West Virginia requires all owners of motor vehicles operating on the road to carry liability insurance to protect others in the event of an accident.
As of 2016, the minimum liability auto insurance coverage required for drivers increased to $25,000 for bodily injury per person, $50,000 for bodily injury per accident, and $25,000 for property damage per accident.
Additionally, drivers must carry uninsured motorist coverage with the same minimum limits. However, they can and sometimes do purchase more than the minimum amount.
Unfortunately, drivers carrying only minimum liability coverage almost never have enough coverage to pay for the medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering of those they injured.
Often times even responsible drivers who have much more in auto liability insurance coverage will not have enough insurance money to help you.
Part of what injury lawyers do is find money available to compensate you for your injuries, losses, and medical costs, and this comes from insurance first.
Insurance companies that may be obligated to compensate you will not just conveniently appear after you have been hurt and need help. You will generally just receive a call from the at-fault insurance adjuster who seeks to commit you to a recorded statement that will be used to justify their low offer of settlement or to absolve them from liability altogether.
You must find the other obligated insurance companies and hold them accountable when you have been seriously injured.
When the at-fault driver does not have enough liability coverage to fairly compensate you - The Nestor Law Office will search for additional policies of insurance that are obligated to pay you.
This can be a fairly complex process.
If you are injured by a driver that is illegally driving without insurance due to non-payment or other causes you must rely on your own uninsured motorist coverage to assist with your damages. If you only have the minimum amount of uninsured coverage and do not have optional medical payments coverage there will only be $25,000.00 available to compensate you from your own auto insurance.
In West Virginia, underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage is an optional insurance benefit that protects you if you're in an accident with a driver who has insurance, but not enough to cover all your damages. It acts as a safety net when the at-fault driver's liability insurance is insufficient to compensate for your injuries and losses.
UIM coverage is an optional add-on to your auto insurance policy in West Virginia. It's designed to protect you when the at-fault driver's liability coverage is inadequate to cover your damages. If you're in an accident where the other driver is at fault and their insurance doesn't fully cover your damages, your UIM coverage will kick in to help cover the remaining costs, up to the limits of your UIM policy.
This could be up to $100,000.00 or even more depending on what you purchased from your insurance agency.
West Virginia law mandates that each automotive liability policy shall offer an option for both uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage up to the dollar limits of the liability insurance purchased by the insured.
Sometimes insurance companies claim that their insured is without Underinsured Motorist Coverage (UIM) although they failed to abide by the law when they brokered the policy.
West Virginia Code and West Virginia Supreme Court precedent require that insurance companies make a commercially reasonable offer of (UIM) coverage to its customers when brokering auto liability insurance policies. If the insurance company is unable to prove that they did so, you will have this coverage in an amount equal to your personal automobile liability coverage limit. W.Va. 33-6-31(b); Bias v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co., 365 S.E.2d 789 (1987).
In sum, a personal injury lawyer finds available insurance monies to help compensate for your injuries and will fight in court to make the responsible insurance companies pay if they refuse.
If you have issues with insurance or questions about how to obtain maximum compensation for your car accident, truck accident, or motorcycle accident contact The Nestor Law Office immediately. Ty Nestor is here is help YOU.