A 64-year-old female passenger in an automobile was injured when the car
in which she was riding was rear-ended on the freeway. She received injuries
to her back, foot, and eye. After an emergency room visit, she followed
up with Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert doctors for treatment of her injuries.
The injury to one of her eyes resulted in her having to have eye surgery
which unfortunately did not totally repair her vision problems caused
by the automobile accident. She also had to have foot surgery because
of her accident-related injuries. Her neck injuries resulted in her having
injections to her neck. She still has residual symptoms of pain and limitations
from the accident caused by a negligent driver. Her medical bills were
approximately $25,000. Unfortunately, the negligent driver was only insured
for $100,000 liability coverage for injury to one person. The personal
injury claim was settled with the insurance company for the negligent
driver for his policy limits of $100,000 which was less than the reasonable
value of our client’s personal injury claim. Because our client
had the foresight to purchase Underinsured Motorists coverage as part
of her automobile liability insurance policy, we were able to get her
own insurance company to pay another $150,000 to their insured to compensate
her for her injuries. Residents of Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Indio, and
the rest of the Coachella Valley should if possible, always purchase Uninsured/Underinsured
Motorists coverage as part of their automobile insurance policies. The
reason is simple. Many of the accidents caused by negligent drivers are
unfortunately uninsured drivers or underinsured drivers with low limits
of insurance coverage. If you are in an automobile accident caused by
a negligent uninsured driver, and you have Uninsured Motorists coverage
in your insurance policy, you can go after your own insurance company
for compensation for your injuries, medical bills, and loss of earnings.
My client in the case reported above had $250,000 Uninsured/Underinsured
Motorists Coverage as part of her insurance policy. Since we obtained
a $100,000 settlement for her against the negligent driver’s insurance
company which was his policy limit, we were then able to make a claim
with her own insurance company for $150,000 which was the total available
from her insurance company. The calculations for how we obtained that
amount is that the most she could get from her own insurance company would
be $250,000 less the $100,000 settlement from the negligent driver’s
insurance company which results in her net recovery of $150,000 from her
own company. Of course, her insurance company fought the case and the
case settled before two months before we had to go to arbitration to resolve
the claim.