Personal Injury Claims

1. AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE IN PENNSYLVANIA

To some extent, your monetary recovery from an injury you suffer in a motor vehicle accident depends on the choices you made when you purchased your motor vehicle insurance. Here are some of the choices you have:

a. “Full tort” vs. “Limited tort”

In the 1990’s Pennsylvania was dealing with rising motor vehicle insurance rates. One of the ways Governor Robert Casey dealt with this problem was to give Pennsylvania motorists the right to save money on their premium by choosing the “limited tort” option. The proposal was to offer you the opportunity to save 10% per year on your premium by choosing “limited tort” instead of “full tort.” In order to qualify for this saving, you give up your right to recover any money for your pain and suffering unless you suffered a serious injury, or specifically a “serious impairment of bodily function.” The problem with choosing “limited tort” is that if you try to settle the claim, the other driver’s insurance company can argue that the you didn’t suffer a “serious impairment of bodily function.”

For example, I have had two cases where the insurance company argued that a fractured wrist didn’t meet this standard and another case where a fractured hip didn’t meet the standard. In both cases, this led to litigation and after years of litigation the claims were finally settled. Essentially, unless you suffer a very serious injury you may wind up with a claim that takes much longer to settle than it should, and you might even lose the case. Even in cases where you are injured, but not seriously, you probably have some other financial losses in an accident. For example, if you have a new car, the car might not get paid off if it is totaled. If you have an old car, the recovery will be very small and you will need to buy a new car. If you have been going to the doctor and physical therapy you might need to miss work or hire a babysitter. You may need to hire someone to keep house or cut your grass.

Essentially, if you choose the “full tort” option, you will pay a little more, but you will recover money for your pain and suffering that will at least defray these other losses. With that said, there are a number of loopholes in the limited tort rule. If the other driver is convicted of DUI or accepted into an ARD program because he/she was intoxicated that is an exception. The second exception provides that when the other driver’s automobile is registered in another state. The third exception applies if you were an occupant of a non-private passenger motor vehicle (e.g. a bus or truck). The fourth exception applies if you are struck by an automobile while a pedestrian. Finally, you can always recover your lost wages or unpaid medical bills.

b. Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage

This type of coverage is optional, but it is very important to purchase this extra coverage. The most important reason we have insurance is to protect us from large losses. If you back into a pole grocery shopping, you may not even turn in the loss. But if you suffer a serious, permanent injury you want to be compensated fairly. That where uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage comes in. Here is how it works. What if an uninsured motorist seriously injures you in a motor vehicle accident? Without uninsured motorist coverage, you could wind up with nothing.

If you have uninsured motorist coverage, you can recover from your own company the damages that you would have recovered from the uninsured motorist. This coverage also applies when you are injured by a driver of a “phantom vehicle,” or an accident where the other driver flees the scene and is never found. Underinsured motorist coverage is similar. This coverage comes into play when you are seriously injured by a driver who has insufficient insurance to cover your loss. The minimum liability insurance required in Pennsylvania is only $15,000, so even if you have a serious and permanent injury that would be your sole recovery if you don’t have underinsured motorist coverage.

Pennsylvania law only allows you to purchase uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage no greater than the amount of liability coverage you have on your policy (that is the coverage your policy will pay to the other driver if you are the negligent party). For example, if you have a $50,000.00 limit on your liability coverage, that is the highest limit you can have on your uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. The law provides a loophole to this rule too. If you have more than one motor vehicle on the policy, you can “stack” the uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. For example, if you have two vehicles insured under a policy with a $50,000.00 liability limit, you can purchase $100,000.00 in uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. Basically, purchase as much uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage as possible so that if you are seriously injured in a motor vehicle accident there will be money there to recover. Making a claim on this coverage will not raise your premium: the Unfair Insurance Practices Act.

c. Wage Loss Coverage

The third optional coverage that you should purchase is wage loss coverage. Unlike “full tort” or “uninsured/underinsured motorist” coverage, wage loss coverage is cheap. This is how it works. If you have an injury in a motor vehicle accident that requires you to miss work, you may be without income until your case settles. This can be a tremendous hardship on you if you are off work for an extended period of time. Purchasing wage loss coverage can solve this problem. You can purchase this coverage in the monthly amount and for the length you choose. The minimum coverage would provide $1,000.00 per month for five months. You should choose the coverage that will provide your family with adequate income for the time period you miss work as the result of your injury. This coverage provides benefits to you or any member of your household who are working. Obviously, it is a waste of money if no one in your household is working. Also, lost wage coverage can be supplemented by any short term/long term disability policy provided by your employer or social security disability if you are disabled for over one month. We have represented many injury victims who have lost an extensive time from work from a motor vehicle accident and it is our experience that it is much easier for them if they have wage loss coverage on their automobile insurance policy. And it is cheap.