QUESTION

Son was injured when car fell off of jack while helping his friend change oil in his friends car. Has no license. Why being handled by Geico?

Asked on Oct 04th, 2013 on Personal Injury - Florida
More details to this question:
I have a question...My son is 18(in high school and has no drivers license). He was helping a friend change his oil at his friends house and the car slipped off of the jack while my son was underneath it. Luckily he's still alive and only suffered some lacerations on his face that required stitches and some bruising on his face. The emergency room asked for his auto insurance card after explaining what had happened. They took ours instead after explaining that he doesn't have a license nor is on our auto policy. This was about a month ago and now Geico is stating that they are working on the claim but I will be responsible for 20% of bill due to hospital. Why is this not being billed under our medical insurance as opposed to Geico when he's not a licensed driver and this didn't involve our vehicle nor did it even happen at our residence? thanks for any clarification you can provide.
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1 ANSWER

Personal Injury Law Attorney serving Miami, FL
3 Awards
I am sorry to hear about your son's injuries. Please let me explain what is going on. If the injury arises out of the occupation or use of a motor vehicle (which from what you said, it does), then the claim is payable under "a" vehicles Personal Injury Protection coverage (PIP). I say "A" vehicle's coverage, because Florida law sets out tiers of primary and secondary vehicle coverage to pay.  (I will address using your health coverage also, and your fear of personal responsibility in the last paragraph).  Florida is a "no-fault" state. That means no matter who is at fault for a motor vehicle related injury, each person's own PIP coverage pays the first $10,000.00 of bills. If the injured person does not own a vehicle, then by law the next insurance that pays will be the PIP coverage of a resident relative (a family member in his household). Only if the person does not own a car and does not live with someone who has PIP coverage, does the car which he was occupying pay (that includes a car that fell on him as you described it). Having said all this, the liability coverage of the car which fell on him could also come into play. Assuming the car had liability coverage and the injury was caused by the negligence of someone other then your son, that vehicles insurance would be responsible for the bills not covered by your PIP coverage and for pain, suffering and significant scarrring, if the injuries are significant enough. This latter issues is more involved that I can respond to in an email. As for your responsibility, unless you signed something at the hospital agreeing to be financially responsible for his medical bills, I don't see where you personally can  be legally responsible for his outstanding medical expenses. Health Insurance raises a somewhat complicated issue. As a lawyer, we handle this situation for clients all the time, but it can be confusing to individuals. I am assuming your health insurance will not pay because the amount paid by PIP is more then the contractual amount they would have paid the hospital in full payment of the bill (minus co-pays and deductibles). In that situation we get the hospital to write off the 20%, since they already received more then what the health carrier would have paid. You need to get an explanation of benefits from the health carrier explaining that is why they did not pay the bill and show that to the company. If the hospital never submitted the bill and they know about the health coverage, you need to make sure they send it. Again, this is more complicated then what I can get into here. If there is a specific issue you need more information on please let me know.  Scope of Answer: This is a general answer. I may not have all the facts to give you a full and accurate response and it should not be considered legal advise.
Answered on Oct 08th, 2013 at 7:09 PM

Jonathan Groff is an AV Preeminent, rated Personal Injury attorney representing clients throughout Florida. (305) 661-3633; Mobile, (305) 302-8807

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