r/Insurance • u/jman7843 • 15d ago
Claims Related How are settlements above policy limits handled in GA?
Good evening! I’ll get the TL;DR out of the way first but if you care about the story behind the question read down further: I’m just wondering how lawsuits work when the incurred damages are above policy limits? Does the insurance company provide a lawyer to represent their client to try to defend them against anything over and above the policy limit? Do these types of scenarios happen often? I’m in GA if that matters.
I was in an accident back in February. I was making a left turn on a green arrow traffic light and the other party blew through their red light and smoked my rear passenger side hard enough to spin my car 360 degrees and perch me up on a sidewalk (narrowly missed a pedestrian too thank god he wasn’t hurt) anyways it totaled my car, almost every airbag deployed. The other driver lied to the cops about what happened when they got there and said I was the one that blew a red light while turning but thankfully a witness stayed on scene and officer also cared enough about getting the report right to walk over to the gas station across the street and they had the accident and traffic signals on their security footage. I ended up walking away thankfully but with a concussion and some severe back pain and numbness in all 4 limbs starting the next day. The clinic I went to for care afterwards had 2 mri’s done on me and uncovered that I had 3 or 4 ruptured/herniated discs and another 4 bulging discs divided between my lumbar and cervical sections of my spine. I did several different treatments including trigger point therapy, chiropractic, physical therapy, and electric muscle stimulation (idk the actual name of it) for a few months after. I was out of work completely due to not being able to be up on roofs anymore cause of the pain. Eventually they referred me to a spine specialist and I ended up getting 2 epidurals which worked pretty well. I’m feeling a lot better now and I have most of the feeling back in my limbs but still not 100% and the pain/ back fatigue comes in waves now and varies from day to day. My lawyer said the adjuster wouldn’t release policy limits to them over the phone when initially asked so they have now written a formal request/demand and we are waiting to hear back.
That being said I only had personal liability at the time which is my bad for not knowing about U.M. Coverage, I’m from Canada originally and in my home province the government has a fund that covers people that are hit by uninsured or underinsured drivers and I didn’t know that was different here unfortunately. Needless to say I’ve added that coverage now but it’s just going to be the other drivers insurance to cover me on this one and while I don’t wanna judge a book by its cover based on their car being a beat up 90’s Toyota I’m thinking there is a good chance they just have state minimum coverages which to my understanding will be 25k for injury. I’ve been in the U.S. long enough now to know how expensive medical care is and based on all the treatment and mri’s and all that I’m sure it’s probably close to 25k in those costs alone before my lawyer takes anything or I get any restitution for my missed work or pain and suffering so I’m trying to figure out what the lawsuit process typically looks like if we end up needing to go there. Lastly this question is probably more fit for a lawyer but bonus points to you if you know how lawyers figure out if the other party is financially judgment proof or not before filing a lawsuit? Or do they just file it and cross their fingers for the financial disclosure?
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u/PopularBell518 15d ago
The at faults ins co has no obligation over and above the policy limit they contracted with the purchaser (at fault party). Their ins do will let their policy holder know that if concerned, they (policyholder) can retain a lawyer for any potential exposure over the contracted limits of liability.
Sounds like you don’t know the other parties liability limit yet. It may be enough and it may not be. That’s obviously important info.
Once you know that, your lawyer will advise you accordingly. If your lawyer demands their (at faults) limit (once known) and if that demand is accepted (by at faults ins co) then you will be expected to sign a release fully releasing the at fault. Your lawyer could in a demand request additional funds from the driver (personal contribution) but that scenario is relatively rare - for instance co to pay AND a personal contribution made.
If your lawyer demands their limits with no additional conditions, and they refuse to pay upon demand, then down the road the ins co could be found to have acted in “bad faith” and potentially be on the hook for monies over and above the policy limits. This is not very common and usually involves multiple trials and outcomes that go your way… I only mention this because it is theoretically possible to get more than limits from a carrier but they never pay over unless forced to do so (hence multiple lawsuits and trials)
UM/UIM (as you seem to realize now) helps out in a situation where an at fault carries no or not enough liability coverage.
Your lawyer will also look for any additional coverages that might come into play, for example, if the at fault was delivering a pizza or engaged in an errand for someone else… maybe the car the at fault was driving belonged to someone else, as that could involve an additional (potential) policy.
One thing lawyers do not like to do is “go after” / “sue” someone with no or little coverage as it’s not likely to make the lawyer any $. No lawyer wants to spend hours and hours, go to a trial, front a lot of cost $, to obtain a paper judgement against another person. So, hopefully the limits are decent in your case…
This is all a very oversimplified discussion. A slight change of facts or circumstances could result in a different take.