Syfrett & Dykes is proud to have sponsored the very successful Chick-Fil-A Leadercast in Panama City on May 4, 2012! It was a great event. Can’t wait for CFAL 2013!

This is information you need to know and must know to protect your family in today’s new insurance world. The reason the score is 14 to ZERO is 14 DAYS after your crash is ALL the time you have to seek medical treatment or you will ZERO PIP benefits after your crash. In my 18 years of practicing law, this is the very first time I have heard of any legislation actually setting a trigger of such a short period of time to take action or lose all of your benefits. Granted, it is the law and the Legislature has the right to pass laws they deem constitutional, but this new law feels like it was written specifically for the insurance industry and in favor of the insurance industry. As a Florida motorists you are REQUIRED to buy this coverage and have it in place on your Florida vehicle. So, the insurance industry is guaranteed a premium that we Floridians have no choice about. Then, if something happens and you don’t get treatment within the first 14 days after your crash, then by law your insurer owes you ZERO for no-fault medical benefits and lost wages.

BUT WAIT, there’s more. If you do seek medical treatment within the first 14 days, but you do not have an “emergency medical condition” as defined by the new law, then your benefits are reduced from $10,000 to only $2,500. Again, a pretty good deal if you write insurance policies and in my opinion a very bad deal if you are having to pay insurance premiums. So, under the “new law,” how many of us really believe that our PIP premiums will be reduced by 75% like our coverage is? It’s okay, I didn’t think you would believe that.

BUT WAIT, there’s even more. Let’s assume Dr. A ceritifies you have an “emergency medical condition” and therefore you continue treating past the $2,500 mark. Well, requiring the insurance company to pay at that point is still a little too much to ask so now the insurance company has what I refer to as a “clawback” provision. That’s right, let’s assume the insurance company gets a doctor to say in retrospect you did not have an “emergency medical condition” then they don’t have to pay anything above $2,500.

This law was supposedly passed due to “tons and tons” of fraud in South Florida. My issue is then go to South Florida and arrest the people guilty of fraud and prosecute them. Don’t pass a law that may as well be titled the “Early Christmas Present for Insurance Companies 2012 Law.”

For more on what PIP is supposed to do and what PIP used to do, please see my first book, The Ultimate Consumer Guide to Automobile Insurance in Florida that is available for free from our website.

Until next time, if I can help you in anyway, then please feel free to contact me at (850) 785-3400 or e-mail me at ddykes@syfrett-dykes.com.

While attorneys are often happy to tell prospective clients about their case victories, they should also be willing to answer questions about cases they ultimately lost. Keep in mind that not every case can be resolved favorably for every client. Learning about an attorney’s “lost” cases, however, may provide insight into whether this attorney is the right one for your case. It may tell you something about the attorney’s honesty, and it may help you determine what the attorney learned that would benefit you in your pursuit of justice for your injury.  It is the attorney’s overall practice of  law that you will want to consider.

(Excerpt taken from Doug Dykes’ new book, Pursuing Justice for the Injured.)

Young Frankenstein is at the Marina Civic Center Monday night! Enter here for 2 free tickets ($100 value!)

We’ll announce the randomly-drawn winner on our Facebook page this Friday morning!  Winner can pick up tickets at Syfrett & Dykes downtown office on Friday or Monday.  Event is next Monday night, October 31!

Congrats to Kristi Ford, our winner!

Introduced by New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand on March 9, 2011, this bill would provide driver safety grants to states with graduated driver licensing (GDL) laws, which include night-time driving and passenger restrictions for young drivers.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 175 lives could be saved and about 350,000 injuries prevented each year if every state had a strong GDL policy.  Graduated Driving Laws help new drivers gain experience under low-risk conditions by granting driving privileges in stages, the CDC said.

In the past decade, more than 90,000 Americans were killed in motor vehicle crashes involving drivers between 15 and 20 years of age, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Young drivers between ages 16 and 20 have a fatality rate that is 4 times higher than the rate for drivers between ages 25 and 70, the administration said.

So is it time to make some changes to prevent needless fatalities and personal injury caused by young, inexperienced drivers?  While it might not be popular with teen-agers, it seems to make good sense according to statistics.

Proper inflation of tires is very important to the safety of driving your automobile or motorcycle.  And it’s fuel efficient to boot!  See our give-away on facebook and get those tires properly inflated this weekend!

For information on proper tire pressure, visit this link:http://cars.cartalk.com/content/advice/tirepressure.html

Distracted driving is causing way too many deaths and personal injuries.  This could be a great solution to keep your family members (especially teen-age drivers) from being tempted to text and talk while driving.  Check out Protector.com today!

• The amount of their limits in the case
• Any coverage defenses in the case (reasons not to honor their obligations under the insurance contract)
• Any other coverages known to them in this case.

Don’t make decisions regarding your legal health without knowing all the facts. If you need assistance in any area regarding a Florida Personal Injury Case we would be happy to talk with you about this at no charge at all.