Our client was operating her vehicle when she stopped at a crosswalk to allow pedestrians to cross the street. While stopped at the crosswalk, she was rear ended by another vehicle. Immediately she felt pain. She would go to the hospital where she was diagnosed with neck pain, as well as a concussion. Due to the pain she ultimately underwent cervical fusion as she had sustained herniated discs from the accident.

A claim was presented to the at-fault driver’s insurance company. Unfortunately, that driver only had $ 25,000 in compulsory bodily injury coverage. After that full policy was paid out, we then presented an underinsured claim with our client’s own motor vehicle insurance company. That claim settled for the maximum amount of underinsured motorist coverage which she carried under her policy, which was $ 100,000. However, because she had already collected $ 25,000 from the bodily injury carrier, the most she could collect from the underinsured carrier was $ 75,000.  Therefore, both claims combined settled for the full available policy limits of $ 100,000.

This case exemplifies the need to purchase adequate insurance on your vehicle in the event of a car accident. While you cannot control what others carry in  bodily injury coverage, you can control what you purchase for underinsured and uninsured motorist coverage. I always tell people to purchase as much car insurance as they can afford, as there are minimal costs involved with electing for higher coverages. Contact the Earley Law Group Injury Lawyers today for your free consultation if you need representation for a car accident claim with an insurance company.