A warning to uninsured drivers

By NANCY PARADIS

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 11, 2000

I was involved in an automobile accident on Aug. 7, 1998. The other driver was at fault and ticketed by the Florida Highway Patrol. My truck sustained a lot of damage (bent frame) as did my knee. I have incurred $3,300 worth of unpaid bills because the other driver had no insurance. My credit has been ruined.

Neither of two lawyers I contacted will take the case. Is there anything I can do to receive compensation? I have written to the insurance commissioner to no avail. Is there any way I can get a judgment against the other driver to pay the hospital bills, or have the bills put in her name? Isn't it illegal in Florida to drive without insurance? Another twist is that the car belonged to someone else.

Please answer my questions quickly; time is running out. If I decide to go to small claims court, I only have two years to do so. If I do, should I sue the driver or the owner of the car? Karen Roberts

Response: Your best bet is going to be small claims court, and your chances of collecting will probably be twice as good if you sue the driver AND the owner of the car. Keep in mind that getting a judgment does not automatically mean you will collect, but in this case, a judgment against the driver and the owner can have repercussions on their ability to legally operate and register a vehicle. To explain why, we have to introduce you to the Bureau of Financial Responsibility within the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Its sole purpose is to make sure that everyone has insurance to pay for any damages they cause and to help folks recover these damages and be compensated for their injuries.

T.N. Prakash, bureau chief, said that any time there's an accident involving an injury, in which a person is charged with a moving violation, the information is sent to the bureau's data base. The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles then mails an inquiry to the vehicle operator and owner requesting proof of bodily injury coverage at the time of the accident. If they did not have bodily injury coverage, they must purchase this coverage and have it certified by their insurance company to the department on Form SR-22. This coverage is required of both the vehicle operator and owner for three years from the date of their notice expiration or their suspension date. The insurance company, in turn, is required to notify the department if the coverage for bodily injury is dropped during the three-year period. If the driver of the vehicle at the time of the crash does not own a car, he or she must purchase a non-owner's bodily injury policy and provide a SR-22.

But that's not all. The department also requires releases from the victims that they were compensated in full for their bodily injuries and/or property damages. The vehicle owner and operator have 30 days to respond to the department's request. Failure to do so results in automatic suspension of the driver's license, tags and registration and the owner's registration and tag (on all vehicles owned) for three years.

Prakash said your case illustrates how the system works. A copy of your long-form report, which nearly always indicates an injury, was sent to the department and both the driver cited in your accident and the owner of the car involved were sent requests for proof of bodily injury coverage. Neither responded to the department's request. As a result, the driver's license, tags, and registrations were suspended in April 1999 and the vehicle owner's registration and tag were suspended at the same time.

To have the license and registration/tag reinstated at this point, all they need to show the department is proof of bodily injury coverage. The requirement to get a release from you, the accident victim, expired one year from the suspension date. Prakash said if either the driver or the owner comes in and provides proof of having bodily injury coverage with an SR-22 and an administrative fine, she will get back her license or registration/tag, whichever was suspended. But, if you get a judgment against them and forward the judgment to the Bureau of Financial Responsibility, the suspensions will go into effect again. Furthermore, once you have a judgment, the suspensions remain in effect for 20 years or until the judgment is satisfied. In other words, this could mean no license and no registration/tags until April 2019. On top of this, these suspensions are nationwide, so they cannot move out of state and expect this problem to go away.

Here are some other points to consider. The only two kinds of insurance required by Florida law are personal injury protection (PIP) and property damage liability. (So yes, it is illegal to drive without insurance in Florida.) If you were properly insured yourself, your PIP should have covered you. However, since PIP pays only 80 percent of reasonable medical expenses, and generally only up to $10,000, you can be left holding the bill for the 20 percent balance and any deductible.

Should you decide to pursue this in small claims court, the easiest and cheapest route for you to go, said David Bateman, assistant manager of Pinellas County circuit civil court, is to file one claim and list both parties. You would then have to pay only one filing fee of $106.50, which you can add to the damages you are seeking, on top of the service charge of $20 each to have the summonses served.

Good luck in court, if you go. And if you do, once you have a judgment, send a copy of it to: Bureau of Financial Responsibility, 2900 Apalachee Parkway, MS97, Tallahassee, FL 32399-0585.

More information on car insurance is available at the Department of Motor Vehicle and Highway Safety's Web site, http://www.hsmv.state.fl.us. Click on driver license under frequently asked questions and then insurance.

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