Taxi cabs are everywhere in the State of Florida, transporting many people from one place to another place every day. When a taxicab is involved in an accident, whether the fault is on the taxi driver or another motorist, passengers and drivers can experience severe and life-threatening injuries. If you or somebody close to you has been injured in a taxi accident, it is important to consult with a lawyer who is knowledgeable in these complex cases. Mr. Quackenbush fights hard for clients who have been injured in taxicabs in all areas of Florida. You might have several options in terms of a court case if you are injured in a taxicab accident. For one, you might be able to file a case against the taxicab company. There are many major taxi companies in Broward County.
Many times, a person injured in a taxicab because of the driver’s negligence will have substantial damages in the form of lost wages and medical bills. Trying to recover damages from the taxicab driver is often difficult since many don’t have any personal assets. Consequently, it becomes essential to recover damages from the company that provided the taxicab. This can be done based on a theory of vicarious liability which indicates that a company is accountable for the acts of its workers. In the case of a taxi cab wreck, it may be found that the taxicab company is liable for the actions of the taxicab driver. This will only be accurate if at the time of the accident the taxi cab driver was acting “in the scope of his employment”. In other words, if at the time of your accident, the taxi driver was fleeing from the police, the taxicab company could argue the cab driver was not operating within the scope of his employment (that is he should not have been fleeing from police) and therefore escape liability.
If you are injured in a taxicab accident, you might also be able to pursue a case against the taxicab company based on the “dangerous instrumentality” doctrine. Typically, after an accident or injury, the owner of a dangerous instrumentality (such as a taxi) will be held strictly responsible for the negligence of the driver. The reason for this is that the State Legislature has decided that the public policy of the State of Florida should not be to allow owners to escape liability for the occurrence just because they let somebody else drive their vehicle. All of us, including lawmakers, know that all motor vehicles have the tendency to cause severe injuries or death as they can all reach high speeds and offer relatively little protection against injury or death. This is the reason for making the owners of such vehicles accountable for the carnage that happens on our roadways, skies, and waterways. As such, owners must ensure that their vehicles are maintained correctly and that they think twice before they lend their vehicles out to other people who may not drive with the same level of care.
If you or someone you love has suffered an injury in any kind of taxicab accident anywhere in the State of Florida (including Miami, Miami-Dade County, Fort Lauderdale, and Broward County), contact Mr. Quackenbush at 954-448-7288 for a free, no-obligation consultation.
Mr. Quackenbush will work a contingency basis, which means that you don’t pay any attorney’s fees unless he wins compensation for you. Discuss your case with an experienced attorney like Mr. Quackenbush and let him take care of the rest.
In the State of Florida, according to act 324.031, taxicabs have to carry a minimum of $125,000 in bodily injury (BI) coverage per person and $250,000 per wreck. Bodily injury (BI) coverage is a type of insurance that will cover you for your injuries. The BI insurance of another vehicle driver should cover you for the injuries that were caused by the accident.
On the other hand, uninsured or underinsured motorist (UM) coverage provides insurance coverage to the policyholder for damages caused by the carelessness of a driver of a vehicle that does not have insurance. UIM coverage provides insurance coverage should the negligent driver’s insurance coverage be inadequate to pay for all of the harm they cause.
Uninsured Motorist coverage is not mandatory. That is, you don’t have to purchase it when buying auto insurance. Also, you have the choice to buy “stacked” UM coverage. Stacked coverage means that your policy limits are multiplied by the number of vehicles in your home. For instance, after a taxicab accident, if the value of your injuries is more than $125,000 (the typical size of the taxicab’s insurance policy) you may be able to recover from your own uninsured motorist insurance policy. The first $125,000 would come from the taxicab company’s insurance policy, and then anything in excess of that would come from your uninsured motorist policy. Mr. Quackenbush can help you to pursue both of these amounts.
You also might be entitled to personal injury protection or “No-Fault” insurance that is mandated by the state of Florida for all drivers to carry. Personal Injury Protection insurance pays for injuries you sustain in an accident in spite of who was at-fault in the accident. It will pay up to eighty percent of your medical bills and/or lost wages and cover you for up to $10,000 of your lost wages or medical expenses. You automatically have Personal Injury Protection coverage if you have automobile insurance in the State of Florida.
Since taxicabs are required to carry only $125,000 in BI coverage per person and $250,000 per accident, if the taxi causes an accident and causes injures to an individual, the individual will be able to gather, at most, $125,000 from the taxicab’s insurance company. If several people are injured in the accident, then those people can collect, all together, up to $250,000. So, as an example, if two people are injured by a taxicab, they will each be able to collect up to $125,000 – for a total of $250,000. If three or more people are injured by a cab, they will each be able to collect up to $125,000 individually, although the total amount of money collected cannot be more than $250,000. So, in the case where a taxi cab accident causes catastrophic injuries to numerous people, the injured victims might be stuck dividing the $250,000.
However, after your accident, if the insurance company for the taxicab doesn’t tender its policy limits, it can be found to be in bad faith. Specifically, the law requires insurance companies to operate in good faith – that is respond to plaintiffs who have been injured, negotiate in good faith, and pay out their policy limits when the injuries caused by a wreck warrant it. In any case, if the insurance company doesn’t do this, then a jury could find that the insurance company is in bad faith. The result of this is that the insurance company could be liable for more than their policy limits. For instance, at the time of the accident, if the taxicab company had $125,000 of coverage per person and the victim of a cab accident was paralyzed in the accident, then the insurancecompany would typically be expected to pay out the $125,000 policy limits to the catastrophically injured person since the value of the injuries obviously exceed the $125,000 policy limits. Mr. Quackenbush can help to do this whole process.
In order to obtain a “bad faith” judgment and collect more than the insurance policy limits, a catastrophically injured person would have to go to trial to prove his or her damages. If the jurors awarded an amount greater than the insurance policy limits, then there would have to be a second trial. In that next “bad faith” trial, the only question for the jurors would be whether or not the insurance company had acted in bad faith – for example whether the insurance company should have paid the policy limits initially. If the judges decided that the insurance company had not acted in bad faith, then the catastrophically injured person would be stuck with the insurance policy limits. Alternatively, if the jurors decided that the insurance company had acted in bad faith, then the catastrophically injured individual would recover whatever amount the jurors in the first trial had awarded.
You might be able to pursue a personal injury case against the driver of the taxi if you are injured while traveling in a taxicab. Alternatively, your case might be against the other driver if the wreck was caused by the driver of another vehicle. You might have a case against the driver of the taxicab if you are driving your own vehicle and you are hit by a taxicab.
If you or someone you know has been injured in a taxicab accident due to someone else’s carelessness or negligence anywhere in Palm Beach County (Belle Glade, Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Greenacres, Jupiter, Lake Worth, Lantana, North Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Palm Springs, Riviera Beach, Royal Palm Beach and Wellington), call at 954-448-7288 to contact Mr. Quackenbush for free, no-obligation consultation.
If you make the choice to hire Mr. Quackenbush to represent you, he will work on a contingency-fee basis. This means he will not collect a fee unless he wins for you.