Can a Car Accident Lawyer represent a passenger and driver in a claim and/or Lawsuit for negligence against a third party driver or owner?

This is an issue that arises in personal injury cases in various fact situations, including the following:

The driver and passenger prospective clients are both injured and liability is clearly with the third party driver. There are no claims of comparative negligence or fault against the plaintiff driver.

Where there are no actual or potential claims by passengers against the driver of the vehicle in which the passengers were injured, one attorney can ethically represent all parties as long as there is sufficient insurance coverage by the third party tortfeasor to cover the injuries of all injured plaintiffs. If there is not sufficient funding to cover the injuries of all the plaintiffs, one attorney may represent all the parties, with their knowing consent and waiver of conflict, only if all the plaintiffs are able to agree regarding the distribution of benefits/recovery among themselves. Rule 4-1.7(a)(1) and (2), Florida Rules of Professional Conduct.

Individual representation of each of the plaintiffs is advisable to determine the apportionment of benefits obtained from the third party tortfeasor. If each plaintiff is advised independently, this assures that waivers of conflict are knowing and informed as required by Rule 4-1.7(a)(1) and (2). The parties may agree among themselves to submit to intra-familial arbitration with an independent arbitrator to determine the distribution of benefits on an equitable basis. Independent guardians appointed to represent injured minors can be useful in this regard. The lawyer representing all the claimants as plaintiffs cannot be involved in determining the distribution of the recovery among the various plaintiffs.