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• Auto Accident
• Business Litigation
• Criminal Defense
• Will Contest

Protect Your Family From the Irrresponisble Negligent Driver - Make Sure You Have Enough Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage

PROTECT YOUR FAMILY AND MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE ENOUGH UNINSURED AND UNDERINSURED MOTORIST COVERAGE

Check your uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on your insurance policy.

You have uninsured and underinsured coverage so if you are hurt by a negligent driver with no insurance or not enough insurance you will be paid for the injuries you suffer. It’s almost a sure bet that you don’t have enough insurance to protect you and your family.

What is uninsured or underinsured insurance?

An uninsured driver is simply a driver that has no insurance coverage to pay for the injuries that he causes you.

An underinsured driver is someone that has insurance, but doesn’t have enough insurance to pay for the injuries that he causes you.

How much coverage is enough?

Many people in South Dakota have a $100,000.00 uninsured and underinsured motorist policy. This means that if you are hurt by someone who doesn’t have insurance, or someone who has insurance, but doesn’t have enough insurance, there is $100,000 to pay all of your damages.

$100,000 sounds like a lot, but its not. Here’s an example.

“Jane Doe” is 45, married, a school teacher, and has 2 kids. Jane has a $100,000 uninsured and underinsured motorist policy. Jane is injured by a negligent driver who blows through a stop sign. Jane has serious and life threatening injuries, with permanent brain damage that no longer allow her to work at her job. She is in the hospital for several months and has over $150,000.00 in medical bills to treat her injuries and for rehabilitation so she can perform simple tasks. She is never able to work at her job again. She is only 45 years old so she lost perhaps 20 years of income—over $40,000 per year counting her benefits. Just do the math—that’s $800,000.00 of damages, and that does not count any pain and suffering.

So Jane has a good case and will be compensated for her injuries, right? Well, yes, she has a good case, but no she won’t be fully compensated for her injuries.

Jane has a very good case because the driver of the other car was at fault and caused the wreck that ruined Jane’s life. If the negligent driver actually has $100,000 in liability insurance his insurance company tenders his policy limits--$100,000 to Jane, if Jane releases the negligent driver from liability.

If the driver of the other car has no insurance Jane’s own insurance company tender its $100,000 of uninsured limits to Jane.

Jane has a terrible choice. The negligent driver doesn’t have any assets so even if Jane gets a judgment against him she can’t collect money from someone that doesn’t have any assets. If she does get a judgment against him for all of her damages, he might just declare bankruptcy and Jane will probably get little or nothing.

Jane has a $100,000 underinsured motorist coverage policy. But this does her no good because you can’t “stack” policies in South Dakota. The underinsured motorist policy limits must be higher than the liability policy limits of the negligent defendant for Jane to recover more than the Defendant’s $100,000 policy. Since her underinsured motorist policy was limited to $100,000 and the negligent defendant has $100,000 in liability coverage, Jane is was limited to what the negligent defendant had for insurance—$100,000.

So Jane is permanently injured, can’t work again, and has economic damages of nearly a million dollars. But she is only able to collect $100,000 of that. And that money will probably go to repay her health insurer for her medical bills. So Jane is left with nothing to replace her income for the next 20 years and nothing for all the pain and suffering her injuries have caused to her and her family.

This scenario is not make-believe or a scare tactic. This happens all too often, and happens all the time in South Dakota. Just ask someone who has had a loved one in the hospital for a month what their medical bills came to—not to mention not being able to work.

Now, if Jane had a million dollar uninsured and underinsured policy she would have been able to make an underinsured motorist claim on all of her damages above the $100,000 that the negligent driver’s insurance company paid. In Jane’s case, it would mean that she would have another $900,000 in coverage for her terrible injuries—enough money to replace her lost income and help take care of her family. And to take care of her needs.


What to do.

Buy the amount of coverage you need. $100,000 in coverage, in today’s world, is simply not enough. The lesson here is to make sure that you get at least a million dollar uninsured motorist and underinsured motorist insurance policy. The insurance is not expensive and it just might be the difference between you and your family having a source of support if you are hurt, or killed, by an uninsured or underinsured negligent driver.

We are not insurance salesmen, but we think it is simply prudent to have at least a one million dollar uninsured and underinsured policy, especially in light of today’s medical costs, and the high cost of raising a family.

This Report is not legal advice and we are not establishing an attorney-client relationship by providing this information. We are only attempting to give you information so you can make informed decisions. Every case is different and no outcome can be guaranteed. We are happy to consider any potential case and to visit with you about any potential claim. The best advice we can give you is to visit with a lawyer about your potential case.

We are very selective in the cases that we consider because we want to give our clients personal attention to the greatest extent possible. We decline many cases each year. We concentrate on working hard on the cases we accept and do not accept frivolous or unmerited cases.