Florida Legislature Looks Set to Repeal PIP After Years of Talk About Reform
Florida PIP repeal may finally take place soon. During its most recent legislative session, and after years of attempts to overhaul the state’s much-maligned mandatory personal injury protection (PIP) insurance scheme for motor vehicle liability insurance, both chambers of the Florida Legislature finally made the first serious attempts to do so during its recently concluded 2021 legislative session. Both the Florida House and Senate passed slightly different measures that would do away with the fifty-year-old PIP scheme and install in its place a requirement that every driver carry bodily injury (BI) coverage. Instead of requiring that every driver carry $10,000 in no-fault PIP insurance that is effective for the first $10,000 of damages that a motorist may suffer in a motor vehicle accident regardless of who is at fault, the new legislation would shift the system to one in which the required types and amounts of insurance are higher and the apportionment of fault for determining whose insurance pays for an accident would be based on who actually caused the accident. The bills have yet to be harmonized or a compromise version signed by Governor Ron DeSantis, but this is expected to be accomplished at some point in the near future, according to Florida House and Senate leaders.
The Current Required Insurance Scheme and the Problems with Florida’s PIP System
Florida’s current insurance scheme, which is over fifty years old, requires that everyone who operates a motor vehicle on Florida’s roads carry the minimum of $10,000 in PIP benefits and no more or no less. Florida is one of only two states in the country that does not require that drivers carry bodily injury (BI) coverage, which would pay for the injuries of another person injured by the insured driver in an accident where the insured driver was at fault. This can leave many people in the lurch if they are involved in a car accident with someone who is only carrying the state minimum required insurance given that the injured person would potentially not have any insurance policy to recover against from the driver that caused his or her injuries. Many of the critics of the current PIP insurance scheme detest the fact that a driver who may not be at fault for an accident has to file a claim with his or her own insurance to pay for the medical treatment needed because of someone else’s negligence. Among the comments offered by some of the legislative sponsors of the proposed new insurance scheme was that it would help to lower auto insurance rates in Florida.
New Proposed Insurance Scheme’s Potential Requirements Following Florida PIP Repeal
Although the Florida House and Senate passed slightly different proposals, the two proposals were not that different so as to expect that one would be chosen over the other or that compromise as to the few areas of difference would not be possible. Under both versions of the proposed new legislation, the current no-fault scheme would be ditched in favor of mandated BI insurance coverage that would only kick in if the insured driver is at fault in an accident. With Florida PIP repeal, motorists in the Sunshine State would be required to have $25,000 in bodily injury coverage for the injury or death of one person in a motor vehicle accident caused by the person carrying the insurance and $50,000 in BI coverage for an accident in which two people were injured or killed as a result of the actions of the insured driver. The insurance would be fault-based, meaning that the insurance of whoever caused the accident would pay for the injured party or parties’ damages. Both the Senate and House versions of the legislation would also require motorists to carry $5,000 in med-pay coverage, which would pay for any medical expenses incurred by the insured driver in connection with a motor vehicle accident.
Contact Schwed Adams & McGinley
At Schwed, Adams & McGinley, our experienced personal injury attorneys have more than 150 years of representing the victims of motor vehicle accidents and other personal injury scenarios in Florida. Our firm and its attorneys have been through major changes in the insurance requirements for Florida motorists throughout the decades our attorneys have been in practice. With Florida PIP repeal, no matter what the required mandatory motor vehicle insurance scheme in the Sunshine State ends up to be, we will be here to ensure that our clients receive full compensation for their injuries suffered as a result of someone else’s negligence. If you have been injured due to someone else’s negligence in Florida, contact the experienced personal injury attorneys at Schwed, Adams & McGinley, P.A today at 877-694-6079 or contact@schwedlawfirm.com for a free consultation.