$100,000 Maximum Recovery Obtained Following Hollywood Auto Accident

Did you know that insurance companies do not give their customers a grace period if they do not pay their car insurance bill on time? Failure to pay the insurance policy on time results in an immediate termination of benefits. This can negatively affect a personal injury case because in Florida when someone gets into an accident the victim’s own auto insurance pays the first $10,000 in medical bills. This is known as Personal Injury Protection Benefits (PIP Benefits).

Our client found this out the hard way. On a Tuesday morning, our client was driving in his car to drop off his payment for his auto insurance which was due the day before on Monday. He knew that the payment was due the day before but he figured that he had a week grace period to pay the bill even though the insurance company said the policy lapsed the day before. Suddenly and without warning his car was rear ended by another vehicle. After the accident, our client drove to the insurance company’s office and paid the insurance policy. After the accident, our client felt pain in his neck and back. After a week of medical treatment, our client’s insurance carrier sent a notice of denial of PIP benefits since the policy lapsed at 11:59 pm on Monday, the accident happened at 11:00 am on Tuesday, and the insurance policy was renewed at 1:00 pm on Tuesday. Our client still had the right to seek compensation against the person that rear-ended his vehicle.

As a result, the medical bills were not paid by the PIP coverage under his insurance policy. Once our client received a letter of a denial of benefits, he contacted the Hollywood Auto Accident Attorneys Dell and Schaefer. Fortunately our law firm was able to recover a large enough settlement for our client so that his medical bills were paid and he was still able to receive a sizeable recovery from the settlement.

Our Client Undergoes a Minimally Invasive Surgery

Immediately after the accident our client sought the medical care and treatment from a local chiropractor. After the chiropractor examined our client, the doctor prescribed an intense physical therapy regimen. Three weeks had passed and our client did not receive much improvement in his level of pain. Therefore the chiropractor referred our client for an MRI of the cervical spine. The cervical spine MRI showed a disc herniation at C3-C4. Because our client sustained a herniated disc in his neck from the accident, the chiropractor referred our client to an orthopedic surgeon. The orthopedic surgeon examined our client and prescribed a minimally invasive surgery—a percutaneous discectomy. Since our client’s level of pain was not improving with conservative chiropractic care, he decided to undergo the procedure.

Dell and Schaefer Resolves Auto Accident For the Policy Limits of $100,000

After the surgery, our firm filed a claim against the defendant’s insurance company. Our firm sought compensatory damages for bodily injury, aggravation of a preexisting injury, pain and suffering, loss of consortium, physical disability, mental anguish, past and future medical expenses, lost wages, an impairment of ability to earn future wages, and property damage. The insurance company made a very low offer of only $20,000 to resolve this claim. Our firm did not waiver in our resolve to settle this claim for the policy limits of $100,000. Immediately after receiving the low offer, our firm informed the insurance company that if they did not tender the $100,000 bodily injury limits within 7 days then our firm would file a lawsuit against the defendant and seek damages in excess of the policy limits.

We also threatened to seek punitive damages against the insurance company for not resolving the claim in good faith, as insurance companies are required to do by Florida law. Within 3 days of making this final demand, the insurance company quickly tendered the $100,000.

If you have been injured in an auto accident, then please contact us immediately for a free consultation.