What happens if I am involved in a Palm Beach County accident but the insurance company says that my policy has cancelled?

What happens if I am involved in a Palm Beach County accident but the insurance company says that my policy has cancelled?

If your insurance company has rightfully cancelled your policy, there is not much you can do in the way of securing any benefits under the policy. However, there are instances where the cancellation is not effective for failure to adhere to the standards of the Florida Statute. Ultimately, this issue will usually boil down to two things: cancellation for non-payment of the premium or nonrenewal of the policy. When the insurance company tells your attorney that the policy has been cancelled, you should have your Palm Beach County accident attorney do some investigating because this doesn’t always mean the policy has indeed been cancelled. Florida Statute sets out specific criteria that the insurance company must follow in order for a cancellation to be effective. If the insurance company doesn’t meet these criteria, the cancellation may be invalid. For cancellation for policy except as when for non-payment of the policy, Florida Statute requires at least 45 days written notice to the insured prior to the effective date of cancellation. If for non-payment, a 10 day notice is sufficient for cancellation as long as the notice states the reason for cancellation. If your insurer fails to meet these provisions, you may still be able to recover for no-fault. You should also note that cancellation for payment when the initial check is a dishonored check means that the policy is “void ab initio” (fancy legal phrase meaning invalid from the beginning), unless this is cured within 5 days after the actual notice is received or 15 days after the insurance company sent out the notice by registered or certified mail. Perhaps, your insurance carrier will try and deceive you into believing that you don’t have a claim because you forgot to renew your policy. Contacting a knowledgeable Palm Beach County accident attorney will eliminate the risk of having your insurance company deceiving you without some form of retribution to you. Even though the Florida Statute says the notice must be in writing, if there is some established history between the insurance company and the insurer of cancelling the policy orally, this requirement will be waived if disputed notice was not written. It is rare for a plaintiff to prevail when they denied receiving a notice that the insurance carrier claims to have sent out. However, in a very unique case in Florida the plaintiff was able to prevail when post office records revealed that the company didn’t send out all the cancellation policies that had been issued. This is a very rare occasion though. In instances where a person has financed their car insurance payment, the courts have ruled that the insurer who raises the defense of a cancellation at the request of the finance company will generally be allowed if the insurer can prove that the statutory requirements have been met. Insurance Co. of North America v. Cooke, 624 So.2d 252 (Fla. 1993). However, in a case where the insurer didn’t receive the request of cancellation until after an accident had occurred, the court ruled that the policy was still effective. Southern Group Indemnity v. Cullen, 831 So.2d 681 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002).