Personal Injury Law

Understanding Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance and FL no-fault law

By Carl J. Wald, Esq.

Florida, being a no-fault state, means that each person's respective PIP (Personal Injury Protection) insurance will pay for that person's medical bills up to $10,000 based on a fee schedule.

We recently received the following question from a reader of the LaBovick InjuryLaw  Blog:

Injury Law Blog Question: If the accident was the other driver's fault, and the injured driver in the other vehicle was uninsured, will the at-fault insured be responsible for personal and property damages even though Florida is a no-fault state?

The answer to our reader's comment is YES. Under general law in Florida, a person who is found at-fault in an accident is responsible for the other person's damages that are caused. So, if the at-fault driver caused both personal and property damage, then the at-fault driver is responsible for that.

The minimum insurance that Florida Drivers are supposed to carry in Florida is Personal Injury Protection and Property Damage. Personal Injury Protection – as discussed above – pays for your personal medical bills, regardless of who is at fault in the accident. Property Damage pays for the other person's property damage that you caused.

For example, consider the following:  The driver of Vehicle 1 is at fault in an accident and injures driver of Vehicle 2 as well as causing property damage. Driver of Vehicle 1, his insurance company, through the Property Damage, should pay for the repairs of Vehicle 2. In addition, if Vehicle 1 has what is called Bodily Injury Liability insurance, then that money will be used to compensate the driver of Vehicle 2 for his or her personal injuries – not property damage.

Depending on the level of injury, if the driver of Vehicle 2 has what is called Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist coverage, then that money can also be used to compensate the driver of Vehicle 2 for that person's injuries or damage.

We are always happy to answer any personal injury related questions. Please do not hesitate to contact us via our blog or directly at the office if you need help with a personal injury related matter or just have a personal injury related question.

Full post as published by LaBovick Injury Law Blog on March 03, 2010 (boomark / email).