The no-fault insurance system in Florida will see some major changes during the legislative session. Motorists in Florida are now required to obtain personal injury protection by paying $10,000. This is also better known as PIP and the amount is paid to the individual regardless of who is at fault. Fraudsters are having a field day at the moment as they are taking undue advantage of this system. Due to this, auto insurance premiums have skyrocketed because insurance companies are dealing with a number of claims every day.
Florida is a state that has the most expensive auto insurance rates, as per the Insurance Information Institute. The insurance companies have to shell out thousands of dollars for a fender bender.
During one such staged accident, Walt Dartland had become the innocent victim. The vehicle ahead of him simply stopped and he just merely touched them. The occupants in that vehicle simply got out and pulled the car over and simply walked into the office of a chiropractor. Despite the fact that Dartland suggested that they call the police, they did not pay attention to what he said.
Dartland is the executive director of Consumer Federation of Southeast and he is also the former deputy attorney-general. So, he knew the situation that he was in and knew exactly what they wanted.
The way it works is quite simple: First, a group of individuals are recruited by the clinic owners and these people are asked to stage a very minor accident where no one really gets hurt. Yet, they insist on going to the chiropractor’s clinic. There is no treatment given to these individuals, but huge claims are filed under the PIP. It may run into thousands of dollars at times. This amount is then divided between the clinic operators, passengers, as well as the lawyers.
Although the no-fault system was aimed at helping policyholders, where it was meant to take care of economic losses and provide treatment for accident victims – that is not the case anymore. This system was created so that crash victims could avail treatment without actually filing a lawsuit and without proving anything in court. So, victims were essentially supposed to get treated regardless of who was at fault at the time of the accident. However, in the last 5 years, Florida has seen a huge increase of around 275% due to these no-fault related lawsuits. Billions of dollars are wasted on these fraudulent cases each year.
