witnesses to help later on. This is commonly a difficult issue in a case. Many people leave the store in a hurry because they are embarrassed that they fell. Sometimes, people don’t realize how badly they are hurt until a day or two later. It is important to report the accident, obtain the name of the employee who took the report and try to document what happened, even if you take some pictures with your cellphone.