Articles Posted in Insurance Bad Faith

Let me guess? The insurance company. Either the At Fault party or your own insurance company. Insurance companies, theirs

or that of  the at fault party are great at taking premiums but  are difficult or impossible when they have to pay claims.

medical bills
As a Sacramento Personal Injury Lawyer, I have seen many tragic cases where an injured person was clearly not at fault but also could not afford medical care for his or her accident.

One of the traditional insurance coverages that help defray medical expenses of people in motor vehicle accidents is called MedPay Insurance.

A severely injured client with  a forthcoming surgery came in to see me the other day to find out how he should best proceed in moving his case forward. He wondered if it was worthwhile to retain a personal injury lawyer  if the at fault parties insurance was limited in amount.

That was a good question, and I’m writing today to explain how this Sacramento Personal Injury Attorney goes about finding the insurance the other driver has.

When a person who has been in an auto accident calls a personal injury lawyer, the lawyer or his staff will conduct a short interview to get the facts of the situation. In short, this will include questions regarding the facts surrounding how the collision occurred, where it occurred, the injuries and the treatment a person has obtained since the date of accident until the phone call. If a police report was taken, the office will also request the Traffic Collision Report number.

car accident.PNGThe personal injury attorney’s office will also ask questions regarding auto insurance coverage – both of the person who caused the accident and the insurance coverage of the injured party. Often, an injured party will readily report to the personal injury lawyer the auto insurance coverage of the person at fault. However, at times some injured parties resent questions when asked to provide information regarding their own auto insurance coverage.

People purchase auto insurance both because the law requires it and because they don’t want to lose their life savings if they’re at fault in an accident, the other driver is seriously injured and the jury rules against them for a sum in excess of their policy limits.

The best way to protect oneself, of course, is to purchase a policy with high liability limits. The minimum any driver with an income over $50,000 yearly should purchase is $100,000/$300,000. If you earn over $100,000 yearly, at least a $300,000/$500,000 policy should be purchased. If you can afford an umbrella policy, that will provide excess protection to you at a modest annual premium. (Make sure your auto policy and umbrella policies have uninsured limits equal to your liability limits — that will protect you up to the amount of your policy if YOU are injured).

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