Injured in a Multi-Car Accident? Who Pays Your Medical Bills?
A multi-car accident can be much more complicated than a crash involving only two vehicles. You may know which vehicle hit you, but that does not necessarily tell you who ultimately bears responsibility—or which insurance coverage may be available for your injuries.
In Florida, the answer may involve your own Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage, one or more at-fault drivers, and potentially uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage.
Your PIP Coverage May Pay First
Florida remains a no-fault state for purposes of PIP benefits. Florida Statute §627.736 requires qualifying automobile policies to provide PIP benefits for covered injuries regardless of who caused the accident.
PIP generally pays 80% of reasonable, medically necessary covered medical expenses, subject to statutory requirements and policy limits. Florida law also requires initial medical services and care within 14 days after the accident for PIP medical benefits.
But in a serious multi-vehicle accident, medical expenses can quickly exceed available PIP benefits. That is when determining who caused the collision becomes particularly important.
More Than One Driver May Be Responsible
Consider a chain-reaction crash: one vehicle strikes another, pushing it into a third vehicle. Or two drivers make separate mistakes that contribute to the same collision.
The fact that one vehicle physically struck yours does not necessarily mean that driver was the only person responsible.
An investigation may consider how the collision began, the sequence of impacts, vehicle positions, witness statements, photographs or video, traffic signals, physical evidence and the conduct of each driver.
Florida’s comparative-fault law allows responsibility to be allocated among multiple parties when more than one person’s negligence contributed to an accident.
For an injured person, that can mean there may be more than one potentially responsible party and more than one insurance policy that must be evaluated.
What If One of the Drivers Has Little or No Insurance?
This can become especially important when the injuries are serious.
One responsible driver may have inadequate bodily-injury coverage—or no applicable bodily-injury coverage at all. Another responsible driver may have a separate policy.
Your own uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage may also become relevant, depending on your policy and the circumstances. Florida Statute §627.727 addresses UM/UIM coverage and expressly recognizes situations in which the responsible driver’s bodily-injury limits are less than the injured person’s total damages.
That is one reason a multi-car accident should not be evaluated simply by asking, “Which car hit me?”
Why Multi-Car Accident Claims Can Become Complicated
When several vehicles are involved, insurance companies may disagree about how the accident occurred and how responsibility should be divided.
One driver may blame another. An insurer may argue that its insured merely reacted to an earlier collision. The available insurance coverage may differ significantly among the vehicles involved.
Meanwhile, the injured person may be facing hospital bills, diagnostic testing, physical therapy, injections, surgery, lost income, or long-term medical treatment.
Determining all potentially responsible parties and identifying available insurance coverage can therefore be critical to evaluating a serious multi-car accident claim.
Injured in a Multi-Car Accident in Florida?
Do not assume that only the driver who physically struck your vehicle matters—or that one insurance policy represents the only potential source of recovery.
Kurzman Law Group represents people injured in motor vehicle accidents throughout Florida. We investigate how the collision occurred, identify potentially responsible parties and available insurance coverage, and pursue compensation for our clients’ injuries and losses.
Yana Kurzman is a Florida car accident lawyer and founder of Kurzman Law Group, located in Fort Lauderdale.
Contact us for a free consultation.
