Our attorneys routinely handle serious injuries arising out of car collision and crashes. We are always amazed to learn just how little the public knows about automobile insurance coverages and generally how they work. The purpose of this blog is simply to set forth some of the basic principles so that the public can be educated about how automobile insurance coverage works in the typical case.
\nWhen someone runs a stop sign and causes a car crash and collision, the innocent victim who did nothing wrong to cause the collision but, nonetheless, is injured has a claim against the at fault driver. Under Georgia law, as is true in most cases, the legal claim cannot be filed against the insurance carrier for the driver but only the driver alone. The driver\u2019s automobile liability insurance policy, however, will provide the at fault driver with a defense against the claim.
\nIn order to legally operate a vehicle in Georgia, all drivers must have a valid liability insurance policy with minimum coverage in the amount of $25,000.00 per person $50,000.00 per accident. What this means is that if there is a car crash or collision and someone is injured, the at fault driver\u2019s insurance company will be responsible to pay no more than $25,000.00 to any person injured in the accident, and no more than $50,000.00 for all persons injured in an accident no matter how many persons are involved. Obviously, such minimum limits are woefully inadequate to address the serious injury or catastrophic claim. This is why we always recommend to our clients that they purchase uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage.
\nIn the hypothetical case mentioned, if the at fault driver runs a stop sign and catastrophically injures the innocent victim, should the at fault driver only have the minimum limits required by law, that being $25,000.00 per person $50,000.00 per accident, it is evident that the $25,000.00 in coverage would probably be consumed by medical bills arising from the incident not to mention lost wages, pain and suffering and other economic and non-economic damages. To protect one\u2019s self from the negligence of a third party who has minimum or no insurance coverage, the public should always purchase uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage for the benefit of themselves. If in the hypothetical situation the innocent victim had $100,000.00 in uninsured motorist coverage, even if the at fault driver only had $25,000.00 in coverage, the innocent victim could seek the difference from their carrier, that being $75,000.00 in underinsured coverage for a total recovery of $100,000.00 ($25,000.00 liability coverage and $75,000.00 underinsured coverage) verses a recovery of only $25,000.00 which would have been the maximum recovery had there been no uninsured\/underinsured motorist coverage available.
\nIn addition to liability insurance coverage which is mandated by law to operate a vehicle, as mentioned, the importance of uninsured motorist coverage cannot be stressed enough. For those who do not have good healthcare plans, there is also the availability of Medical Payments coverage which applies to medical bills arising out of an automobile collision regardless of fault. Once again, we advise those clients that we represent to always look at their medical payments coverage very carefully and to explore whether they need such coverage should they not otherwise have good healthcare coverage.<\/p>\n