Florida Supreme Court Refuses to Review PIP Case

The Florida Supreme Court has refused to consider a petition seeking to overturn a 2012 state law reducing PIP benefits.

In an attempt to curb fraud and lower insurance rates, HB 119—Personal Injury Protection (PIP) for Auto Insurance Fraud—requires people involved in motor vehicle crashes to seek treatment within 14 days, and allows up to $10,000 in benefits for emergency medical conditions and up to $2,500 for non-emergency conditions.

The law also prevents accident victims from using PIP coverage to pay for treatment by certain medical providers, and set benchmarks for insurers to lower rates on PIP coverage.

In 2013, Leon County Circuit Judge Terry Lewis ruled that the law illegally shut out some medical providers, namely acupuncturists and massage therapists.

As reported in an earlier blog post titled “Motion for Rehearing of Florida PIP Injunction is Denied,” the Florida First District Court of Appeal reversed the ruling in October, 2013, saying that the challengers to the law needed a “factual” plaintiff who had actually been harmed by the law rather than a hypothetical plaintiff, as named in the complaint. The Florida Supreme Court denied review of that decision in this week’s ruling.

An attorney representing medical providers who claim they were unfairly shut out by the law said he anticipates filing an amended case within 30 days using a named plaintiff alleged to have been harmed by the 2012 PIP reforms.