A Licznerski Law, PLLC Educational Series: Understanding Personal Injury Case Value
One of the first questions we hear from potential clients is simple: “What is my case worth?” It’s a fair question — and an important one. But the answer depends almost entirely on one thing that most people never think about until after an accident: insurance coverage.
This post is part of a series where we break down real-world scenarios that affect personal injury case value in Florida. These are educational hypotheticals — not a guarantee of any outcome, including yours. Every case is different, and the only way to understand what your specific situation is worth is to speak with an attorney.
In our last post, we covered the scenario where there is no Bodily Injury coverage on the at-fault driver and no UM coverage on your own policy — and we explained why that combination typically results in zero dollars in the client’s pocket. This post builds on that by adding one piece of coverage to the picture: a $10,000 Bodily Injury liability policy on the at-fault driver.
It helps. But maybe not as much as you’d hope.
The Scenario: $10,000 PIP, No UM, $10,000 BI
Here’s the situation:
- You were injured in a car accident that was someone else’s fault.
- Your own auto insurance policy includes $10,000 in Personal Injury Protection (PIP) — the minimum required in Florida.
- You did not purchase Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (UM) coverage.
- The at-fault driver has a Bodily Injury liability policy with a $10,000 limit.
This is one of the most common coverage combinations we see on real cases in the Tampa Bay area. The at-fault driver has the minimum BI that Florida insurers typically offer, and the injured party has minimum PIP and no UM. It looks better than the last scenario — and it is — but there are important limitations that every potential client should understand before they get excited about that $10,000 number.
The Available Pots of Money
PIP — $10,000
As we covered in the last post, your own PIP coverage pays 80% of reasonable and necessary medical expenses and 60% of lost wages, up to $10,000 total — provided you sought treatment within 14 days and an Emergency Medical Condition was certified. If no EMC is found, that limit drops to $2,500.
PIP pays your medical providers directly. You do not receive that money as a check. The only portion of PIP that comes to you personally is the 60% lost wages benefit — and only if you have documented lost income and available PIP limits remaining after medical bills are paid.
At-Fault Driver’s BI — $10,000
This is where things get more interesting. The at-fault driver’s Bodily Injury policy exists to compensate you for damages their insured caused — including pain and suffering, medical expenses beyond what PIP covered, lost wages beyond what PIP covered, and other economic and non-economic damages.
In theory, this is the pot of money that puts a check in your hands. In practice, there are two significant issues.
First, $10,000 is a very low limit. If your injuries are moderate to serious, your total damages — medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering — will almost certainly exceed that number by a wide margin. The BI policy does not pay more than its limit regardless of how badly you were hurt or how clear the liability is. The at-fault driver’s insurer’s maximum exposure is $10,000, full stop.
Second, and critically: in Florida, when your own PIP has paid medical bills on your behalf, the BI recovery may be subject to a PIP setoff. This means the at-fault driver’s insurer can argue that the damages they owe you should be reduced by what your own PIP already covered. The practical effect is that the $10,000 BI and the $10,000 PIP are not necessarily additive — they can overlap, reducing your net recovery from the BI policy.
The setoff issue is fact-specific and depends on how the case is handled, so this is one reason why having an attorney involved early matters.
What Does This Mean for Case Value?
In this scenario, assuming liability is clear and the case is handled properly, the realistic gross recovery is up to $10,000 from the at-fault driver’s BI policy. That is the check that actually comes to the client — unlike PIP, BI settlement proceeds are paid to you, not directly to your providers.
However, out of that $10,000 you will typically owe:
- Attorney’s fees — if you have legal representation, fees are typically calculated on the gross recovery.
- Medical liens and outstanding balances — any providers who treated you on a Letter of Protection or who have an unpaid balance will have a claim against your settlement proceeds.
- Health insurance subrogation — if your health insurer paid any bills related to the accident, they may have a right to reimbursement out of your settlement.
After fees and liens are resolved, the amount that actually reaches your pocket on a $10,000 BI policy — particularly if you had significant medical treatment — can be modest. In cases with serious injuries and substantial treatment, it is not unusual for the net to the client to be a fraction of the gross settlement, or in some cases, very little at all once everyone with a claim against the proceeds is paid.
The absence of UM coverage is once again the defining limitation here. If you had stacked UM coverage at meaningful limits, your underinsured motorist claim would step in above the $10,000 BI and compensate you for the full measure of your damages. Without it, $10,000 is the ceiling — and the practical net to the client is lower than that number suggests.
The Lesson This Scenario Reinforces
A $10,000 BI policy on the at-fault driver is better than nothing. It is the difference between zero recovery and at least some recovery. But it is not a path to full compensation for a seriously injured person, and it is not a number that should inspire false confidence.
The real lesson — the same one from our last post — is this: buy UM coverage. If you have UM at meaningful limits, a $10,000 BI case becomes a case with real value, because your own UM policy fills the gap between what the at-fault driver’s insurance pays and what your damages are actually worth. Without it, you are capped at whatever the at-fault driver happened to carry.
If you’ve been injured and you’re trying to make sense of the coverage situation, don’t try to navigate it alone. The interplay between PIP, BI, liens, and setoffs is exactly the kind of thing an experienced personal injury attorney untangles every day.
This Is Educational, Not Legal Advice
Every personal injury case is different. The scenario above is a hypothetical designed to help you understand how insurance coverage shapes recovery options in Florida. Nothing in this blog series should be taken as a prediction or guarantee of results in any specific case, including yours.
If you’ve been injured in an accident in the Tampa Bay area and want to understand what your situation actually looks like, we’re happy to have that conversation.
Licznerski Law, PLLC
Boutique Representation. Real Results. Your Attorney, Not a Case Number.
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