A Defendant’s Insurance Matters in Personal Injury Cases

If you have been injured by someone else’s negligence, you may think the person who hit you in an accident or was at primary fault for the situation in which you were injured will always be the primary target if you end up having to file a lawsuit to seek recovery for your injuries and other damages. Contrary to what most people think, however, insurance, and in particular who has insurance and how much, is one of the most important parts of any personal injury case. Insurance money is the low-hanging fruit when it comes to determining who to sue in personal injury lawsuits. This is particularly true given the number of motorists that do not carry insurance who are out on the roads in Florida. This is why our experienced personal injury attorneys at Schwed, Adams & McGinley will always begin evaluating any case by looking at who the parties are that could potentially be at fault and determining how much insurance each party has and how to hold that party accountable for the injuries and damages you may have suffered.

For example, if you are involved in a motor vehicle accident with a tractor trailer and the truck driver is an independent contractor who is using a truck owned by a large national trucking company and hauling a large load for a nationwide produce distributor, there are at least three potential different sources of recovery: the trucker’s own personal insurance coverage, the insurance policy of the large trucking company that owned the truck he was driving when you two collided and the produce distributor. A careful attorney will verify that each has insurance coverage, with what insurer, and how much before suit is filed and then make the strongest case possible for a client while maximizing the client’s chances of recovering his or her full damages as a result of the accident. In some instances, that may mean going after the produce company if the trailer was overloaded, going after the company that owned the truck for entrusting that truck to a driver that may have a spotty safety record, and against the driver himself for whatever he did wrong that caused the accident.   

Why Is Insurance So Important in Personal Injury Cases?

While you may have seen advertisements from personal injury attorneys telling you how many millions they have recovered for their clients, these numbers often are misleading. In many instances, a jury may award a certain amount of money to an injured person, but that individual may never actually receive any of that money or, if the person is lucky, he or she may receive a fraction of that amount.

This leads back to the issue of the amount of insurance available in a particular case. An injured person is permitted to take a case against another driver who may have the lion’s share of blame for causing an accident in which that person was injured all the way to a jury verdict and “recover” millions of dollars, but this means nothing if the negligent motorist against whom you obtain that jury verdict was uninsured at the time the accident occurred. Obtaining a judgment in your favor only means that you have a piece of paper from the court stating that person owes you that amount of money. Having obtained a judgment for millions or even tens of millions of dollars for a client is wonderful for advertising if you are a personal injury attorney, but it does not put money in your pocket if you are an injured party. If that person had no insurance, then all you have is a piece of paper stating that person was responsible for causing you a certain amount of damages.

Insurance Can Help To Ensure You Actually Obtain Compensation

This is why it makes the most sense to go after the defendant or defendants that have insurance, if you have been injured by someone else’s negligence. Insurance is much easier to recover from because there are very serious consequences for an insurance company if its policyholder (in this case, the trucker, trucking company and the produce company) has a claim or lawsuit filed against it. Therefore, if the defendant has insurance, it will generally be available to satisfy a settlement or recovery through a jury verdict except in some extremely rare cases.

Contact Schwed, Adams & McGinley

At Schwed, Adams & McGinley, our experienced personal injury attorneys have more than 200 years of combined legal experience, including in representing the victims of someone else’s negligence in all sorts of personal injury scenarios. Our attorneys are experienced at thoroughly investigating our clients’ claims and identifying all potential parties that could possibly be held liable for our client’s injuries and what insurance, if any, each has. We know how to follow the insurance and focus on a strategy that will result in a recovery that results in the most money possible for our clients. We understand that the worst result for a client is one in which he or she obtains nothing but a piece of paper rather than actual money in the client’s pocket. Thus, if you were the victim of someone else’s negligence in the Sunshine State, contact our experienced personal injury attorneys today at contact@schwedlaw.com or (877) 694-6079 today.