Sunrise Uninsured Motorist Accident Lawyer

Being injured by a driver who has little or no insurance can make an already difficult car accident even more complicated. You may be facing medical treatment, lost income, vehicle damage, and other losses while discovering that the person who caused the crash doesn’t have enough liability coverage to cover your losses.

A Sunrise uninsured motorist accident lawyer can review your insurance policies, determine whether uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage may apply, investigate other potential sources of compensation, and help you pursue benefits available under Florida law.

Winston Law Firm represents people injured in uninsured and underinsured motorist crashes throughout Sunrise, Broward County, and South Florida. If a driver hit you and did not carry enough insurance, contact us for a free consultation.

What Is Uninsured Motorist Coverage?

Uninsured motorist coverage, commonly called UM coverage, is automobile insurance designed to protect insured people when they are injured by a motorist who does not have applicable bodily injury liability coverage.

Florida does not require every driver to maintain bodily injury liability insurance under every circumstance. As a result, a driver can cause a serious collision without having sufficient liability coverage available to compensate the people they injure.

UM coverage can help address that gap.

Florida law generally requires insurers issuing applicable automobile liability policies that include bodily injury coverage to offer uninsured motorist coverage unless the named insured rejects UM coverage in writing or selects lower limits.

Whether UM coverage applies depends on the policy language, the people and vehicles insured, how the coverage was selected, and the circumstances surrounding the collision.

What Is Underinsured Motorist Coverage?

An underinsured motorist has liability insurance, but the available bodily injury limits are not enough to address the full value of the injuries and losses caused by the crash.

For example, a driver may carry relatively low bodily injury limits but cause injuries requiring surgery, months of rehabilitation, extensive time away from work, or permanent medical care. The liability policy may be exhausted long before those losses are fully accounted for.

Florida’s uninsured motorist statute treats certain underinsured vehicles as uninsured vehicles for purposes of UM coverage.

That means the important question is not simply whether the driver who hit you had insurance. The issue may be whether enough applicable insurance exists to address the damages involved.

How PIP Fits Into an Uninsured Motorist Claim

Florida Personal Injury Protection, or PIP, is separate from uninsured motorist coverage.

PIP can provide qualifying medical and lost-income benefits following a motor vehicle accident regardless of who caused the crash. Florida law generally pays 80% of qualifying medical expenses and 60% of qualifying lost income, subject to statutory requirements and limits.

To qualify, you generally must receive initial medical treatment within 14 days after the accident for PIP medical benefits to apply.

PIP may help address some early losses, but it frequently does not cover the full consequences of a serious crash. An injured person may still have substantial medical expenses, future treatment needs, wage losses, reduced earning ability, and other damages.

Liability insurance and UM/UIM coverage may therefore become important sources of additional compensation.

How to Determine Whether You Have UM or UIM Coverage

Do not assume you have or don’t have uninsured motorist coverage based solely on an insurance card or a brief conversation with an adjuster.

A coverage review may include:

• The declarations page
• The complete automobile insurance policy
• UM selection or rejection forms
• Policy limits
• Whether coverage is stacked or non-stacked
• Which vehicles are insured
• Who qualifies as an insured under the policy
• Potentially applicable household policies
• Employer or commercial policies when relevant
• The bodily injury liability coverage available from the at-fault driver

Florida law permits a named insured to reject UM coverage in writing or select lower UM limits. That makes the actual coverage paperwork important.

If an insurer says UM coverage was rejected or limited, you may need to review the applicable selection or rejection forms and policy history before accepting that conclusion.

Stacked and Non-Stacked UM Coverage

Florida uninsured motorist policies may provide stacked or non-stacked coverage.

Stacked coverage can allow UM limits associated with multiple insured vehicles to be combined in certain circumstances. Non-stacked coverage generally restricts how coverage from multiple vehicles can be combined.

Florida law permits insurers to offer non-stacked UM coverage when statutory requirements are satisfied.

The distinction can matter substantially. Two drivers with the same stated UM limit may not necessarily have the same amount of coverage available because their policies may be structured differently.

A Sunrise uninsured motorist attorney can review the policy and determine which limits and restrictions may apply.

How a Sunrise Uninsured Motorist Lawyer Can Help

A UM claim is different from an ordinary claim against another driver’s liability insurer. You are seeking benefits under your own insurance contract, but your insurer may still investigate fault, medical causation, damages, policy terms, and available limits.

Depending on the circumstances, Winston Law Firm can:

• Investigate how the collision occurred
• Confirm whether the at-fault driver was uninsured or underinsured
• Review all potentially applicable insurance policies
• Examine UM selection or rejection forms
• Determine whether coverage is stacked or non-stacked
• Review household and commercial policies when relevant
• Preserve accident evidence
• Collect police reports, photographs, video, and witness statements
• Document medical treatment and future care needs
• Calculate lost income and reduced earning capacity
• Communicate with insurance adjusters
• Evaluate settlement proposals
• Prepare and pursue litigation when necessary

Having UM coverage does not guarantee that every issue will be undisputed. The insurer may still disagree about how the crash occurred, whether the collision caused particular injuries, the seriousness of those injuries, or the amount of damages supported by the evidence.

Compensation Available Through a UM or UIM Claim

The amount you can recover depends on the policy, applicable coverage limits, injury severity, evidence of fault, medical prognosis, comparative responsibility, and other circumstances.

Depending on the case and available coverage, damages may include:

Medical Expenses

• Emergency transportation
• Hospital treatment
• Diagnostic imaging
• Physician care
• Surgery
• Physical therapy
• Rehabilitation
• Prescription medication
• Medical equipment
• Future medical treatment

Lost Income and Reduced Earning Capacity

Serious injuries may prevent someone from working temporarily or permanently affect the person’s ability to earn income in the future.

Pain and Other Non-Economic Losses

Florida restricts recovery of pain, suffering, mental anguish, and inconvenience in qualifying motor vehicle cases unless the injury satisfies the applicable serious-injury threshold.

Whether that threshold is met can depend on medical evidence involving permanent injury, significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function, significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, or death.

Wrongful Death Losses

If an uninsured or underinsured motorist causes a fatal collision, applicable UM coverage may also become relevant to a wrongful death claim depending on the insurance policy and circumstances.

Evidence That Can Strengthen an Uninsured Motorist Claim

A UM insurer may still require evidence establishing that the uninsured or underinsured driver was legally responsible and that the collision caused the injuries and losses being claimed.

Relevant evidence can include:

• Police crash reports
• Accident-scene photographs
• Vehicle damage photographs
• Dashcam footage
• Surveillance footage
• Witness statements
• Insurance information for the at-fault driver
• Confirmation of the other driver’s liability limits
• Your automobile insurance policy and declarations pages
• UM selection or rejection forms
• Medical records and diagnostic studies
• Employment and wage documentation
• Expert analysis when liability or damages are disputed

Identify and preserve evidence as early as reasonably possible because surveillance video can be overwritten, witnesses may become difficult to locate, and damaged vehicles may be repaired or destroyed.

Deadlines for Uninsured Motorist and Car Accident Claims in Florida

Different deadlines can apply to the negligence claim against the at-fault driver and the contractual UM claim against an insurance company.

Florida currently generally provides a two-year limitations period for negligence actions, including many lawsuits against drivers who cause motor vehicle crashes.

A claim for uninsured or underinsured motorist benefits under a written insurance policy is different. Florida courts generally apply the five-year limitations period governing actions founded on written contracts to UM claims.

Even that rule should not be treated as a simple five-year countdown in every case. Florida courts have addressed how policy provisions, exhaustion requirements, settlement with the at-fault driver’s insurer, and other circumstances can affect when the limitations period runs or is tolled.

For that reason, an injured person should not assume the filing deadline without reviewing the policy and the claim’s circumstances.

Waiting can also damage a case long before any statute of limitations expires because evidence can disappear and insurance issues may become more difficult to investigate.

Can Uninsured Motorist Coverage Apply to a Hit-and-Run?

UM coverage may also matter after certain hit-and-run crashes because the at-fault motorist may never be identified, or there may be no liability policy to pursue.

Whether a particular hit-and-run qualifies for UM benefits depends on the policy and facts surrounding the collision.

After a hit-and-run accident, useful steps may include contacting law enforcement, photographing vehicle damage and the scene, preserving dashcam footage, identifying nearby surveillance cameras, obtaining witness information, and promptly notifying the appropriate insurer.

A coverage review can determine whether UM benefits may apply even when the responsible driver cannot be located.

Uninsured Motorist Accidents in Sunrise

Sunrise includes heavily traveled local roads and major regional highways, including University Drive, Sunrise Boulevard, Oakland Park Boulevard, Flamingo Road, Interstate 75, Interstate 595, and the Sawgrass Expressway.

Crashes along these routes may involve local residents, commuters, visitors, commercial vehicles, rideshare drivers, and motorists traveling between Sunrise and other parts of Broward County.

If the person who caused the collision carries little or no bodily injury insurance, the crash location does not change the central coverage problem. The injured person’s available insurance policies must be examined for additional sources of recovery.

That may involve PIP benefits, the at-fault driver’s available bodily injury coverage, UM/UIM insurance, household policies, employer or commercial coverage, or other applicable policies.

Related Sunrise Car Accident Resources

An uninsured motorist claim is often one part of a larger car accident case. Winston Law Firm has additional Sunrise resources that may be relevant to your circumstances.

• Sunrise car accident lawyers:
  Learn more about PIP, negligence, insurance claims, damages, serious injuries, and the broader Florida car accident process.
• Sunrise personal injury lawyers:
  Review broader rules involving negligence, insurance disputes, damages, catastrophic injuries, and other serious injury claims.
• Sunrise defective roadway accident lawyers:
  Roadway design, construction, maintenance, drainage, traffic controls, and other road conditions can sometimes contribute to a collision.
• Sunrise traumatic brain injury lawyers:
  Serious crashes can cause concussions and other brain injuries affecting memory, concentration, balance, personality, and employment.
• Sunrise spinal cord injury lawyers:
  Spinal cord injuries may create significant future medical needs, disability, reduced earning capacity, and long-term care requirements.
• Sunrise wrongful death lawyers:
  Families dealing with a fatal collision may have rights under Florida’s Wrongful Death Act as well as potentially applicable insurance coverage.

You can also review Winston Law Firm’s notable case results and our guide, Five Deadly Sins That Can Wreck Your Injury Claim.

Sunrise Uninsured Motorist FAQs

Is uninsured motorist coverage required in Florida?

Not always. Florida generally requires insurers issuing applicable policies with bodily injury liability coverage to offer uninsured motorist coverage, but the named insured may reject the coverage in writing or select lower limits.

What is the difference between uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage?

Uninsured motorist coverage addresses crashes involving motorists without applicable bodily injury liability insurance. Underinsured motorist coverage may apply when the at-fault driver’s bodily injury limits are not sufficient to address the injured person’s damages.

Can I make a UM claim against my own insurance company?

Yes, when applicable UM coverage exists. Although you file the claim under your own policy, the insurer may still investigate fault, medical causation, injuries, damages, and coverage.

Does PIP replace uninsured motorist coverage?

No. PIP and UM coverage serve different purposes. PIP provides certain no-fault medical and disability benefits, while UM coverage may provide additional compensation when an uninsured or underinsured driver is legally responsible for the collision.

What if I rejected uninsured motorist coverage?

If UM coverage was validly rejected, benefits may not be available under that policy. However, review the policy, rejection documents, household coverage, employer policies, and other potentially applicable insurance before assuming no UM coverage exists.

What does stacked uninsured motorist coverage mean?

Stacked UM coverage can allow limits associated with multiple insured vehicles to be combined in certain circumstances. Non-stacked coverage contains restrictions on how coverage may be combined. The actual policy determines which structure applies.

Can UM coverage apply after a hit-and-run?

Potentially. UM coverage may apply when a hit-and-run driver cannot be identified or there is no applicable liability insurance available. Whether coverage applies depends on the policy and facts surrounding the crash.

How long do I have to file a UM claim in Florida?

Florida courts generally apply the five-year limitations period for written contracts to uninsured motorist claims. Policy provisions, settlement activity, exhaustion requirements, and other circumstances may affect the actual deadline, so the policy and claim should be reviewed individually.

Can I sue the uninsured driver directly?

Potentially. An injured person may still have a negligence claim against the at-fault driver. Whether pursuing that driver directly is practical depends on liability, assets, insurance, damages, and other circumstances.

Can I recover pain and suffering through UM coverage?

Potentially. Florida’s motor vehicle serious-injury threshold applies to qualifying non-economic damages such as pain, suffering, mental anguish, and inconvenience. Whether the threshold is met depends on the nature and permanence of the injuries and supporting medical evidence.

Speak With a Sunrise Uninsured Motorist Accident Lawyer

Being hit by an uninsured or underinsured motorist does not necessarily mean there is no path to compensation. The key is identifying the insurance policies and legal claims that may apply.

Winston Law Firm can investigate the collision, review available coverage, evaluate UM and UIM benefits, document your injuries and losses, communicate with insurers, and pursue litigation when necessary.

If an uninsured or underinsured driver injured you in Sunrise, call Winston Law Firm at (954) 475-9666 to schedule a free consultation.