Litigation advertisements ad nauseum & auto insurance
 

Been here almost a year; the only thing that makes me want to throw up more than Car Shield commercials are the insane amount of accident attorneys asking you to call them for almost any reason whatsoever. So my serious question(s) is/are this:

Is Florida for some reason by state law or statute easier to sue or take people to court for gross amounts of money than other states? I know “it depends” but should I consider increasing liability limits even more outside of what I would normally do for coverage based on assets & such? I’m not scared to drive & have a clean record, but I think about it all the time.

… and for what it’s worth - did everyone else’s car insurance rates go up 10-20% without any claims or driving record infractions for 2022 or is it just me?

Appreciate any considered thoughts, opinions, insights or perspectives!

Respectfully, DB

Regarding your question regarding suing for high amounts, a person can only try to win a judgement based upon the severity of the injuries, unless it a case(such as an egregious DUI) and the attorney pursues you for punitive damages.

I was in the insurance adjusting business and Florida(especially S. Florida) is hightly litigious. Do not know your insurance or your assets. Need to discuss limits with your insurance agent. My insurance went down due to moving to TV. In. S. Florida it was 30% higher.

ambulance chasers.. they are a disgrace to the profession and are the reason for the rates we pay.

I for one don't like the no-fault car accident state.
Some drunk can be at fault in 3 accidents in a month, and it's totally not his fault. :shrug:

As for insurance coverage, get as much as you can afford.

In a wreck, need a check...Spam Newlin. :blahblahblah::blahblahblah::blahblahblah::blahbla hblah::blahblahblah::blahblahblah::blahblahblah::b lahblahblah::blahblahblah:

What about Joe Willie Medicare plans?

As far as this post, both points are related. As far as insurance, you only need insurance if you have wealth, property etc to loose. An attorney will as a first step check the assets of the person, company etc that caused the damages.

We see this regularly. They sue the big pockets.

All insurance, the insurance company uses a loss table to decide chance of a payout. All kinds of strange things affect their risk. Credit score is an interesting one.

In states where the one at fault pays, often it is decided assuming two cars, both had a percentage of the blame say 60-40.

A drunk? Actually, caught driving drunk and your license is automatically suspended. Restored? I don't know how, why etc.

The kid that services our pool recently told me he won’t be our pool technician much longer, he is quitting his job as soon as Dan Newlin gets him his settlement. These friggin ambulance chaser attorneys are driving up our insurance rates and adding to the labor shortage problem.

You are totally scaring the crap out of me! IMA sell my car and just taxi Uber or Lyft from now on. And my golf cart . Way too risky!

they suck

Here is an option. Except for local channels, most other channels are broadcast on UK or Canada channels. Same programs but with their commercials. So you won't see any medicare, lawyer and very few car commercials. I watch the golf channel on UK golf channel and it is so much better. They start with the 1st tee time and continue until the last one. Don't have to change channels half way thru the tournament.

Just a way of showing the “Party” another way of getting FREE������������������…….
Morgan and Morgan is the only one needed!

Last year, my Allstate auto insurance increased by 32 percent with no claims. So, I switched to State Farm and my premium dropped to less than half of the Allstate premium. Go figure. I have very high liability limits on my auto and homeowners insurance. Some insurance companies will not even sell you more than $250K in liability coverage without buying an umbrella policy. Other companies will sell you up to a million. If your liability limit is too low, your insurance company will not even defend you in court. They will just pay off the limit and leave you to defend yourself.

Note that Florida is a state that does not require uninsured motorist insurance. I know that some people will disagree, but I have zero uninsured motorist insurance. It provides no additional liability protection for you, and it is basically redundant with your health insurance. In fact, if you have an accident with uninsured motorist insurance, Medicare and other health insurance become secondary, and they will not pay your health claims until the auto policy pays off. In my opinion, that is one way to save money on auto insurance.

So...a high credit score attracts a lawsuit, with the belief pockets may be deeper?

It's too bad that layers are allowed to advertise here in Florida. On TV, radio, billboards, and newspapers.

We moved here from Oregon. No lawyer ads, only endless mattress commercials morning, noon, and night. 😉

I'll throw my two cents in since defending suits brought by TV attorneys is something I did for 40 years. During a trial it was, at least in the state where I practiced, not permissible to inform the jury that the defendant had insurance. Here in FL they tell you in their commercials that the people that they sue are insured.
Second they rant about how tough the insurance companies are to get money out of. I can tell by some of the reaction here that that is what policy payers want. Rates are high enough and companies shouldn't just roll over for every claim filed. Lastly, while they tell you how tough they are with the insurance companies, they'd be up the creek if there were no insurance companies to pay thier judgements. At times it seems that the companies collect money from all the safe drivers out there to pay for the few negligent ones that these lawyers make a living off of. States have different rules as to how much attorneys can take from payouts. Where I practiced it was 33% of the after expenses recovery up to a million then it was reduced on a sliding scale. I've been told here that they get 40%. No wonder they have so much to spend on advertising.

FL is a litigious state
 

We lent one of our cars to friends who just moved to TV and had not yet had a chance to purchase their own car. She was in an accident here in TV and our car was totaled. Thankfully, she was uninjured. The two other pickups that hit her (we think they were gardeners) looked to have sustained relatively minor damage. My friend was at fault, but since the vehicle was ours, our insurance is primary. Both of the other drivers are suing us. One has hired Dan Newlin. Our agent told us that FL has 8% of all accident claims with our company but represents 94% of all law suits. Dandy. We are still awaiting settlement. 😥

Get me the money
 

Those ads make me yell at the TV. "Dan got me $2.1 million." Well, you look okay to me.
Shouldn't you be missing a limb or stuck in a wheelchair for that kind of payback? What's the story?:$::$:

now you know why our insurance rates keep going up!

I think it depends on the stations you watch as to the frequency of the adds. We don't see that many.

You may want to call an attorney for the answer!

I'm surprised by all of the ads that claim to have obtained large insurance settlements, well over $100K, because most individuals don't have that much liability coverage on their auto insurance policy. The insurance company is only going to pay off up to the limit of coverage on your policy.

No, Uninsured and Underinsured coverage are not primary medical coverage versus Medicare.

Florida requires all drivers to purchase Personal Injury Protection coverage. This is coverage that pays for all medical bills incurred by an insured that resulted from an auto accident. You must purchase 10K in PIP coverage. The basic PIP package also provides coverage for wage losses. So if you aren't employed, be sure to get the PIP coverage that doesn't include wage loss coverage. PIP is primary medical coverage versus Medicare.

UM/UIM coverage coverage covers much more than medical bills. It provides coverage for any thing an uninsured or underinsured motorist is liable for. Could be lost wages, wrongful death, pain and suffering etc. It's not a first party medical coverage and Medicare has no rights to any monetary reimbursement under those coverages and Medicare can't withold payment if you have UM/UIM coverage.

UM/UIM coverage isn't intended to provide insured's with "additional liability" coverage. It's sole purpose is to protect insureds from loss caused by uninsured and underinsured motorists.

No insurance company "will just pay off the limits" and let you defend yourself. No insurance carrier pays off the limits without getting a release for the insured. So no release, no money.

Good luck when you get in a serious accident with an uninsured/underinsured motorist. Plenty of posts here about the 91 year old Mercedes female hit and run driver who hit the woman on a bike. Lifetime of disability issues and pain and suffering. UIM coverage would pay for all of that, without that coverage, you get nothing! But on the bright you saved a couple of bucks!

Thanks for the PIP explanation. But, I still don't think I need uninsured motorist insurance. I don't have any wages, and I am not going to sue anyone for pain and suffering or disability payments. Regarding a lifetime of disability issues, I doubt that most people have nearly enough uninsured motorist coverage to pay for what that would cost. I think many people have the uninsured motorist coverage because they moved here from a state where it was mandatory, and they have no idea what they are paying for. They would be better off using the UM premium money to buy additional liability coverage.

I was in an accident in a friend's car several years ago when visiting a friend in Jacksonville. I was taken to the hospital CT scan, needed therapy after, etc. Both my friend and myself were very surprised to find that her insurance ONLY covered her family members for injuries. She thought she was fully insured.
When I moved to TV and got insurance for myself, I discussed this with my new agent and she said that yes, this is standard with many companies in FL and coverage for other passengers is an add-on and must be requested.

Note that Florida is a state that does not require uninsured motorist insurance. I know that some people will disagree, but I have zero uninsured motorist insurance. It provides no additional liability protection for you, and it is basically redundant with your health insurance. In fact, if you have an accident with uninsured motorist insurance, Medicare and other health insurance become secondary, and they will not pay your health claims until the auto policy pays off. In my opinion, that is one way to save money on auto insurance.[/QUOTE]

Agree 100% - I cut about 20% off my bill with this alone last fall!

Nice to see someone else hates car shield commercials as much as I do!

And, they pay multi-millionaire celebrities to say that they have Car Shield to cover their car repairs. These people probably never own a car that is out of warranty, in which case, Car Shield covers nothing.

You don't have to "sue anybody" to get uninsured motorist coverage benefits. Your UM carrier pays you and if needed they sue the adverse driver.

You could have injuries that preclude you from continuing your normal activities such as golf, pickle ball, dancing etc. UM would at least give you some compensation for such injuries.

Ask the families of these two people, who were killed just walking into Winn Dixie, if they
think Underinsured Coverage would be worthwhile? No way the at fault driver had limits adequate to to compensate those entitled to make a wrongful claim for the deaths of a husband and wife.

In the wake of a crash that claimed the lives of a couple at Winn-Dixie, Canadian snowbirds were handed fighting tickets.

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED…?… If these law firms collect millions of dollars in settlements and you only carry several hundred thousand of coverage. WELL,,,,, WHERE DOES THE REST OF THEIR MILLIONS COME FROM ???? You don’t want to know or think about it. The legislature is your only solution,,,,, oh, I forgot it’s full of lawyers and lawyer lobbyists.
Oh well, have a good round tomorrow.

If your insurance company denies your claim, won't you need to sue them, and maybe prove that the uninsured motorist was at fault, and that you are disabled? Also, it looks like you may only be able to buy up $100K per person of UM coverage for a reasonable cost, and a lot of that money would be used for medical bills, which would be redundant with your own health insurance. I suspect that most people probably have less UM coverage than that. I'm not an expert in this area, so please correct me if I am wrong. But, I am not convinced that I should buy UM insurance. For $100K, a lot of retirees could self insure for an unlikely UM claim, especially if they have good health insurance.

You are wrong and you are not an expert!

Good luck!

No fault
 

No fault is $10,000 coverage. It pays medical expenses, loss wages and funeral benefit.

Anything over than amount is paid by the BI of at fault driver. No fault was passed so that injured people could get treated and not have a huge medical bill. Health insurance back then was optional and most could not afford. (1972)

Every time that one appears I want to barf. I’m sick of seeing it.

Does anyone think that auto insurance premiums are a good deal? I don't. That is why I only pay for what is required by law and what I need to protect myself against a huge financial lawsuit. Anything beyond that is not worth buying.