It is common for health and disability (lost wages) insurance carriers to pay benefits to their insureds who are injured due to someone else’s negligence. Many of these policies include reimbursement provisions allowing the insurer to recover payments from any personal injury settlement or judgment obtained by the insured. How…
Despite having many potential sources of payment for medical expenses in ride share-related crashes, Uber riders sometimes end up holding the bag. The most common payment sources are PIP, MedPay, health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, and bodily injury liability insurance. With a few exceptions, every owner or registrant of a motor…
Much has been written about the type of insurance coverage available to Uber passengers and other third parties for accidents caused by Uber drivers. Less has been written about the coverage available to Uber drivers and their passengers for injuries caused by third parties such as other drivers. Currently, we…
Everyone is familiar with the idiom, “Keep your eye on the ball.” What it means, quite simply, is to keep one’s attention focused on the matter at hand. Lawyers must remember this during intense situations. Last week we experienced just such an intense situation. In a case involving severe personal…
A medical provider authorized by an employer or workers’ compensation insurance carrier to furnish care to an injured worker is paid based on a fee schedule. (Section 440.13(b), Florida Statutes allows for deviations by agreement.) Fee schedule payment amounts are always below the provider’s usual and customary charge. However, balance…
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…
Companies make billions of dollars leasing and renting their motor vehicles. You’d think they’d have some corresponding corporate responsibility to compensate individuals injured through no fault of their own by the negligent operation of their vehicles. They don’t. The Florida Legislature once believed they did. They may still feel this…
Florida liability insurance policies often provide coverage to many individuals, including those not named in the policy. For example, the standard Florida motor vehicle policy will insure vehicle owners and unlisted permissive users. This was the scenario in Contreras v. U.S. Sec. Ins. Co., 927 So.2d 16 (Fla. 4th DCA…
Liability insurance carriers pursue every avenue to limit the amounts they must pay in damages to harmed parties. One avenue at their disposal is Florida Statute 768.76(1): In any action to which this part applies in which liability is admitted or is determined by the trier of fact and in…
The law disfavors windfall recoveries and insurance carriers are always seeking to be the beneficiaries of this public policy. One way carriers seek to benefit from this policy is by reducing jury verdicts by amounts recovered in damages from other sources. This is known as “Setoff.” Uninsured and underinsured motor…