Miramar Beach, FL Personal Injury Law Firms & Lawyers

I am sorry to hear about your son's injuries. Please let me explain what is going on. If the injury arises out of the occupation or use of a motor vehicle (which from what you said, it does), then the claim is payable under "a" vehicles Personal Injury Protection coverage (PIP). I say "A" vehicle's coverage, because Florida law sets out tiers of primary and secondary vehicle coverage to pay.  (I will address using your health coverage also, and your fear of personal responsibility in the last paragraph).  Florida is a "no-fault" state. That means no matter who is at fault for a motor vehicle related injury, each person's own PIP coverage pays the first $10,000.00 of bills. If the injured person does not own a vehicle, then by law the next insurance that pays will be the PIP coverage of a resident relative (a family member in his household). Only if the person does not own a car and does not live with someone who has PIP coverage, does the car which he was occupying pay (that includes a car that fell on him as you described it). Having said all this, the liability coverage of the car which fell on him could also come into play. Assuming the car had liability coverage and the injury was caused by the negligence of someone other then your son, that vehicles insurance would be responsible for the bills not covered by your PIP coverage and for pain, suffering and significant scarrring, if the injuries are significant enough. This latter issues is more involved that I can respond to in an email. As for your responsibility, unless you signed something at the hospital agreeing to be financially responsible for his medical bills, I don't see where you personally can  be legally responsible for his outstanding medical expenses. Health Insurance raises a somewhat complicated issue. As a lawyer, we handle this situation for clients all the time, but it can be confusing to individuals. I am assuming your health insurance will not pay because the amount paid by PIP is more then the contractual amount they would have paid the hospital in full payment of the bill (minus co-pays and deductibles). In that situation we get the hospital to write off the 20%, since they already received more then what the health carrier would have paid. You need to get an explanation of benefits from the health carrier explaining that is why they did not pay the bill and show that to the company. If the hospital never submitted the bill and they know about the health coverage, you need to make sure they send it. Again, this is more complicated then what I can get into here. If there is a specific issue you need more information on please let me know.  Scope of Answer: This is a general answer. I may not have all the facts to give you a full and accurate response and it should not be considered legal advise.