West Palm Beach accident attorney should be doing to determine the extent of potential defendants and liability coverage

What your West Palm Beach accident attorney should be doing to determine the extent of potential defendants and liability coverage?

Failure to determine status coverage early on by your Palm Beach County accident attorney may doom your case. Did you know that if the UM carrier or tortfeasor's liability carrier has become insolvent and the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA) administers the carrier's claims, the normal four year statute of limitation will not apply? F.S. 95. 11(2)-(3). It is important that the attorney you hire know that F.S. 95.11(5)(d) and 631.68 establish a one-year limitation of action running from the deadline for filing claims established by FIGA. Queen v. Clearwater Electric, Inc., 555 So.2d 1262 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990). Avoid not getting compensated for your injuries because the insurance carrier has folded by contacting your West Palm Beach accident attorney quickly after being involved in an accident.

Another reason you need an experienced West Palm Beach accident attorney to quickly determine the defendants liability coverage is so your claim gets looked at first before other claims when multiple persons are injured in a single accident. Insurance policies with single-limit coverages present the potential for depletion of available coverage and thus, recovery, when there are substantial property damages of multiple injuries. Farinas v. Florida Farm Bureau General Insurance Co., 850 So.2d 555 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003). You should know that the insurance companies are not required to inform you or other potential claimants before settling and/or disbursing the full policy limits in a Palm Beach County car accident case. Your accident attorney must review ALL POSSIBLE insurance policies to get a great assessment of your claim. The insurance company has 30 days to produce certified copies of policies providing liability coverage and other important information, within 30 days of a request under F.S. 627.4137.

Once an insurance policy is received by your Palm Beach County accident attorney, it is imperative that your attorney review the policy materials to determine whether the insurer has engaged in bad-faith settlement conduct. Your attorney might determine that there is a claim against the insurer, if for instance, the liability insurer misrepresented the insurance disclosure information required by F.S. 627.4137 or, asserted an inapplicable coverage defense, or the adjuster reviewed a different policy or edition of the policy that did not exist at the time of the accident. These types of actions may support bad-faith settlement conduct, and may result in a successful bad-faith claim against the insurer. It is even possible that a skilled bad faith attorney can exceed policy coverage that may otherwise be available to you.

Failing to carefully review the pertinent policy language has resulted in a plaintiff waiving her right to arbitrate the issue of damages when she filed the lawsuit, instead of demanding arbitration as required by the UM provisions of the policy. Allstate Insurance Co. Singletary, 540 So.2d 938 (Fla. 2d DCA 1989).

If an insurance company denied coverage for example by claiming that the tortfeasor had failed to make their payments and therefore their insurance has lapsed, you attorney should conduct a complete review of the insurance policy and establish if there was coverage. If there ,your attorney should consider settling with the tortfeasor and pursuing the carrier who will be responsible for a reasonable settlement if coverage is established. Quintana v. Barad, 528 So.2d 1300 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988). Ultimately to be successful the plaintiff must prove coverage, wrongful refusal to defend, and that the settlement was reasonable and made in good faith. Id.