Wrongful Death, Serious Injuries and Uninsured Drivers:

One of the most tragic circumstances we as lawyers face in our daily practice is representing clients who have suffered serious personal injury or the wrongful death of a loved one due to the negligence of an uninsured (or underinsured) driver. Regrettably, we have seen this far too many times. The results of being involved in a collision with an uninsured driver are particularly tragic because in such cases there simply are no available funds to compensate the innocent victims. This, of course, reminds us once again of the importance of uninsured/underinsured insurance coverage for those who can afford it as part of their budget. Without such coverage, if a serious injury or wrongful death occurs, the likelihood of recovery when dealing an uninsured driver is remote.
We were retained just two weeks ago to represent a man who lost his wife in an accident involving a drunk driver. In this particular case, the driver was not completely uninsured, but rather underinsured. He had the absolute minimum statutory limits of $25,000 in available coverage per person, $50,000 per accident. The medical bills alone for this man and his wife both exceeded these minimum limits. Regrettably, our client had no uninsured/underinsured coverage under his own policy. What this means of course is that the $50,000 which is available will have to be used to satisfy Hospital Liens and literally there will be no money to pay even for funeral bills, much less compensate the family for the losses sustained. The “at fault” driver, while responsible for all of these expenses, is very likely judgment proof working at a job with a minimal salary with no ability to pay any judgment that might be obtained in the case. Thus, we have the situation we have seen far too many times where innocent people are seriously injured or suffer the death of a loved one due to the negligence of an uninsured/underinsured driver.
Of course, the statutory scheme is set up such that drivers in Georgia are no longer allowed to get their tags without having proof of insurance coverage. Nonetheless, as stated, the statutory minimum in Georgia is $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident. In any case involving a serious injury or wrongful death, such limits are woefully inadequate to address medical expenses or lost wages, much less compensation for pain and suffering or a death. Thus, we reiterate that all Georgia citizens should consider purchasing uninsured/underinsured insurance coverage to protect themselves from either the completely uninsured driver or the underinsured driver. With respect to underinsured drivers, obviously, the minimum limits of $25,000 per person coverage, $50,000 per accident are grossly inadequate to address the kinds of damages we see here in our practice all the time in serious injury cases. We have blogged about this topic before (See Uninsured Motorist Blog dated June 8, 2007) and would once again recommend to the motoring public that they protect themselves with their own uninsured/underinsured insurance coverage because many, many drivers have the absolute minimum limits of coverage and are themselves judgment proof, thus leaving the innocent victim to his own resources in the event they are involved in a collision with an uninsured/underinsured driver.