Fort Lauderdale Uninsured Motorist Accident Attorney

Should you be injured by a driver who did not carry any insurance, call this Fort Lauderdale Uninsured Motorist Accident Lawyer today. Unfortunately, there are uninsured drivers all over South Florida. As a result, many accidents are caused by uninsured drivers. If you are one of the unfortunate victims of this situation, then you may find yourself in a tough spot.

Typically, if you are injured in a car crash, then the first place you may look for compensation is the bodily injury portion of the other driver’s insurance policy. When somebody buys automobile insurance in the State of Florida, they have different options for the types of insurance they can buy. The first type is referred to as a “bodily injury” (or BI) policy. A bodily injury policy will compensate an injured person if the person who purchased the policy caused a wreck and consequent injuries. In this way, the bodily injury policy protects the policy holder (after all, if the policy holder didn’t have the bodily injury policy, then the injured party would be able to pursue the policy holder for his or her personal assets).

So, if you’ve been hurt in a collision caused by somebody else, then the first place you will look for compensation will be the bodily injury portion of the other driver’s automobile insurance. However, if the other driver did not carry such bodily injury coverage (i.e., if you were injured in an uninsured motorist crash), then the next place you will look for compensation will be your own automobile insurance. This is because, when you purchase automobile insurance, the second type of insurance you can buy is referred to as uninsured motorist coverage (or UM). Uninsured motorist coverage will provide compensation to an injured person injured by another driver who does not carry any bodily injury coverage.

If you’ve been hurt in an uninsured motorist wreck anyplace in Florida (including West Palm Beach, Miami, Miami-Dade County, and Palm Beach County), contact Mr. Quackenbush at 786-294-7711. This Fort Lauderdale Uninsured Motorist Accident Law Firm can help. Mr. Quackenbush will give you a free consultation if you call him today.

If you’ve been injured in an uninsured motorist wreck, the first thing to determine is the “policy limits” of your uninsured motorist coverage policy. The policy limits represent the limit of the compensation that you may be entitled to receive (e.g., $10,000, $25,000, $50,000, etc.). Additionally, if your uninsured motorist policy is “stacked” or “stackable,” then your policy limits will be multiplied by the number of vehicles in your household. For example, if you have $100,000 of uninsured motorist coverage and you have two vehicles in your household, then you will actually have $200,000 worth of uninsured motorist coverage. Stacked or stackable uninsured motorist coverage costs more at the time of purchase.

Additionally, if you’ve been hurt in an uninsured motorist collision but you don’t have any uninsured motorist coverage yourself, then the next thing to consider is if you live with any relatives (“resident relatives”) that carry uninsured motorist coverage. If you do, then you may be able to receive compensation from their uninsured motorist coverage – just as if it was your own uninsured motorist policy.

Uninsured motorist coverage applies when the other driver in your accident did not carry any bodily injury coverage. However, even when other drivers do carry bodily injury coverage, they might not carry enough coverage to properly compensate you for your injuries. For example, if the other driver had $10,000 of bodily injury coverage and you sustained catastrophic injuries, then the $10,000 will not be enough to adequately compensate you. In that case, your own underinsured motorist coverage will compensate you for your injuries. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage are typically sold together and referred to as “UM.”

If the driver who caused your accident did not have any bodily injury coverage and you did not have any uninsured motorist coverage, then your next option may be to pursue the personal assets of the uninsured driver. In order to execute on a judgment, you may be able to garnish wages, force the sale of certain property, seize bank accounts, etc. However, this is very difficult and usually not as easy as obtaining insurance money.

Other ways of obtaining compensation after an uninsured motorist crash include dram shop cases, cases against employers, and roadway construction cases. A dram shop case, for example, results when a bar, restaurant or other establishment sells alcohol to a customer and the customer subsequently drives a vehicle and injures somebody else. In that scenario, the business establishment may be responsible for the injuries. However, in the State of Florida, the business establishment will only be liable if it sold alcohol to 1) an underage person or 2) a person known to be “habitually addicted to alcohol” (i.e., an alcoholic). Otherwise, the business establishment won’t be responsible.

Likewise, if the uninsured motorist who caused your crash was working at the time of the wreck, then his or her employer may be liable.

Finally, if there was something wrong with the roadway that allowed your collision to occur (e.g, improper lighting, negligent light-sequencing, etc.), then you may be able to pursue a roadway construction case against the architect/engineer who designed the roadway or the contractor who built it. All of these are ways to get compensation in case the driver who injured you didn’t carry any bodily injury coverage.

Should you be hurt in an uninsured motorist collision anywhere in Broward County (including Coconut Creek, Cooper City, Coral Springs, Dania Beach, Davie, Deerfield Beach, Hallandale Beach, Hollywood, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Lauderdale Lakes, Lauderhill, Lighthouse Point, Margate, Miramar, North Lauderdale, Oakland Park, Parkland, Pembroke Pines, Plantation, Pompano Beach, Southwest Ranches, Sunrise, Tamarac, West Park, Weston and Wilton Manors), contact Mr. Quackenbush at 786-294-7711. He will give you a free, no obligation consultation.