Woman gets $8 million verdict in DUI Daytona car crash; no one charged

[TexasTowelie]

DAYTONA BEACH — A Daytona Beach woman won an $8 million verdict against a driver accused of being drunk when his speeding car crashed into her vehicle causing serious injuries, according to court records.

Tamara Roundtree’s award is for medical expenses, permanent injury and pain and suffering as a result of the Oct. 1, 2010, wreck at South Clyde Morris and Beville Road. Her car was struck by a Mazda driven by Benjamin Schutz, now 28, whose insurance company GEICO is on the hook for the money.

The case took an unusual turn early on because after the crash Schutz became ill on his way to the police station. Instead of jail he wound up at a hospital. What happened next that night is unclear.

Schutz was not officially charged despite blood tests indicating he was over the legal alcohol limit for operating a vehicle. Shannon Peters, a spokeswoman for the State Attorney’s Office, said last week she could not find any record her office received the case. And Lyda Longa, a spokeswoman for Daytona Beach police, was trying to determine the outcome of the case at her department.

Read more: http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/20170403/woman-gets-8-million-verdict-in-dui-daytona-car-crash-no-one-charged

[cloudbase]

1. Absent an appeal,

GEICO will pay up to the coverage limit of the policy. My guess is that the limit is considerably south of $8 million.

[TexasTowelie]

2. There are other conditions that may provide an incentive for an insurance company to pay more than

the insurance policy limits. The insurance company does have an obligation to protect its insured from having assets seized or liens placed and could be sued if they do not negotiate in good faith.

Additionally, if there is more than one named insured on the policy then each of those parties could be held liable depending on the joint and several liability laws in Florida. The insurance company has a duty to protect each of those insureds from having their assets put at risk by a declaratory judgment or the insurance company could be sued by the other named insureds for negotiating in bad faith.

I agree that the final settlement among the parties will be less than the verdict, but there are times when more than the policy limits are paid. I also worked for an insurance company and saw at least one claim where more than policy limits were paid so I know that it does happen.