Personal Injury Protection (PIP) Insurance – Recovering Lost Wages
One of the most common areas in which families suffer is when one of the family members have been in an auto accident and they experience lost wages due to a lack of Personal Injury Protection (PIP), covering them against time out of work either from recovering from the initial crash or from the time it takes to go to the doctor and receive medical treatment afterwards. There are a number of ways in which someone can receive compensation for their lost wages if they have been in an auto, motorcycle or other type of crash or accident.
The first way someone may be able to receive lost wages is through their own Personal Injury Protection (PIP) Insurance. Personal Injury Protection (PIP) Insurance is the type of insurance that is required under Florida Law and it will pay 60% of all lost wages up until $10,000.00.
This will also pay 80% of any medical bill up until $10,000.00 and that the medical bills and lost wages will come out of the same pool of money. Thus, if you are receiving medical treatment at the same time you are seeking lost wages, you may find the available amount of money for your lost wages will be lessened by the amount of medical bills that are paid.
In order to solve this problem your attorney should instruct the PIP adjuster to reserve a certain amount of your PIP benefits for lost wages. Most of the time they will accommodate you; however there are other times that they will feel an obligation to also reserve a certain amount for your medical bills. An argument may ensue between your attorney and the PIP adjuster which may need to be resolved in a different type of litigation then we have in the underlying accident case. However; generally speaking, PIP adjusters know that people lose time from work and will be accommodating in reserving at least a portion of your PIP benefits for lost wages.
How to Recover the Wages
To receive your lost wages under your PIP benefits there are forms that have to be filled out. These forms take time and the PIP adjuster has thirty (30) days to get you a check for your lost wages once it’s been presented to them. These thirty (30) days can very difficult for victims of auto accidents and other types of auto related injuries, due to the fact that they are going thirty (30) days without receiving any income and that will make it very difficult for them to pay their bills.
However, Florida law does give the PIP adjusters thirty (30) to pay once the bill has been received by them. Thus, it is important for your attorney to submit these bills as soon as possible. They cannot submit these bills without your assistance.
It would be strongly recommended that you get the proper documentation to your attorney as soon as possible so that you can recover your lost wages from an accident promptly and before they are exhausted by your medical bill payments.
