Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Fatal Car Crash in West Palm Beach Provides Lessons to South Florida Re Importance of Insurance


It was six o'clock in the morning.

No one can know for sure when or if driver Rodlin Hyppolite, 39, saw that Mustang speeding toward the Mitsubishi Galant as Hyppolite drove along Elmhurst Road. Hyppolite died at the scene of the crash. Passenger Maryory Cruz, 21, survived the accident, but she's suffering from serious injuries. Both Hyppolite and Cruz hail from West Palm Beach.

Jorge Salinas, 27, was arrested for (1) driving without a license and causing death and (2) driving without a license and causing serious injury. The test results for whether or not he was driving drunk have not been released.

Here's the thing: right now, it's not a question of drunk driving -- it's a question of no insurance. If he didn't have a license to drive, then did he have insurance to cover a wreck?

The Importance of Having Car Insurance
From a legal perspective, there is Florida law in place for a wrongful death action in cases of fatal car accidents where the victim is not the one at fault for the wreck, as well as personal injury claims that are available to those who are seriously injured in accidents like these.

In other words, Florida law provides an avenue for justice here - both for the man who died in this wreck, as well as the passenger who today fights to recover from serious and painful injuries in a hospital intensive care unit.

However, even assuming that these avenues were used and damages were awarded, the reality is that insurance carriers are usually the pockets where most of the money actually comes from to satisfy personal injury and wrongful death judgments.

That's why car insurance is mandatory in so many states. To protect against cases like this: where the out-of-state driver -- who the police have already deemed responsible for this tragedy -- may well not have the personal resources to cover the literal and practical and real costs of what he has done.

Florida Law Regarding Mandatory Car Insurance
In Florida, the Florida Financial Responsibility Law requires that any person at fault in a crash resulting in bodily injury and property damage to others must have in effect at the time of the crash full liability insurance coverage, which at the minimum should be:
  • bodily injury liability of $10,000 per person,
  • bodily injury liability of $20,000 per crash,
  • $10,000 property damage liability per crash, and
  • personal injury protection limits of $10,000 per person per crash.
However, the fact that yesterday's driver, Jorge Salinas, was cavalier enough to be speeding along Florida roads without a driver's license does suggest that he may well not have followed Florida law regarding having minimum insurance coverage.

Under Florida law, without a policy, the winning plaintiffs can seek to enforce any judgment with any property he may own that isn't judgment-proof. Whatever that is.

What happens if he doesn't have insurance?
Under Florida law, the lawsuit judgment is immediately enforceable, and the defendant's driver's license, car tags, and vehicle registrations are suspended for 20 years or until the judgment is satisfied.

Of course, to someone who is already driving without a license, this may not sound very scary.

What's left?
Looking for another defendant, for one thing. Where did this man come from? If he was drunk, then does the bar or partygiver have a legal responsibility here? Did the car itself fail in some way -- will Salinas report failed brakes, for example?

There's still hope for the victims here. But it's a harder road for them if this guy was driving without a license and without insurance.


 By Bryant Esquenazi on April 12, 2011 1:55 PM

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