If you get into a car accident where there are lots of people hurt or several drivers involved, you might have to deal with more than one car insurance company. Handling one insurance company can already be tricky. Dealing with many is even worse, and even a tiny mistake could affect how much money you end up getting.
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In a recent case from Montana, a plaintiff was faced with a complex situation involving multiple insurers to cover around $75,000 in damages. The plaintiff was a passenger involved in a crash that resulted in five injury claims. The insurers involved in this case included those covering the driver of the other vehicle, the driver of the vehicle the plaintiff was in, and the plaintiff’s own uninsured/underinsured motorist carrier.
This is the type of car accident case in which the involvement of a personal injury lawyer is imperative.
Florida No-Fault Coverage – and More
In Florida, if you’re in a car accident, the state’s rules say it’s not about who caused it, which is called “no-fault.” To follow these rules, Floridians must buy something called personal injury protection (PIP) coverage. This helps pay for medical bills and lost wages, but only up to $10,000. If your injuries aren’t very serious, only $2,500 of your medical bills will be paid. If your injuries are serious enough, you can sue the person who caused the accident.
But there’s a catch: you can only sue if your injuries are really bad, what they call “serious injury.” If you’re on a motorcycle, you don’t have to buy PIP coverage.
Besides PIP, drivers have to buy some other types of insurance too. You need at least $10,000 to cover damage to someone else’s property if you cause an accident. Also, you need $10,000 per person and $20,000 per accident for bodily injury liability. This helps cover medical bills if you hurt someone because of your mistake.
Most policies also include something called uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage. This pays for your injuries if the person who caused the accident doesn’t have enough insurance. You can say no to this coverage, but only if you write it down. And if you do have it, it has to be as much as your bodily injury liability coverage.
Plaintiff Demands Total Damages be Covered in Overlapping Policies
In a recent case in front of the Montana Supreme Court, it’s important to know that Montana follows a fault system, which means there’s no requirement for Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage. According to the court documents, the person who sued (the plaintiff) had damages worth more than $75,000. The driver who caused the accident (the at-fault driver) had insurance that paid $27,000 to the plaintiff, with the rest of their policy limit going to others hurt in the crash.
The car the plaintiff was riding in had Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM) coverage for $25,000. Additionally, the plaintiff had car insurance, which covered up to $100,000 for medical bills and $50,000 per person for UM/UIM coverage. Altogether, the plaintiff got all but $2,500 less than the total damages they faced.
A problem about money made a person take their insurance company to court. The first court said the insurance company was right and didn’t have to pay extra because they already had insurance from another company that covered the same thing. But the big court in the state said the insurance company was only partly right. They didn’t have to pay for some medical stuff, but they did have to pay for other things. And they had to give some extra money to the car accident lawyer Fort Lauderdale of the person who sued them.
The decision in this situation boiled down to carefully reading the plaintiff’s car insurance policy. The fact that it was fiercely debated, even reaching the state’s top court, shows how crucial it is not to deal with these claims alone. It’s best to get help from a car accident attorney in Fort Lauderdale.
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