Jacksonville Personal Injury Blog

Hulk Hogan, professional wrestler and Florida resident, is suing his lawyers over his son’s auto accident. You may recall that Nick Bollea, the son of Terry Bollea (Hulk Hogan) was involved in a serious car accident when he was 17 years old. Bollea was speeding on State Road 60 through Clearwater when he lost control and hit a raised median. The car flipped and hit a palm tree. Bollea’s passenger and friend were permanently injured. In fact, he just got out of the hospital, but is wheelchair bound.

After the accident, the Hogan family found that their Progressive Insurance had a limit of $250,000 coverage. That is too low. Everyone should carry uninsured motorist coverage and a personal umbrella insurance policy. The cost is very inexpensive. Be aware that not all umbrella policies include Uninsured Motorists/Underinsured Motorists. Carry the limits as high as you can afford. $1 million is not too much to protect you in case you are involved in a catastrophic accident with a third party who has no insurance or insufficient insurance.

Now is the time to learn from this mistake and take a moment to review your own coverage.

In the case of Hogan, he failed to notify Progressive of the accident and instead hired lawyers to protect his family against any civil claim. He didn’t understand that Progressive was on the hook to cover all necessary costs. Instead, he paid the law firm about $550 an hour and ultimately paid the law firm about $1,500,000 in fees and costs. His suit says the firm failed to notify him of that fact, even though Progressive says it tried to communicate with him over the accident, and instead kept charging Hogan excessively high rates.

Continue reading "Do You Have Adequate Uninsured Motorist Coverage? Hulk Hogan Didn't" »

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Posted In: Auto Accidents , Insurance Claims , Law & Information , Personal Injury

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The Jacksonville newspaper, the Florida Times Union takes a complete look in an article at the crisis of property insurance in the state. All it could take is for one major hurricane to hit a large metropolitan area, such as Miami, for the state to boost taxes on insurance policies and take out billions in debt as our state-backed insurance plans fall short.

Funding that kind of debt would be difficult, causing an increase in taxes on almost everything and a debt that could take years to repay. Some even predict bankruptcy from a major hurricane.

A little background – The reinsurance market prices have skyrocketed by 75 percent in recent years following the more damaging storms of 2004 and 2005. When that happened in 2006, private companies passed that onto their customers.

State Farm Florida says it is leaving the state because the insurance commissioner says it can’t raise its rates 47 percent. Gov. Charlie Crist said ‘good riddance.’

If State Farm leaves, it would force nearly one million policy holders into new insurance carriers including Citizens, the state insurance plan that at the present time could be strapped if it had to pay out millions. Citizens is the largest insurer in the state with State Farm Florida being second. State Farm is trying to stay, and by eliminating discounts to some customers, it boosted rates an average of 28.4 percent.

Continue reading "Who Will Insure Florida if a Hurricane Hits?" »

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Posted In: Hurricane Insurance , Insurance Claims , Law & Information , Personal Injury

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State Farm’s property insurance division has been threatening to leave the state and homeowners without options, while leaving the more lucrative auto insurance business in the state. Now, according to an article, Florida’s Insurance Commission says State Farm may not leave Florida. Commissioner Kevin McCarty said Thursday it was his “gut feeling” even though the insurance giant was not allowed to raise its rates by up to 67 percent last January by an administrative law judge.

This news leaves 1.2 million Floridians with a huge unanswered question – where will they turn? The more insurance options there are to choose from, the better competitive pricing options one generally has. Gov. Charlie Crist was considering allowing a property insurance bill to become law which would have allowed property insurers to charge anything they want to insurer properties against hurricanes, but last month he vetoed the bill, citing the new smaller insurance companies that have come in to assume about 400,000 homeowner policies. State Farm is pinning its hopes on an override of the veto, which would have to be done in a special session of the state legislature.

Without that, State Farm says it plans to leave the property insurance business in Florida within two years. Expect others to follow suit or to reduce their exposure for coastal properties. McCarty is looking to a national catastrophic fund that would pool money from many states to help property owners along the coast recover property damage when a hurricane or natural disaster strikes. In the meantime, let’s cross our fingers – hurricane season ends in October.

Continue reading "Is State Farm Staying? " »

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Posted In: Hurricane Insurance , Insurance Claims , Law & Information , Personal Injury

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For almost 20 years, Wendell Potter worked inside giant insurance companies, most recently as the VP of Corporate Communications for the CIGNA Corporation. He has left and now is speaking out. Watch him Friday night on Bill Moyers Journal tell secrets the industry would rather you not know. Potter also has a blog (Wendell Potter’s Blog) and is a Senior Fellow on Health Care with the Center for Media and Democracy, a nonprofit group dedicated to uncovering the public relations influences over government, opinion, and public policy.

Potter was the spokesman when CIGNA denied a transplant to a 17-year-old teen who needed one to live. Because of the bad publicity, the insurance giant caved in, but it was too late, Nataline Sarkisyan died, according to an account. That was part of Potter’s transformation as was seeing a giant health fair in Virginia, where the nonprofit group, Remote Area Medical, brings doctors and nurses to remote areas to help the uninsured and underinsured. They were being treated at state fairgrounds in cleaned out animal stalls. Welcome to health care in America where about 50 million people do not have health insurance.

If you have ever been treated badly by Big Insurance, please spend some time learning what happens from this insider who recently testified to Congress about what he has seen. ( Potter Testimony Transcript- Senate Commerce Committee, June 24, 2009)

Continue reading "Insurance Insider Blows the Whistle on Practices " »

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Posted In: Insurance Claims , Law & Information , Personal Injury

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We’ve all heard the term medical malpractice. There are an estimated 100,000 medical errors caused every year and often it is the same doctor who hurts patients.

In an ideal world, the medical profession would have tighter oversight over doctors who are not professional. But instead, doctors would just like you to stop talking negatively about them online.

A new service, Medical Justice, forces dissatisfied patients to keep quiet.

When you sign up with a new doctor, look for the form in the pile you are asked to sign. It’s called the “Mutual Agreement to Maintain Privacy” form, and the patient promises they “will not denigrate, defame, disparage, or cast aspersions upon,” the doctor on the Internet and will prevent friends and family from doing so as well.

Nationwide, about 2,000 doctors have joined Medical Justice, a Greensboro, North Carolina company that provides the forms to doctors for their patients to sign.

Medical Justice founder and neurosurgeon, Dr. Jeffrey Segal, formed the company in 2002 to prevent so-called “frivolous lawsuits.” a favorite phrase of the business-backed tort reform campaign.

Continue reading "Doctors Don’t Want Patients Talking Online" »

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Posted In: Insurance Claims , Law & Information , Medical Malpractice

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State Farm has had it with Florida property owners. After major hurricanes in 2004 and 2005, State Farm Florida, a subsidiary of the insurance giant, says it will stop offering property insurance to more than one million Floridians within two years. The company blames not only the hurricanes but the generous discounts the state offered to homeowners who shored up their homes against hurricane damage.

One story reports that Gov. Charlie Crist says no one will miss them because State Farm charges among the highest rates in the state. Yet about 470,000 people will have to scramble to find new insurance within a year, and with fewer choices and less competition, it’s very likely consumers will pay even more.

State Farm Florida president, Jim Thompson, says the insurance giant is losing about $20 million a month in Florida and will be insolvent by 2011 and unable to pay claims going forward.

Here is the catch – State Farm wants to continue to offer auto, life and health insurance, a much more lucrative branch of the business. But the state insurance commissioner might say - sell all or nothing in the state- posing the question of whether bad faith insurance is occurring. Also the legislature might put the brakes on the move, allowing insurers to drop a limited number of customers every year.

Continue reading "State Farm Leaving Florida" »

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Posted In: Insurance Claims

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Car crashes are the No. 1 killer of American teens and Allstate Insurance has identified the cities with the highest number of teen fatalities during the holidays. They could be considered teen driving hotspots – and the Top Three cities are all in Florida.

A report from Allstate Insurance Company looked at recent federal crash statistics and their insurance claims data to score metro areas. The time period observed was from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day.

Tampa-Clearwater-St. Petersburg, Florida occupies the top spot and Jacksonville is second, followed by Orlando-Kissimmee; Kansas City, Missouri; and Birmingham, Alabama.

The study is part of a Home for the Holidays teen safe driving campaign that urges parents to speak to their children about smart driving during the holidays. Especially important - Remind your teen that fatal car accidents are the number one killer of teens.

During the past eight years during the holiday season, teen drivers nationwide have been part of more than 5,000 fatal auto crashes.

There is also something called Allstate’s Parent-Teen Driving Contract that Allstate provides laying out the expectations for teen drivers to stay safe and make wise decisions as a driver AND the consequences he/her will face if they do not abide by the contract.

Continue reading "Florida Cities Included In Top Ten Deadliest Teen Driver Towns" »

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Posted In: Auto Accidents , Bus Accident , Insurance Claims

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If you’re one of the few who actually have health insurance coverage, consider yourself fortunate. But buyer beware, you may be in for some unpleasant surprises if you file a claim for health insurance benefits.

Insurers are now using a scheme to deny claims and actually cancel insured’s policies through “postclaims underwriting.”

“Postclaims underwriting” occurs when you (or a covered family member), makes a claim for health insurance benefits, the insurance company, at that time, begins an exhaustive investigation of your medical history in order to find any nugget of evidence that could qualify as a “pre-existing” medical condition.

Once this “pre-existing” condition has been found, the insurance company then denies benefits under the current policy and can potentially cancel your policy altogether.

According to the June 2008 issue of Trial Magazine, California is leading the country in stopping this type of harmful practice. A number of lawsuits filed against health insurers like Health Net and Blue Cross caught the public’s attention, which caused industry regulators to investigate and fine these health insurers.

A class action suit was filed against Health Net for illegally canceling coverage for over 1,000 insureds and for delaying the claims of thousands of other insureds.

Another tactic the insurance companies is using to keep from paying benefits and keep their bottom lines growing is to basically force their insureds to apply for other sources of benefits such as Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI).

In some cases, if an injured claimant refuses to apply for SSDI benefits, the insurance company may go ahead and reduce his or her benefits by the amount it believes SSDI would pay. Some insurance companies have been known to stop paying benefits altogether.

Because Social Security’s definition of “disability” is much stricter than that of a private insurance company, most people who apply for SSDI are turned down at least once.

How do you protect yourself from these “postclaims underwriting” tactics?

First, make sure you answer the medical questions as fully and completely as possible.

Second, confirm with your insurance agent how much information needs to be given regarding family members who will be covered under the same policy.

Third, make sure you have a copy of the signed insurance application.

Fourth, carefully read your insurance policy, paying close attention to the “cancellation” provisions – if you don’t understand something, ask your insurance agent or have your attorney review the small print. Don’t wait until you need to make a claim to learn about these potential loopholes.

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Posted In: Insurance Claims

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Tricks of the Trade

At Farah and Farah, we’ve seen just about every excuse not to pay an insurance claim, except maybe the dog ate the paperwork.

So when the American Association for Justice (AAJ), an association of trial attorneys, came out with Tricks of the Trade, a report that exposes the tactics used inside the insurance industry to keep profits high, even at the expense of their good neighbors, it rang true for us.

This is the fourth in a series of reports on the multi-trilliondollar industry of Big Insurance. Obviously the way they stay big is to pay out the fewest claims they can.

The “Tricks” report reflects what our claims adjusters have experienced in the real world, every excuse imaginable not to pay a claim, hoping they will eventually wear you out.

Continue reading "Auto Accident and Personal Injury Insurance Claims Unfairly Denied, Report Claims" »

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Posted In: Auto Accidents , Insurance Claims

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