Unfortunately, in general, Bodily Injury Liability coverage is not required in the State of Florida.  If a person purchases a mandatory Personal Injury Protection coverage, also known as Florida no fault, then they are not required to purchase Bodily Injury Liability coverage.  There are some exceptions such as when someone has a leased vehicle they are required to carry $100,000.00 per individual, $300,000.00 per occurrence in Bodily Injury Liability coverage, and if someone drives a motorcycle, then they are excluded from the Personal Injury Protection coverage requirement and thus are required to carry Bodily Injury Liability coverage in the minimum amount of $10,000.00 per individual, $20,000.00 per occurrence.  (See our prior article on Motorcycle Coverage in Florida).

Therefore, since people are not typically required to carry Bodily Injury Liability coverage in Florida, they do not purchase it and thus are not insured for injuries they cause to others when at fault in an accident.  This is one of the major reasons why at the Law Office of Charles Philips we always recommend that you purchase Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage to provide compensation for the injuries that are caused to you by an uninsured or underinsured motorist.  (See our prior article on Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage).

In recent years there has been an explosion of social networking websites, such as Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace, or blogs like Bloggers and Live Journal. While these sites are enjoyable to participate in and a great way to keep up with friends and family all over the world there are significant potential problems for your personal injury case by publicly sharing your personal information with others. Many people do not realize how public these sites can be, especially when you consider that every person you are connected to and every person connected to them can potentially access as your page so when you post your thoughts, personal photos, weekend activities, and family outings, many other people can read it including an insurance company representative, or an insurance defense attorney.

It has been my experience that most people in Florida are unaware of the fact that if they purchased Bodily Injury Liability coverage under their automobile insurance policy and they are sued by an injured party from an accident that they were involved in, then they are entitled to representation by a defense attorney, chosen and paid for by their insurance company.

The cost of this attorney and the cost of the lawsuit is in excess of the policy limits that the person purchased from their automoblie insurance company.