Legal Question in Insurance Law in Florida

Re: How to make insurance co. pay fair settlement in DUI case.

Hi, I am extremely sorry to hear about you and your family's loss. So, here's some advice, which is the most I can offer you and yours right now:

"Stacking" of insurance policies occurs when the owner of several motor vehicles seeks to aggregate coverage afforded by separate policies on each of those vehicles.

UM coverage issued to the same insured may be stacked, but only by Class I insureds (persons covered regardless of their location when they are injured by an uninsured motorist) who are typically limited to the named insured and resident family members. Case: Florida Farm Bureau Cas. Co. v. Hurtado, 587 So.2d 1314 (Fla. Supreme Court 1991)

Therefore, absent a provision prohibiting stacking of coverage policies, it�s possible that the policies may be stacked.

However, as an alternative to coverage without limitations, insurers may offer policies of uninsured motorist (UM) coverage containing policy provisions, in language approved by the department of insurance, establishing that if the insured accepts the offer: (1) the coverage provided as to two or more motor vehicles will not be added together to determine the limit of insurance coverage available to an injured person for any one accident, except that if the injured person is occupying a motor vehicle which is not owned by him or her or by a family member residing with him or her, the injured person is entitled to the highest limits of UM coverage afforded for any one vehicle as to which he or she is a named insured or insured family member, such coverage to be excess over the coverage on the vehicle the injured person is occupying; (2) if at the time of the accident the injured person is occupying a motor vehicle, the uninsured motorist coverage available to him or her is the coverage available as to that motor vehicle; (3) the uninsured motorist coverage provided by the policy does not apply to the named insured or family members residing in her or his household who are injured while occupying any vehicle owned by such insureds for which uninsured motorist coverage was not purchased; and (4) if, at the time of the accident the injured person is not occupying a motor vehicle, he or she is entitled to select any one limit of uninsured motorist coverage for any one vehicle afforded by a policy under which he or she is insured as a named insured or as an insured resident of the named insured's household.

Ultimately, your relief would depend upon what your policy says. Without looking at your policy I couldn't tell whether they were offering you too much or not enough. If they improperly denied you, there may even be a possible bad faith claim which would exceed the policy limits. If I can be of further assistance let me know. Yours truly, Randall Gilbert

Re: How to make insurance co. pay fair settlement in DUI case.

You are understandibly concerned in not wanting to become involved in long court proceedings and would like to collect the proper amount of your insurance without paying a big percentage to a lawyer. If you will call at 305-804-5475 (my cell phone) I will be pleased to review your insurance policy coverage charging only for my time. If you have the stacked coverage of $900,000 (as I suspect you do) the insurance company can be held for "bad faith" damages if they refuse. I handled a similar coverage question for a severly disfigured flight attendant and received the full $900,000 along with an apology for the adjustor trying to low ball the claim.