As discussed in an earlier post, the minimum mandatory levels of automotive bodily injury insurance coverage in Massachusetts is $20k. But what if the auto accident you were involved in results in medical expenses (more on this in a later post) and/or lost wages and/or pain and suffering damages that exceed $20k?

Well this often happens because in my personal injury practice, I often see people that have been in auto accidents and the at-fault driver only has the required Massachusetts minimum of $20k in bodily injury coverage. Why is this often the case?  Because most drivers do not want to spend more than they have to on insurance. Instead, they pay for the minimum, and hence the cheapest, auto insurance coverage available. That often leaves those involved in serious auto accidents in an unfortunate position because there is not enough coverage to fairly compensate them for their injuries/damages.

If you have been involved in a serious auto accident and the other driver had only $20k in coverage, what do you do? Assuming you have a lawyer representing you in the case, he or she will do a search to see what if any assets are owned by the driver that hit you. If the at-fault driver does have assets (either personal property or real property or both), they can be “attached.”

What an attachment does for you, the injury victim, is prevent the driver from selling or encumbering his or her assets. The “attachment” safeguards and locks the driver’s assets in place to provide that you are compensated for whatever you are entitled to over and above the driver’s $20k bodily injury policy, assuming of course that your damages exceed $20 k.

Please contact me with any questions you may have with respect to “attachments” with respect to auto accidents in Massachusetts.