I Am Not Legally Allowed To Say I Am the Best Florida Lawyer

This tragic accident on I-95 in Daytona Beach on Wednesday night was caused by a suspected drunk driver and resulted in the death of a young woman and seriously injured a family of three.

The guy who caused the accident was arrested for drunk driving and is uninjured. Hopefully justice will be served in the future for this driver because nothing about the accident was just in my eyes. Why is it that the drunk driver is completely unhurt while one innocent woman died and a family of three was seriously injured?

Mark Lester Wolf, 39, of Palm Coast was speeding southbound in his Mercedes and did not even hit the brakes before rear-ending a ‘06 Nissan Frontier driven by Christopher T. Reaney, of Port Orange. The Frontier spun clockwise, overturned with its roof hitting a metal sign pole. Everyone inside was wearing their seatbelts but Kelly L. Frates, 35, of Port Orange died from her injuries.

Chris Reaney, Catherine Reaney, 66, and William Reaney, 68, also of Port Orange were taken to Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach with serious injuries.

I pray the Reaney family members recover fully from their injuries, but they likely face a long road back. While my heart goes out to them and to the family of Kelly Frates, as a lawyer, my thoughts are also drawn to the legal implications.

For everyone reading this blog, this is a stark reminder why you need underinsured motorist coverage. I haven’t seen Wolf’s insurance policy but I wouldn’t be surprised if he does not carry enough bodily injury insurance to cover the damages he caused. Someone who is reckless enough to drink and drive so irresponsibly does not strike me as the kind of person who will carry lots of insurance to protect others.

That is why it’s so important for us, the responsible drivers to protect ourselves. Insurance companies do not explain the importance of underinsured coverage because it is not in their best interest to do so. The Reaneys may not have even heard their agent mention those words. If Wolf’s insurance won’t cover the damages and the Reaneys don’t have adequate underinsured coverage, they might be looking at out-of-pocket payment for their medical bills. The majority of US bankruptcies are due to medical expenses. I hope it doesn’t come to that.

It may not if the Reaneys can avail themselves of a recent court case that could allow them to collect punitive damages from Wolf’s insurance company. Normally, auto insurance companies do not have to pay for the punitive damages caused by a drunk driver. However, a wrinkle in insurance law says that if certain conditions exist, then the insurance company can be on the hook for punitive damages.

If Wolf is underinsured or uninsured and the Reaneys do not carry underinsured coverage, this punitive damages strategy is likely the only avenue for the Reaneys to cover their medical expenses.

For more information about auto insurance, how to protect yourself and pay for your injuries, visit this car accident lawyer site.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 26th, 2009 at 2:58 pm and is filed under Auto Accidents, Current Events, Insurance. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will appear immediately, but I reserve the right to delete innapropriate comments.