Many times in my practice I am asked how much insurance I should purchase through my automobile insurance carrier. Unfortunately, in order to receive a registration for your car in Florida you only need to buy $10,000.00 of property damage(insurance to fix the car you hit) and $10,000.00 of personal injury protection (PIP). The PIP insurance is to be paid for 80% of your medical bills and 60% of your lost wages until the $10,000.00 is exhausted.

In order to be able to purchase uninsured motorist coverage, you must purchase bodily injury coverage (insurance to pay someone for their personal injuries). If you purchase $10,000.00 of bodily injury insurance, then the only amount of uninsured motorist coverage that you can purchase is $10,000.00. Therefore, you must purchase the maximum amount of bodily injury that you feel appropriate and then match that number with your uninsured motorist.

Uninsured motorist insurance pays you if the person who hit you does not have any bodily injury or their limits are not adequate. The number of uninsured (people with no bodily injury) driving the roads of Orlando are unbelievable. I believe that probably half the people on the road only have the mandatory of $10,000.00 property damage and $10,000.00 PIP.

Because most injuries are soft tissue and worth less than $10,000.00, I urge my clients to at least purchase $25,000.00 of bodily injury and $25,000.00 of uninsured motorist coverage. If you have assetts to be protected, then the sky is the limit on bodily injury and uninsured motorist.

The last issue in uninsured motorist coverage is what is stacking and non-stacking. This simply means that if you own four cars on your policy and have $10,000.00 of uninsured motorist, the stacking will allow it to be increased times the number of cars you have which is $40,000.00. Accordingly, you must always pick stacking as this will increase the amount of coverage that you have at very little cost.

If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me or my office through e-mail or telephone

Prior to 1994, an individual who was traveling to and from work in their personal car was deemed to be on the job. This meant that if you were rear-ended while going to work or returning home in the afternoon, your case was covered under workers’ compensation. This was called the “coming and going rule” but the law is very different now.

First, the “going and coming” rule was abolished and you are no longer considered on the job when you travel to and from work. This means that if you are involved in a motor vehicle accident you must pursue your medical benefits under your personal injury protection (PIP) policy. If you have any lost wages, you must also pursue that claim under your PIP policy or short-term/long-term disability that you may have at work.

I recently dealt with a case in which an individual was deemed to be on workers’ compensation while he was running a “special errand”. This special errand rule states that if your boss asks you to use your car to run an errand during the work day, it is considered an on the job injury. My client was asked to go pick up building supplies at Home Depot from the job site and was rear-ended by a truck. This resulted in him receiving workers’ compensation benefits as well as allowing me to pursue a personal injury claim against the truck that hit him. Therefore, this individual would have two claims.

Another interesting scenario where workers’ compensation would pay benefits deals with an individual going to a doctor/healthcare provider/physical therapy while on workers’ comp. If a claimant is injured on the job and is traveling to an authorized treating physician when he is rear-ended, the workers’ compensation carrier must pick this case up as well. I have had many individuals who injured their back while lifting objects at work and began a course of treatment. While they are traveling to the physical therapy, my client is rear-ended and this is considered an on the job injury. As in the paragraph above, my client now has two claims which consist of the motor vehicle accident claim and the new workers’ compensation date of injury.

If any of you have any thoughts or comments on these above scenarios, please do not hesitate to contact me by e-mail or over the telephone.

I dealt with two cases yesturday involving property damage claims (fixing your car).  When I first meet an injured person involved in a motor vehicle accident, they are usually very concerned about what happens with their car.  I suffer from the dame feelings that my car is “my baby” and I want it back just the way it was before the accident.  Unfortunately, this is not the law in Florida and people must come to terms with reality.

First, the at-fault party will incur the cost of repair unless the cost of repair is more than 80% of the value of the car.  The value of the car can be estimated by going to Kelly Blue Book (kbb.com) and insert the variables of your vehicle.  This will give you a fairly good idea of the value of the car and if it costs $8,500.00 to fix a $10,000.00 car, the insurance company is going to total your car.  You are never going to be happy with these results and it is very difficult to argue a different value of the car.

Second, there are two ways to get your car fixed.  If the other side accpets fault and has property damage insurance, the other side will provide you with a rental car and fix your car at a local body shop.  The seond way is to go through your insurance company if you have comprehensive collision.  Comprehensive collision covers the cost of repairing your car regardless of fault.  The problem is that you will have to pay your property damage deductible (usually $250.00 to $500.00).  This means that you will need to cut a check to the body shop for $250.00 to $500.00 to get it fixed.  Ultimately, your insurance company will go get the money that they spent to fix your car and your deductible.  This will come from the other side during a subrogation proceeding.  This is a process unknown to you in which the money will transfer and your deductible will usually show up in about sixty to ninety days.

If you have been injured and are having problems with your property damage, I would love to assist you and discuss this.  I invite any thoughts or comments on this issue.   

I have watched thru the Florida Supreme Court website/archives the oral arguments over claimant paid attorney’s fees in workers’ compensation.  In 2003, the legislator capped the claimants attorney’s fees at $1,500.00 for a medical only issue and did not cap the employer/carrier’s fees.  This effectively means that the insurance company can spend as much money as it wants on defending a workers’ compensation claim. 

On the other hand, the claimant cannot pay out of his/her pocket an attorney’s fee and the employer/carrier is only responsibile for paying $1,500.00 to the attorney.  The Supreme Court’s tone was one of disbelief and I feel very comfortable that we will have a positive opinion in the next forty-five to sixty days.  This is only my opinion but the temperment of the Court was that it was truly “unfair” as well as a violation of equal protection. 

In my own practice I have been unable to take many controverted cases and exposure cases because I cannot work for $1,500.00 when the employer/carrier’s lawyer gets $30,000.00 to $50,000.00 to defend these cases. 

I will be writing in my news letter the outcome of the Supreme Court case. 

I invite your thoughts on this matter. 

Many of my clients are interested about the relevance of who got the traffic ticket and why.  Although the traffic ticket is helpful prior to filing suit to prove negligence, the admissibility in a trial court never occurs.  The short reason is that the traffic ticket is a hearsay document created by the investigating law enforcement officer.  The definition of hearsay is an out of court statement which is inadmissible in a court of law. 

The traffic officer arrives on the scene and listens to the out of court statements about what happened and issues his statement as to who is at fault.  The jury will never hear who got a ticket and this frustrates many of my client.  The investigating officer can testify as to where the vehicles were when he arrived on the scene and the damages to the car but he cannot state who got the ticket.

The fact that the traffic ticket is inadmissible is why you need to retain counsel early in a case.  It is important to obtain statements from the various witnesses in the case.  The insurance industry dispatches investigators immediately and it is crucial that my client’s rights are protected by obtaining our statements early.       

When my client settles with an insurance company in an automobile accident, the insurance company will forward a check and release for my client’s signature. This is done before a notary.  Additionally, there will be a closing statement to instruct the disbursement of the funds between the client, my office and any healthcare providers who have outstanding balances.

Once the check is signed, it is deposited in a trust account which is monitered by the Florida Bar.  The check must remain in the trust account for seven to ten days. 

Once the check has cleared, a final disbursement is given to the client.  These funds at closing are tax- free because they are not earned income.

Many times our clients are not able to come to the office to sign the appropriate documents.  This is why my office is helpful in the fact that we are able to come to you and make the closing process easier.  I feel this is another personal aspect of my office which makes it more client- friendly than the large advertisers on television.   

I attend a workers’ compensation mediation approximately once every two days at the workers’ compensation court in Orlando, Florida.  The Orlando coutrhouse has jurisdiction over the following counties: i) Orange, ii) Lake, iii) Ocseola and iv) Seminole.

At a mediation, there are three things that can happen.  First, if there is an issue that my client is owed a doctor or money, there may be no agreement and we set a trial date in approximately ninety days.  The trial will involve the Judge of Compensation of Claims to determine whether my client is owed a medical benefit or a lost wage benefit.

Second, the issue may be resolved without settling the entire case.  Yesturday, the claimant was entitled to an MRI and that was set to go to the Judge in the near future.  The employer/carrier agreed to give an MRI and that was provided and the need to go to court was avoided.

Third, we can settle the case in its entirety.  This involves giving my client a lump sum and the employer/carrier will no longer pay any lost wages or medical benefits.

If you have any questions about the role of mediation in a workers’ compensation claim, I invite you to contact me through this blog or directly by telephone.     

Yesterday, I was delayed in my trip to Tampa because of the bad accident that occurred as a result of the fire/smoke. Evidently, a controlled burn had gotten out of control and the smoke covered the lanes of traffic resulting in many fatalities and serious injuries. The question many people may have is who is responsible for this incident.
First, the US Forestry Service will typically issue a permit for the landowner to start a controlled fire. Second, the land owner is responsible for for creating firelanes(buffer zones of sand) so the fire will stall when the selected area is completely burned. The landowner then needs to start the burn when the wind is in a constant direction and blowing at a slow velocity. This in theory will stop the spreading a the fire.
I do not know the the facts but clearly the landowner will shoulder most of the blame because something got out of control. The Forestry Service may not have responded quick enough when the flames got out of control. There should have been some attempt to close I-4 before the motorist drove into the black cloud. Finally, it will be interesting to see what steps the Florida Highway Patrol took to avoid this horrible accident.
In conclusion, the landowner who started the fire will bear the most responsibility. There will be many claims and the individuals who file first will have the most success.

This is the time of year when I receive a increased number of calls about auto accidents and I urge all of you to be careful. The issue of keeping you family safe was recently discussed in the news with three areas of concern: i) Driving during the holidays. People are in such a hurry around the city on their phones and simply not watching where they are going. Also, individuals are tired and stressed from work and family responsibilities. Therefore, my advise is simple. Please stay off the roads if possible and do not drive at night.
ii) The police also warn of robberies in mall parking lots. The statistics soar around Christmas and individuals who walk alone need to be careful. Please park near the malls’ entrances and the police recommend a great alternative if you can afford it: valet park your car.
iii) Finally, the police warn of burglaries at home when you are away. A friend’s home was hit when they left for the holidays. Although sometimes expensive, an alarm system has been a big deterrent to robbers.
In conclusion, please have a great holiday and more importantly: a safe one.

Unlike auto accidents, a workers’ compensation settlement has to be approved by the Judge of Compensation of Claims. Typically, a client will not receive their money for 45-60 days after both sides agree to the final number. There is nothing our office can do to speed up the process because the judge will sign the settlement paperwork at his or her discretion.
The process is as follows: First, paper work must be drafted by the insurance company’s lawyer. I review the paperwork and make changes as necessary. We then call the client to come by the office and execute the document in front of a notary. Second, the paperwork is sent to the opposing counsel for them to sign. The opposing counsel often will not send the paperwork to the judge until they receive the settlement checks. Third, the paperwork goes to the judge and the judicial assistant will log the paperwork into the data system. The judge’s signed order will be sent to all the parties and the client. Finally, the law gives the insurance company 30 days to pay after the judge signs the paperwork or it will be penalized 20% of the settlement amount.
When the checks come to my office, it will be deposited in my trust account and the funds must stay in the account for 10 days. The client then receives the settlement check and executes a closing statement. Workers’ Compensation settlement checks are tax-free.
I wish the systems was set up for a fast turnaround but this is the law at this time. Please have patience with my staff while the process is evolving.