Fort Lauderdale Car Accident Attorney Blog
Personal injury protection (PIP) benefits, as outlined in F.S. 627.736, legislation that was designed to reduce lawsuits in Florida, instead resulted in a record number of 60,000 lawsuits filed in Florida in 2017, according to a report by the Florida Justice Reform Institute. This amounts to a 50 percent increase in PIP litigation in a single year.
However, insurers weren’t rushing to the halls of the state legislators to urge them back a repeal of the state’s no-fault PIP statute (which faltered in the state Senate this past session). But that’s probably because Florida’s top 25 automobile insurers raised their PIP rates 54 percent just since the beginning of 2017. On average, premiums increased 35 percent faster than other types of insurance premiums. Motorists in Florida are within the top six when it comes to the highest auto insurance bills for those within a no-fault system.
Statewide, drivers are compelled to pay $10,000 in PIP coverage to foot the bill for their own injuries in the event of a Florida car accident, regardless of who is at-fault, regardless of how much health insurance a person already has. The PIP system was established in the 1970s as a means of reducing litigation following minor car accidents and fender-benders. Nearly 50 years later, the relatively small benefit insureds receive hasn’t changed (failing miserably to keep pace with medical inflation), which pushing consumer rate increases and – as we now know – resulting in even more injury lawsuits. Continue reading →