Monahan Law Blog

In an auto accident case, Getting Compensation for Injuries is More about What you Do to Protect Yourself than what you can recover from the driver who caused the accident

 In June 2007 my clients, a mother and her daughter who had just graduated from high school the day before, were driving to Virginia where the daughter was going to start her first job as a counselor at a horse camp.

 It was a beautiful spring day, and they were looking forward to the chance to talk about the future on their road trip to Virginia.  And since it was early in the morning and they hadn’t gotten breakfast yet, they were planning to stop at one of their favorite diners on the way down. 

 But they never reached their destination.  Suddenly and without a chance to react, they were rammed by a driver who went through a stop sign without seeing their car.  Their car was pushed across the road, flipped over onto its roof, trapping them both in a car that looked like it was going to explode in flames.  When the EMT’s were finally able to pry open the doors, they were both taken by helicopter to the nearest trauma hospital.  The daughter, who was only 18, fractured both her tibia and fibula, the two bones in her lower leg.  Mom tore her rotator cuff that is now inoperable.

 When these kinds of auto accidents occur, of course you can seek damages from the driver who hit you.  But Pennsylvania only requires drivers to carry $15,000 of coverage for these types of accidents.  Furthermore, it can take 2 to 3 years before you get this case to trial waiting for a verdict in your favor.  And if you selected the Limited Tort option, you can only sue if you suffered a permanent impairment of a bodily function.  Plus, can you believe that some treating doctors don’t even believe that fractures like the ones suffered by this young woman amount to a permanent impairment?

 The mother in this case ran her own business.  But she didn’t cover herself for wage loss benefits.  Without income, she was forced to accept minimal welfare benefits.  To make matters even worse, she only carried $5,000 in medical benefits.  That was exhausted immediately just by the expense of the emergency helicopter ride.  In addition, because she didn’t have any other medical insurance, no doctor would operate on her shoulder.  The delay in surgery was catastrophic; now the doctors say it can’t be operated on because of the delay, and she is left with a permanent impairment and a life long potential wage loss of over $300,000.

 The driver who hit them in this case had $200,000 in coverage, more than required by law, but less than the damages suffered by these two women.  Even that amount won’t compensate them for all of the unpaid medical bills, lost wages, and the pain and suffering both of them will continue to endure for the rest of their lives. 

 The sad part is that they could have easily protected themselves by purchasing the insurance coverage they needed for a small amount of money.  Consider this:  I checked with an Independent Insurance Agent to see what the difference in cost would have been to adequately protect clients like these.  Using a similar profile including geography (Exton, PA) and similar car and driver with only one violation on her record, the difference in cost was only $302 per year (less than the price of a cup of cheap coffee per day for a year!) for the following additional coverage: FULL TORT, $1.1 MILLION OF MEDICAL COVERAGE, $50,000 FOR LOST WAGES (STATUTORY MAXIMUM), $250,000/$500,000 UNINSURED MOTORIST COVERAGE, $250,000/$500,000 UNDERINSURED MOTORIST COVERAGE, $2,500 FUNERAL COVERAGE, $25,000 ACCIDENTAL DEATH COVERAGE. 

Verses LIMITED TORT, $5,000 MEDICAL COVERAGE,  NOTHING ELSE!!!!

Labels: accident auto car damages full injury insurance limited loss medical minimum pennsylvania tort underinsured uninsured wage wreck