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Home :: FAQ :: Personal Injury

If I am injured, am I entitled to a financial recovery, even though I was not at fault?

The answer is yes.  However, how much and whether or not you can collect on that entitlement may be another story.

Over 20 years ago, Florida’s legislature passed the “No Fault Law” to keep non-serious cases out of court.  Hence, in order to file a claim or lawsuit for your pain, suffering, inconvenience and/or mental anguish, you must be diagnosed by a physician (medical doctor, doctor of osteopathy, doctor of pediatric medicine or doctor of chiropractic medicine) with a “permanent injury”.  Without a diagnosis of “permanent injury” your recovery is limited to your out-of-pocket medical expenses and accident-related future medical expenses to the extent they exceed your personal injury protection benefits.  You are also entitled to provable past and future accident-related lost wages to the extent they exceed your PIP benefits.

Sometimes there is insurance (bodily injury insurance) to cover these damages from the person who caused the accident.  If he or she is uninsured or underinsured (i.e. has some bodily injury insurance but not enough to cover your damages), you will need to look to your own policy or the policy of the driver of the car in which you were injured to determine whether there is “uninsured motorist coverage”, “U.M.” or “underinsured motorist coverage” “UIM”.  This is insurance that may be used to cover your losses in such a situation.  If you are covered by U.M. or UIM, you will need written permission to settle with the person who caused the accident or his/her insurance company and to obtain your UM/UIM insurers written waiver of subrogation.  This is something your attorney should do for you and is one of the reasons why an attorney should be retained.