On television, radio and print advertisements you will run across the phrase that you are “entitled to $10,000.00 in benefits” if you are in a car accident in Florida. As an injury lawyer in Boca Raton (accident attorney in Miami, injury attorney in Hollywood, accident lawyer in Fort Lauderdale, injury lawyer in Weston), clients and people that call the law office ask about this. Some people believe that THE INJURED PERSON is entitled to this $10,000.00 but that is not exactly the case.
In Florida, most vehicles tagged here are required to have Personal Injury Protection (PIP insurance coverage) and that PIP insurance does provide $10,000.00 of benefits. There are certain exceptions: taxi cabs, municipal buses for example are not required to have PIP. The $10,000.00 of benefits are to pay for medical bills at 80 percent and wages at 60 percent as discussed in prior blog entries. Most doctors, when you treat there for an auto accident take what is known as an “assignment of benefits” and a “direction to pay” and these agreements generally mean that your PIP insurance pays the doctor directly, i.e. the medical bill money is NOT paid to you generally speaking. If you miss time from work due to an accident and submit the necessary proof (generally a wage verification form filled out by your employer plus a disability note from your doctor or doctors stating that you missed work due to the subject accident), then your PIP insurance does pay those lost wages at 60 percent to YOU.
Bear in mind that PIP generally pays what is received first. In other words, if you submit your wage claim after your PIP carrier has already exhausted on medical payments, then you will not receive PIP benefits. This is because the $10,000.00 is for BOTH medical and wage combined.
Also, the general order in which you get PIP is: 1) from your own car PIP policy if your own a car; if you do not own a car, then you generally would qualify for PIP under someone that you live with AND are related to; or 3) if you do not own a car nor live with a relative that owns a car, then you would qualify for PIP from the car that you were in at the time of the accident (or the car that hit you if you were on a bicycle or hit as a pedestrian).
Of course, a case based on a fact pattern such as the one above is unique and any other case should be judged based on the specific facts of the case. The advice in this blog is intended to be general and should not to be used as specific advice for a case, as the slightest difference in the facts could change the result. Also, this blog is, as the web site name suggests, based on Florida law and the laws of any other state could vary significantly from Florida. The lawyer recommends that you consult an attorney regarding the facts of your accident. At Drucker Law Offices, a free consultation is offered to accident victims. You can reach the law firm at the Miami satellite office 305-981-1561, at the Coral Springs Satellite Office 954-755-2120 or at the Boca Raton principal office 561-483-9199 (also for the Boynton Beach and West Palm Beach satellite offices).
