A Bradenton uninsured motorist lawyer helps people hurt by drivers who have no insurance, too little insurance, or who fled the scene. In Florida, these claims are usually made against the injured person's own uninsured motorist coverage, and that carrier often defends the claim as hard as the at-fault driver's insurer would. Have our 30 years of experience in personal injury go to work for you. No fees or costs unless we get results.
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Heintz Law represents injured drivers, passengers, motorcyclists, cyclists, and pedestrians in Bradenton, Palmetto, Manatee County, and the Suncoast after crashes with uninsured, underinsured, and hit-and-run drivers. Founding Partner Steven E. Heintz and our Bradenton uninsured motorist attorneys handle these claims as part of the firm's car accident lawyer practice, within our broader personal injury lawyer practice.
If an uninsured driver hits you in Florida, your own personal injury protection coverage pays first, up to its limits. Beyond that, your main source of recovery is usually your own uninsured motorist coverage, if you have it. You may also have a claim against the driver personally, but uninsured drivers rarely have assets to pay a judgment.
Florida requires drivers to carry personal injury protection and property damage liability coverage, but it does not require most drivers to carry bodily injury liability coverage. That means many insured drivers in Florida still have nothing that pays for the injuries they cause to someone else.
The problem is common. The Insurance Research Council estimated that about one in five Florida drivers was uninsured in 2023, among the highest rates in the country, and that more than a third of Florida drivers were underinsured, meaning their coverage was too low to pay the full cost of a serious crash.
Uninsured motorist coverage, often called UM coverage, is part of your own auto policy that pays for your injuries when the at-fault driver has no bodily injury coverage, too little coverage, or cannot be identified. It pays what you would have been legally entitled to recover from the at-fault driver, up to your UM limits.
In Florida, UM coverage includes underinsured motorist coverage. When the at-fault driver's bodily injury limits are lower than your total damages, your UM coverage can pay the difference, up to your UM limits.
UM coverage can also apply when:
Often, yes. UM coverage in Florida generally follows the insured person, not just the insured vehicle. Depending on the policy, it may protect you and resident family members while walking, riding a bicycle, riding as a passenger in another person's car, or riding in a rideshare vehicle.
How coverage applies depends on the policy language and whether you chose stacked or non-stacked coverage. Coverage for pedestrians and cyclists is especially important because they have no vehicle of their own involved in the crash. Our pedestrian accident lawyer, bicycle accident lawyer, and rideshare accident lawyer pages explain how coverage works in those cases.
Motorcyclists face a particular gap because motorcycles are not covered by Florida's personal injury protection system. UM coverage on a motorcycle policy can be one of the few sources of payment after a crash with an uninsured driver, as explained on our motorcycle accident lawyer page.
Stacked uninsured motorist coverage lets you add together the UM limits for each vehicle on your policy. Non-stacked coverage limits you to the coverage on one vehicle. Florida insurers may offer non-stacked coverage at a lower price, but only if the named insured signs an approved form accepting those limitations.
For example, with stacked coverage of $50,000 per vehicle on three insured vehicles, up to $150,000 in UM coverage may be available for one person's injuries. With non-stacked coverage, the same person would generally be limited to $50,000.
Non-stacked coverage also carries other limits. A person may be restricted to the coverage on the vehicle they were in at the time of the crash, and coverage may not apply when a household member is hurt in a household vehicle that did not carry UM coverage. The signed selection form and the declarations page decide which rules apply.
Florida law requires an insurer that sells bodily injury coverage to include UM coverage at the same limits unless the named insured rejects it or selects lower limits in writing on a state-approved form. If no valid signed rejection or selection form exists, UM coverage may be available even if you thought you did not have it.
Many people do not remember what they signed when they bought their policy, sometimes years earlier. Requesting the full policy, the declarations page, and every signed selection or rejection form is one of the first steps in an uninsured motorist case.
Questions our Bradenton uninsured motorist attorneys look at include:
Underinsured motorist coverage pays when the at-fault driver has bodily injury coverage, but not enough to pay your full damages. In Florida, it is part of uninsured motorist coverage. It pays the difference between your total damages and the at-fault driver's limits, up to your own UM limits.
Florida's lack of a bodily injury coverage requirement means many drivers who do buy it buy low limits. When a serious crash causes surgery, permanent injury, or lost work, those limits can be used up quickly.
Before settling with an at-fault driver's liability insurer, an injured person with an underinsured motorist claim must send written notice of the proposed settlement to the UM carrier by certified or registered mail. The UM carrier then has 30 days to approve the settlement or pay the offered amount itself to preserve its right to pursue the at-fault driver. Skipping this step can put the UM claim at risk.
An uninsured motorist claim can recover the damages you could have recovered from the at-fault driver, up to your UM limits, including medical bills and lost income beyond what PIP paid. Pain and suffering is recoverable only when the injury meets Florida's serious injury threshold, the same standard that applies in claims against at-fault drivers.
The serious injury threshold requires a permanent injury, a significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function, significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, or death. Florida law also prevents the UM carrier from reducing your coverage by setting off payments from other sources, such as liability coverage.
Florida law restricts insurers from raising premiums or canceling coverage because of a claim when the insured person was not at fault. A UM claim, by definition, involves a crash caused by another driver. Insurers do sometimes adjust overall rates for reasons unrelated to fault, so policyholders should review renewal notices.
Many people hesitate to make a claim against their own policy because they fear it will be held against them. UM coverage exists for exactly this situation, and premiums have already been paid for it.
In an uninsured motorist claim, your own insurer steps into the shoes of the at-fault driver. It can dispute fault, argue that your injuries came from something else, challenge your medical treatment, and argue that the serious injury threshold is not met, the same defenses the at-fault driver's insurer would raise.
Common positions UM carriers take include:
UM carriers may also require a recorded or sworn statement, medical records authorizations, and a compulsory medical examination, which is an exam by a physician the insurer selects. Policies often include cooperation requirements, so these requests should be handled with care.
Florida law allows a policyholder to bring a bad faith claim against a UM carrier that fails to settle a claim fairly and honestly when it could and should have done so. After the policyholder serves a civil remedy notice and the carrier fails to cure, the damages can include the full amount of the claim, even above the policy limits.
A UM bad faith claim generally follows the underlying UM case, which first establishes the full value of the injury. Florida's 2023 changes to bad faith law raised the standard for proving bad faith and added duties for claimants, so building the record from the start matters. Our bad faith insurance page explains these rules in more detail.
After a crash with an uninsured or hit-and-run driver, call 911, get the driver's information or a description of the vehicle, photograph the scene, collect witness names, and see a doctor within 14 days. Notify your own insurer promptly, because UM policies usually require prompt notice and cooperation.
Our article on what to do after a hit-and-run covers additional steps when the driver flees.
An uninsured motorist claim is based on your insurance contract, so it generally follows a different, longer deadline than the two-year negligence deadline that applies to most Florida crash claims arising on or after March 24, 2023. Policies also require prompt notice, and waiting can create disputes over coverage and evidence.
The two-year negligence deadline still applies to any claim against the at-fault driver or other responsible parties. When a crash involves both a liability claim and a UM claim, the earlier deadline usually controls planning. Our Florida statute of limitations page explains the deadlines in more detail.
Even when the driver who caused the crash has no insurance, another party may be responsible. The owner of the vehicle, the driver's employer, a bar that unlawfully served the driver, a road contractor, or a vehicle manufacturer may carry coverage. Each additional source is reviewed before UM coverage is used.
Our Bradenton uninsured motorist attorneys handle each case in stages, from first contact through coverage review, investigation, the claim to the UM carrier, discovery, mediation, trial, and appeal. Every file is prepared from the start as if a jury will hear it, because the carrier's view of trial risk shapes how it values the claim.
Steven E. Heintz is the Founding Partner of Heintz Law, a Bradenton firm that represents only injured people and their families. His approach is careful preparation, aggressive advocacy where the facts call for it, and trial readiness from the first conference. Settlement on the right number is welcome. Settlement that shortchanges a client is not.
Uninsured motorist cases are handled on a contingency fee, so there is no fee unless there is a recovery. For other crash claims in Bradenton, see our Bradenton car accident lawyer page.
If you or a family member was hurt by an uninsured, underinsured, or hit-and-run driver in Bradenton, Palmetto, or anywhere in Manatee County or the surrounding counties, Heintz Law can review every available policy, protect your claim against your own carrier, and explain your options under Florida law.
Have our 30 years of experience in personal injury go to work for you. No fees or costs unless we get results.
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