Injury Lawyers Florida

Reforms -- and Consumer Awareness -- Needed to Combat Perils of PIP Insurance ...

Reforms -- and Consumer Awareness -- Needed to Combat Perils of PIP Insurance Fraud, Says Personal Injury Lawyer Patrick J. Tighe Unscrupulous legal and medical professionals pose a danger to consumers by turning personal injury protection insurance into their private ATM, says attorney Tighe of X1LAW.com. Illegally soliciting automobile accident victims, they abuse no-fault benefits intended for medical care -- putting their own interests before consumers’ and leaving coverage depleted when true medical needs arise. Reforms are urgently needed -- but in the meantime, consumers must be wary, and on the lookout for fraud.

West Palm Beach, FL (PRWEB) June 22, 2011

Consumers are being fleeced by unscrupulous legal and medical professionals who have turned vital auto insurance coverage -- the $10,000 personal injury protection policies Florida drivers must carry to help cover medical care in motor vehicle accidents -- into their own cash machine, says personal injury and insurance lawyer Patrick J. Tighe. The problem isn’t new, but it isn’t going away, so an aggressive attack on it is needed, according to Tighe, senior partner of the West Palm Beach personal injury law firm , X1LAW.com. That means reforms -- but also increased vigilance and awareness by consumers, who stand to suffer great harm if PIP fraud is allowed to continue.

“This is a problem that everyone in the insurance industry -- from insurance companies to regulators to personal injury lawyers -- knows is out of control,” says Tighe, who has been representing injured automobile accident victims for over a decade. “Say you’re in a motor vehicle accident. Seemingly as soon a police report is completed, you’ll get a call telling you about this magic $10,000 that’s available -- some for a doctor you’re referred to, some for you to keep. This is a completely illegal solicitation. No legitimate lawyer will ever contact you with such a proposal. And the proposal is misleading, too. The $10,000 is not a gift. It’s intended to go entirely to legitimate, necessary medical care in the wake of a motor vehicle accident.”

Unsuspecting consumers, Tighe warns, are often left helpless when true medical attention is later needed. "What this fraud does is deplete the $10,000 PIP coverage at the beginning of the case,” the injury lawyer says. “The doctor you didn't need gets most of it. The person who found your name on a police report and sold it to the highest bidder gets some, too. So when there is a need for true treatment later after the accident, and a real medical expense your PIP would normally cover, your coverage is gone. So, too, by the way, are all those people who so badly wanted to help you out the first time around." Consumers are left in a very bad place, with real injuries and no more benefits to pay for care.

St. Augustine Resident Dies After Woman Runs Red Light | Steinger ...

June 22, 2011

A 57-year-old woman from St. Augustine, Florida, died on Monday, June 30, during a three-car crash at the intersection of County Road 220 and East-West Parkway in Clay County.

At 11:55 a.m. the woman was waiting to turn her 2002 Volkswagon westbound onto County Road 220 from East-West Parkway when an eastbound 2003 Toyota Camry driven by a 40-year-old Orange Park woman failed to stop at a red light. The Camry plowed into the woman’s Volkswagon on the driver’s side.

The Volkswagon then spun and hit a nearby 2008 Toyota whose 34-year-old driver, also a St. Augustine resident, was not injured.

The Volkswagon’s driver was taken to Jacksonville’s Shands Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The driver of the Camry suffered minor injuries as did an eight-year-old passenger in the Camry.

The Florida Highway Patrol reports that all parties were wearing their seatbelts and that charges are pending further investigation.

According to The St.