As an personal injury attorney law firm practicing in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach county, I have seen all types of liaiblity insurance. In this blog entry, the accident lawyer (who practices in the tri county area including Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Weston, Parkland, Coral Springs and many other cities) is going to discuss liability insurance and essentially what it means. In blog entries that will be coming in the coming weeks, I will talk about what individuals can do to protect against someone else not having liability insurance in a car accident and many other facets of this interesting part of accident law.
Generally, liability insurance means just what it says. This insurance protects against liabilities. As an injury lawyer, this type of insurance impacts individuals in a couple of ways. In a car insurance setting, liability insurance protects you when someone sues you for causing an accident. On the other hand, it pays the person who you injure but up to the coverage limits to which you purchase. In this article, I am going to focus on who liability insurance protects you when you cause an accident. In future blog entries, the injury attorney (Boca Raton, Wellington, Delray Beach, West Palm Beach, Boynton Beach and so forth) will discuss the impact on what the other person that causes the accident and injuries you chooses for their liability insurance if any.
Liability insurance is generally indemnity insurance. It indemnifies (pays) you against judgments that are entered against you. Thus, if you purchase $50,000.00 of car accident liability insurance, then your insurance will generally pay any judgment that is entered against you but up to your policy limits. Generally, this insurance also provides a defense, i.e. it will pay for a lawyer of the insurance company’s choosing to defend you. This is called the duty of defense. Obviously, insurance policies are contracts and you have to read the contract to determine exactly what you policy provides. The reason that an insurance company “settles” with the person that you injure is that a condition of the settlement is a release of the “insured.” Thus, your insurance company agrees to pay the injured person a sum certain and the injured person signs a release which basically states that the injured person cannot sue you for the accident. It is the proverbial “nipping in the bud” scenario where the insurance company satisfies in contractual obligation to indemnify against a judgment by preventing the judgment via the release. Similarly, in a business setting companies commonly purchase liability insurance for their businesses (commonly required by landlords), so that when someone fall at the property or is injured, then the liability insurance will indemnify against a judgment by the injured person against the business or pay for the injuries of the injured person to the extent that the business is legally liable.
Every case is different and must be looked at based on the merits. It is a good start to get a complementary consultation regarding an accident case in case this happens to you. The information contained in this blog is intended to be of general matter and not as to a specific case, so please call a licensed Florida attorney, like Gary J. Drucker, to determine if and how Florida law applies to your case.
If you have any questions about this topic or have been injured in an accident, please call the accident lawyer (Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Lauderhill, Pompano, Deerfield Beach, Hallendale, Hollywood) for a free consultation regarding your rights – Palm Beach 561-483-9199 (Boca Raton – principal office), Broward – 954-755-2120 (satellite office) or Miami Dade County (satellite office) 305-981-1561.
