Expert: Claims Guy - 10/10/2009

Question
I was a passenger in an automobile and the driver (not the owner/insured of the vehicle) pulled out in front of another vehicle. The driver of the vehicle I was a passenger in received the citation. The owner of the vehicle I was a passenger in has $1,000 medical pay insurance and $50,000 per person bodily injury and $100,000 per accident bodily injury. Her insurance company said they would cover me for bodily injury, medical pay, lost wages and pain & suffering. I had to have surgery and have another surgery scheduled (broken/shattered collarbone). My medical bills alone will be very close to the $50,000 bodily injury limit the owner of the vehicle has. I feel I am entitled to pain & suffering as well as lost wages in addition to having my medical bills paid. I contacted my own insurance company who said said my own medpay will kick in once I have exhausted the owner of the vehicles medpay. Other than suing the driver of the car I was in, or the owner of the car I was in, is there any other way I can collect damages (ie lost wages, pain and suffering, the rest of my medical bills)? I am wondering if the owner of the vehicle has under insured insurance if that will cover me since she technically is under insured. Or do I have to file a claim with my insurance for under insured? If I do file a claim for under insured with my insurance company, will my rate/premium be affected? On a different note, the police report says that the driver of the other vehicle was "intoxicated" but does not specify if they were over the legal limit. I'm not sure if I can collect from this driver or not.

Answer
Your bodily injury (BI) claim includes med bills, pain/suffering, lost wages, etc.  The value of the claim is subjective, but clearly it is well in excess of the $50,000.  Here is the order of insurance coverage for BI:

-owner's liability policy $50,000 protects the driver and owner against your claim
-if the driver has her own auto policy, and if the liability coverage exceeds $50,000, it will  kick in to protect her against your claim
-if the driver has no policy or if it isn't enough, then you can turn to your insurance policy for Underinsured Motorist coverage.  This protects you if the liable party does not have enough coverage.  But it will only kick in if your UM coverage exceeds $50000, because they subtract out anything you receive from another source.  So if your UM coverage is $100,000, you'll get $50k from the owner's policy and $5k from your policy.

The Med pay covers bills only, but it is not reduced by the BI or UM claim.  Your Med Pay will kick in to pay after the owner's Med Pay is exhausted.  But it is in addition to the owner's (n o deduction like  for UM).

You always have the option of suing the driver and/or the owner.  If you succeed, you could take their personal assets that exceed the amount paid by insurance.

UM coverage claims normally do not affect premiums.  but you may want to check with your agent to be sure, as not every company handles this the same way.

You can only make a claim against the driver of the other car if he/she was negligent and liable for any of your damages.  Being drunk does not constitute negligence by itself.  But if both drivers were negligent, even by 1%, you can make a claim against both drivers and a lot more insurance will be available to you.

Since you have such substantial expenses, I think you should talk to a lawyer for advice.  Most will not charge you for the initial consultation, and their fee will come out of your settlement.  So you only want to hire a lawyer if they assure you they can get more than you can by yourself.