Richmond Injury Lawyer Scott D. Fitzgerald

Author: Scott D. Fitzgerald, Richmond Personal Injury Lawyer

Yes.  Regardless of fault, it is important to call your insurance company and report any accident that involved injuries or property damage.

A common myth is that you do not need to contact your insurance company if you were not at fault.  This is false, because there are several coverages on your insurance policy that you may want to use.  In order to use any of these, you are required to notify your insurance company.  The first coverage is our collision coverage.[1] If the at-fault driver’s insurance company is slow to accept responsibility for the accident, then you may want to get your car repaired or replaced under the collision coverage of your own insurance policy.  Then your insurance company will seek reimbursement from the  at-fault party’s insurance.  To use this coverage, you must promptly notify your insurance company of the accident.  Otherwise, you might have to pay for repairs out of your own pocket, and then negotiate your property damage settlement with the at-fault driver’s liability carrier, which could take months. In addition, while you are waiting for the liability carrier to accept responsibility, you may have storage charges accruing while your car is sitting wherever it got towed.[2]

The second coverage you may want to use is towing insurance.  Again, this will pay the cost of your vehicle being towed, and then your insurance company will seek to be paid back by the other person’s insurance.  Otherwise, you may have to pay the towing charge while you wait for the other person’s insurance to accept responsibility.  Under both collision coverage and towing insurance, if your company is able to recover the money they paid from the at-fault driver’s company, then neither of these claims will affect your insurance rates.

Third, you may want to use any medical payments or medical expense coverage you may have on your policy.[3] This coverage will pay any medical expenses you have as a result of the accident, regardless of who is at fault and regardless of any other insurance.  Under Virginia law, if you make a claim for this coverage, the insurance company cannot raise your rates.

Fourth, and perhaps most importantly, the other driver may claim that you are at fault and pursue a claim against you.  Even if you know you are not at fault, you do not want to have to pay the cost of defending yourself.  Under the terms of your insurance policy, your insurance company is required to provide a defense to you – free of charge – if a claim is brought against you.

To have the benefit of any of these coverages on your policy, you are required to report the accident to your insurance company.  You must do this within a reasonable amount of time.  If you do not, your insurance company is permitted to deny coverage.  Do not fall into the trap of believing that notification is not necessary because the at-fault party should pay your claim.

There is a type of insurance coverage available to you through your own insurance carrier that does not require you to notify your insurance company of an accident within a reasonable amount of time.[4] This type of insurance coverage is called Uninsured and  Underinsured Motorist (“UM/UIM”) coverage.  If the at-fault driver in your accident either does not have insurance or does not have enough insurance to cover your loss, then this type of coverage may provide a source of payment.

However, although you should promptly notify your carrier of the accident, you should be careful what you say when you call.  Tell them that you were involved in an accident and give them general background information, including the date, time, location of the accident, and names and addresses of all parties involved.  But it is best not to discuss the issue of fault until you have consulted with an attorney.  Politely decline to give a recorded statement until you feel better.

In sum, it is important to report any accident to your insurance company promptly in order to avoid giving your insurance company a basis for denying coverage that may otherwise be available to you, but it is equally important not to discuss the issue of fault with anyone until after you have sought the advice of an attorney.

About Scott D. Fitzgerald: Scott Fitzgerald is the great grandson of the Firm’s founder, George E. Allen, Sr., and is the fourth generation of the Allen family to join the Allen Law Firm. He is a Richmond personal injury lawyer focusing his practice on car accident cases in the Richmond, VA area.  Scott is dedicated to protecting the best interests of his clients and defending their rights against insurance companies.

Make sure you have as much available insurance coverage as possible when riding a motorcycle.

Paul D. Hux, Petersburg motorcycle accident lawyer

Attorney Paul D. Hux

There are two kinds of people that ride motorcycles: those that have been in a wreck and those that are going to be in a wreck.

As personal injury lawyer who handles motorcycle accident cases in the Petersburg area, I have received many calls from people who have been involved in motorcycle wrecks.  Just in the last month, I have spoken with the spouses of two husbands killed in motorcycle crashes and the family of a young man paralyzed from the chest down due to a motorcycle wreck.  What all three accidents have in common is that there was not enough insurance coverage to adequately compensate the families of the deceased drivers nor the injured rider.

According to the DMV website for Virginia, there have been approximately 2,000 motorcycle riders injured each year from 2005 until 2009.  There have been approximately 70 motorcycle riders killed each year during this same period.  The average age for the majority of riders injured or killed during this period is 21-35.  The minimum limit of insurance coverage a bike rider must have on his bike is $25,000.00.  This is the same amount for a car also.  I know this is the minimum amount one must have, but wouldn’t it just make more sense to have significantly more coverage when you are operating a vehicle on the roads of the Commonwealth and this vehicle has no doors, no roof, only two tires and you are literally inches away from being thrown to the pavement should something happen?

Your motorcycle policy has three kinds of coverage that may be involved.

• First, liability coverage – which covers you in situations where you, the driver may have caused an accident.
• Second, uninsured motorist (UM) coverage – where another driver who causes a wreck has NO insurance, your carrier steps in and provides coverage to the rider on behalf of the at-fault party.
• Third, under insured motorist (UIM) coverage – which applies when the at-fault person has insurance, but the amount of their available coverage is not adequate to properly compensate the bike rider for the tangible and intangible damages they have caused and the injured driver has higher limits of coverage than the at-fault driver.

I would like to focus on the last two kinds of coverage (UM and UIM) for the rest of this discussion.[1]

As we all know, motorcycle safety is something we must all keep in mind.   We must constantly be on guard for bikes on the road way.  Riders wear helmets, leather jackets, leather pants and boots to protect themselves in the event of a wreck.  Why not protect yourself by also investing in as much UM/UIM insurance coverage as you can possible afford?  Clearly, you are more likely to sustain more significant injuries when you are riding a motorcycle at the time of the wreck versus being in a car.  The more serious the injuries are, the more significant the treatment and in turn the larger the medical bills are likely to be.  If both the at-fault driver and the bike rider have only minimum limit policies in Virginia ($25,000.00), then generally no matter what the injuries are, what the treatment involved or what the medical costs are, there is usually never any way the bike rider would have more than $25,000.00 he could use to resolve his case.

But if the motorcyclist had as much coverage as he could possibly get, maybe $250,000.00 or even more, he would have that much higher amount to use for his case, over the other driver’s policy, and not have to hope for higher coverage on behalf of the wrong doer.  This UM/UIM coverage is for you, the motorcyclist’s, own protection.  The more coverage YOU have on your own policy, the more YOU are protected.

You may ask why I write this article.  Well, I do so because of the three people I mentioned to you above.  The young man that was paralyzed and who was in the hospital for 2 months and then in an extended care facility had only $75,000.00 in motor vehicle insurance available to him.  His medical expenses alone are several times that amount, and he will be unable to return to work for a long time.[2]

In the deaths of the other two hard-working men, both of whom had a wife and children, one man had only $50,000.00 in available coverage and the other had only $100,000.00 in available coverage.  These riders were not at fault at all in their accidents.  Certainly these riders and their families deserve better than this.  I hope this article will motivate other riders to increase their insurance coverage as much as possible.  You take so many other steps to protect yourself, please heed this warning and take this step.  You will be glad you did should something unforeseen occur.

I urge you to contact your insurance carrier and discuss raising the coverage limits at your earliest convenience – if, God forbid, something bad happens, you will be glad you did.

Author: Bill Bootwright

Bill Bootwright, Claims Consultant

New technology, computers, Smartphones, tablets, etc., mean we can now purchase car insurance without the traditional face-to-face meeting or phone call with an agent.  The problem with purchasing insurance online is that you may not know what you’re actually paying for and how it may protect you. You don’t get the advice of an agent who can explain your options and make recommendations.  Most people don’t bother to take the time to try and educate themselves about insurance when they purchase online, and don’t even know what they have bought.

I have often heard “I have full coverage” from new clients when I ask what kind of insurance coverage they have.  Rarely do people know what the financial limits of their policy are, and even more rarely do they know what optional coverages they have purchased.  The term “full coverage” doesn’t really have any meaning any more because there are so many options. Yet, with the expansion of motor vehicle insurance to include uninsured motorist and underinsured motorist coverage, understanding auto insurance coverage and having adequate limits of coverage have become even more important.[1] Auto insurance not only protects you with regards to liability, but also provides protection against the person who is “at fault” but has no or inadequate coverage.

Auto insurance coverage is described as either “first party” or “third party” coverage.  “First party” auto insurance coverages include collision coverage, comprehensive coverage, medical payments (med pay) or medical expense, loss wage income, towing, substitute vehicle rental, and uninsured/underinsured coverage.  First party coverages benefit the person who is insured under the policy.  Except for uninsured and underinsured coverages, generally first party coverages will benefit the policy holder regardless of who is at fault.

Third party coverage is basically liability coverage.  Third party coverage is  designed to protect you when you are “at fault” in an accident.  Both bodily injury and property damage coverage are parts of third party coverage.

Just because you have purchased an auto insurance policy does not necessarily mean that you are sufficiently covered.  You need to carefully consider what coverages you want and then what limits you want.  On review of the cost of certain coverages and limits, you may decide to drop an optional coverage in favor of having higher limits on other coverages.

Begin by looking at the basic coverage limits for bodily injury and property damage liability.  Basic auto insurance coverage limits are usually described as “split limits” in 3 parts, such as “25/50/15”.  The first number is the maximum the insurance company will pay out to one claimant for bodily injuries or death in one accident.  The second number is the maximum amount the insurance company will pay to all claimants for injury or death from one accident, regardless of how many claimants are injured in that accident.  The third number is the maximum amount the insurance company will pay to all claimants in one accident for any property damage. number.  Thus, “25/50/15” means the maximum limit for one person’s injury or death in one accident is $25,000; the maximum limit for all claimants’ injuries or deaths is $50,000; and the maximum limit for all claimants property damage is $15,000.

In Virginia, the limits for uninsured and underinsured motorist coverages are the same as the liability coverage limits, unless you choose a lower limit in writing (which is a bad idea).  The minimal limit of liability coverage that one can purchase in order to be able to drive in the state of Virginia is $25,000/$50,000.[2] This means that if you are “at fault” in causing an accident resulting in injuries, the most protection you will have is $25,000.00 for any one person who is injured and $50,000.00 for all persons who are injured.  In Virginia, since the uninsured and underinsured motorist coverages are the same limit as the liability coverages, if someone runs into you who has no insurance and injures you, then you will be limited to recovering only $25,000 if that is your liability limit.   Certainly with hospital and other medical costs as high as they are these days, the minimal coverage limits of $25,000/$50,000 are almost certainly not enough to protect your interests if someone is injured in the accident.  If you cause an accident and an injured person sues you and gets a judgment against you that is over your policy limits, they will most likely garnish your wages, attach your assets, or seek the unpaid part of the judgment until the entire judgment has been satisfied.  Before uninsured and underinsured motorist coverages, the minimum limit might be enough for someone who had no real assets, but now higher limits are not only important for those who have assets or are gainfully employed, but for everyone.   Of course, you have to balance the likelihood of an accident involving more serious injuries with the cost of the higher limits.  At a minimum, I would suggest that you should have liability (and UM/UIM) coverage limits of $100/$300 or $250/$500.  Anything less, you’re putting your assets at risk whether you are at fault or if someone else is at fault and you are injured.   You may be surprised how little these higher limits will increase your premiums.  And remember to shop around.  Rates vary tremendously between different auto insurance companies.[3]

Of the optional coverages, I would recommend you purchase Medical Payments coverage.  This coverage will pay medical expenses when you are injured, regardless of who is at fault, and usually provides coverage for injuries resulting from any motor vehicle accident (regardless of whether you are riding a bicycle and get hit or run off the road by a motor vehicle; are injured while a passenger in someone else’s vehicle; or are even struck by a motor vehicle while a pedestrian).  Medical payments coverage also pays regardless of (or in addition to) any other insurance.   If you are injured in a motor vehicle accident and incur medical expenses, when you use your health insurance there are almost always co-pays and deductibles that result in you still paying a significant amount of money from your pocket.   Medical payments coverage will provide funds to help cover those expenses, so you may not have to pay anything yourself.   This is a broad coverage for a very small premium.   Limits are usually sold as $1,000, $5,000, or $10,000.  Under Virginia law, you multiply the number of vehicles on the policy (up to four) by the dollar limit, so if you have a $5,000 limit and three vehicles on the policy, you actually have a $15,000 limit!

Under Virginia law, auto insurance companies have to offer medical payments coverage, but generally the insurance companies do not like to provide it.  I have often heard clients say, when I’ve asked them about medical payments coverage, something like: “Well, my insurance agent asked me if I had health coverage, and I told the agent that I did, and the agent said I didn’t need medical payments coverage”.

Other coverage to consider are collision, comprehensive, towing, substitute rental vehicle, and lost income.  While these coverages are generally good to have, you will need to decide whether the benefits they provide are worth the added cost.   Do yourself a favor and check your auto insurance policy and your coverage limits to make sure you are adequately protected.  If not, make changes to your policy today. Don’t wait.  Remember the old saying: “It is better to be safe, than sorry.”

Robert L. Mertig, Claims Consultant

Author: Claims Consultant Robert L. Mertig

Many states have minimum limits for automobile liability insurance.  In Virginia, this minimum is $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident.[1] Because car insurance can be expensive, many people are tempted to purchase only the minimum.  There are good reasons, however, to purchase  limits that exceed the 25/50 state minimum.

First, the insurance company’s responsibility is to pay the limits of liability coverage if the injury claim is severe enough and to try and obtain a release on behalf of their policyholder.  The insurance company may not be able to obtain a release if the coverage is not sufficient to compensate the injured person, and the insured person will be personally responsible for the excess.  Thus, many people purchase automobile liability insurance with limits of at least 250/500 to protect themselves in case they are at fault in an accident.

Second, the increased coverage also provides additional compensation to the policyholder if someone else is at fault and the at-fault party does not have adequate coverage to compensate the insured for his injury.  The insured can then look to his uninsured motorist (UM) coverage for additional compensation for his injuries and losses. [2]

I would urge all drivers to contact their car insurance company or agent, and discuss increasing their liability and uninsured motorist policy limits.  It is important that the UM and liability limits are the same.  Unfortunately I have seen instances where an individual reduced his UM limits at the suggestion of his agent to reduce his premium.  This type of action is only advantageous to the insurance company by reducing their exposure.  It is not to the benefit of the policyholder.

I highly recommend that everyone review their automobile liability  and homeowner’s policies on an annual basis to make sure the coverage is adequate and there have been no changes unless requested by you, the policyholder.  It’s not a bad idea to shop around periodically, too, to make sure you are not paying too much.

About the Author: Bob Mertig is a claims consultant working under the supervision of Petersburg car accident lawyer Paul Hux. Bob assists clients in resolving their personal injury claims.

Mechanicsville Car Accident Attorney

Author: Attorney Christopher A. Meyer

Most people know that their motor vehicle insurance policy covers them for accidents due to their fault when they are driving the car on the policy.  Many of us also sometimes  drive someone else’s car.  Do you know whether, when you are operating someone else’s vehicle, you are covered by either the insurance on that car or by your own insurance at home on your car – or both?

Under Virginia law the answer is almost always both, provided that the driver has the permission of the owner.  If I own a car, I will of course be covered by my insurance when I am operating it.  But if I lend the car to another person, they will be also be covered because the insurance policy covers “any person…using…said automobile…with the express or implied permission of the named insured and within the scope of such permission.”  And they will be covered by their own insurance, too, on top of mine.

The limitation that the use of the vehicle must be “within the scope of such permission” simply means that if I loan my car to a friend to go to the store and get me a six pack of Diet Pepsi, and instead the friend decides to go on a jaunt to Florida for Spring Break without telling me or asking my permission, then the friend will not by covered by my automobile insurance policy on that trip as he has exceeded the scope of the permission I gave him.

My friend’s own insurance policy will not cover him either in that circumstance.  When driving a vehicle that is “non-owned” as my car would be to my friend, my friend is covered by his own policy only “… while using such automobile, provided his actual operation…is with the express or implied permission or reasonably believed to be with the permission, of the owner and is within the scope of such permission.”  When my friend, who has been given permission to go to the store and get me some diet drinks, instead heads for Florida then he has exceeded the scope of the permission I gave him and will not be covered by his own policy either.

What is I loan my car to a friend and the friend then loans the car to a third person.  Does my policy cover my friend’s friend (the third person)? Does the third person’s own policy also cover him driving my vehicle?  In short, does the friend have the right to give permission to drive a car he doesn’t own but has borrowed?  In Virginia the answer is generally yes.  For many years, Virginia law said that a person who borrowed a car could not give greater permission than he had.  So if I lent my car to a friend but told the friend that he could not lend it to anyone else, then if he did lend then the third person was not covered even though the third person didn’t know I had given my friend only limited permission to use the car. However, a few years ago Virginia law was changed to state that if the third person reasonably thought he had permission of the owner, then he was covered even if the person who lent it to him had been forbidden to lend it to anyone else by the owner. In other words, for purposes of being covered by the owner’s policy – and his own policy, the driver can rely for permission on the word of the custodian of the car.  For example, if a person owns a car and lets his son use it at college, and the son lets a roommate borrow the car, does the roommate’s own automobile policy cover him?  The answer is yes.

However, Virginia law on insurance coverage is very complicated and individual fact situations can change the answer to coverage questions.  The best advice is to make sure that you have the permission of the owner of an automobile before operating it.  That way you will be sure you are covered both under the owner’s policy and your own.  If you have any doubts about insurance coverage, consult an attorney.  At Allen and Allen, we have many attorneys who are very knowledgeable about insurance law.  One of our attorneys, W. Coleman Allen, Jr.,  has literally written a book on Virginia automobile insurance coverage, and many of our attorneys lecture regularly on insurance topics.

About the Author: Chris Meyer is a car accident attorney in Mechanicsville Virginia with the personal injury law firm of Allen & Allen. He has developed a reputation on the Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct and annually lectures on Virginia Legal Ethics. He also lectures regularly on recent decisions of the Virginia Supreme court.

Robert L. Mertig, Claims Consultant

Author: Claims Consultant Robert L. Mertig

I have read many articles recommending that consumers cancel the collision coverage on their vehicle’s car insurance policy once it reaches a certain age.  However, my many years spent in the field of insurance has shown me that this is almost always a bad idea.  Authors often present cancellation as a way to save money, arguing that there is no reason to carry collision coverage on an older model vehicle.  They reason that, due to the lower value of an older vehicle, the vehicle’s worth does not justify the coverage cost.   However, this is a half truth; it means nothing unless you are able to absorb the loss if the vehicle is wrecked and you are the at fault party.  For instance, you may be able to pay a few dollars a month more in your auto insurance bill for collision coverage, but if your vehicle was destroyed in an accident that was your fault, you may not be able to afford the several thousand dollars needed to replace the vehicle. In my experience, collision coverage does not greatly increase the cost of your policy.

Comprehensive coverage, which offers protection from fire, theft, vandalism, flood and broken glass, also does not cost much more per month.  If your windshield was broken, however, the cost to replace the windshield could easily be in the hundreds of dollars, outweighing the relatively minor cost for comprehensive coverage.

Unfortunately, many of us are “penny wise and pound foolish”, and are tempted to drop the collision and comprehensive coverages on an older vehicle.  I urge all insureds to reconsider dropping this coverage unless they are prepared to pay in full for the consequences.

About the Author: Bob Mertig is a claims consultant working under the supervision of Petersburg accident lawyer Paul Hux. Bob assists clients in resolving their personal injury claims.

Richmond Attorney Melinda H. South

Author: Attorney Melinda South

When renting their first apartment or house, tenants often don’t  think of renters insurance unless their landlord requires it.  Although the landlord may have insurance, this usually only protects the property owned by the landlord – and not the tenant’s property.

Renters insurance will provide coverage for your personal property as well as liability coverage.[1] You may assume that you don’t own that much, so why bother?  If you take an inventory of what it would cost to replace your personal property, you may be surprised by the total value of what you own.  Television, laptop, and mobile phone replacement escalates the value of your property very quickly, even if your furniture is second hand.  Do you own any appliances?  What about lawn equipment if you are renting a home?  Just replacing the everyday items we use – such as utensils, dishes, linens, etc. – all at one time could be a big expense.  There are two types of personal property coverage:  replacement cost, and actual cash value.  Replacement cost pays what it would cost you to go out and buy a sofa to replace the one you had.  Actual cash value coverage would pay you the depreciated value of that sofa.  Obviously replacement cost is the better coverage to have, but usually it costs more.

Renters insurance also protects a tenant if he or she is legally responsible for an accident that occurs due to his negligence.  For example, if a guest of the tenant fell due to the tenant’s negligence in leaving something that was spilled on the floor, such as grease, then the liability portion of the policy would cover the guest’s injuries and losses, including medical expenses, time missed from work, and pain and suffering.    Even if a tenant is not negligent but a guest falls in his apartment, there is often medical payments coverage which would cover the medical bills only of the guest in your home that was injured.

Protect your personal property as well as yourself with renters insurance.  Contact an agent today to find out what it would cost.  Do it now before it’s too late.  Even after you have obtained renters insurance, you should make an inventory of your possessions in case they should be destroyed.[2] Be prepared!

About the Author: Melinda H. South is an Richmond attorney with the personal injury law firm of Allen, Allen, Allen & Allen. Melinda works as a legal researcher and assists in the preparation of firm briefs and legal memoranda. Allen, Allen, Allen & Allen attorneys have experience in handling premises liability cases in Virginia.

[2] For a form you can use to make a household inventory, see http://www.scc.virginia.gov/division/boi/webpages/inspagedocs/homeownerspossessions.pdf.

Robert L. Mertig

R. Clayton Allen

Authors: Bob Mertig & R. Clayton Allen, Esquire

When you purchase auto insurance in Virginia(1), there are several types of coverage on the policy that are optional.  One of these is Medical Payments coverage.  Medical Payments coverage is a “first party coverage” which you may purchase in addition to the basic liability coverage when you insure your vehicle in Virginia.  By law, the insurance company must offer this coverage to you.[2] Medical Payments coverage reimburses you for medical expenses even if the bill has been paid by your health insurance provider, as long as the treatment was for an injury involving a motor vehicle.[3]

By law, the medical payment coverage will pay, up to the limit of the coverage, for those expenses incurred for services rendered within three (3) years from the date of the accident.  It applies to anyone who may be occupying your vehicle with permission.  The coverage also applies if you are struck by an automobile while as a pedestrian, a bicyclist, or even as a passenger in someone else’s car or on a motorcycle.  However, if you are operating another vehicle that you own that is covered by a policy that does not have medical payments coverage, then you are not covered.  Medical payments coverage also pays regardless of who is at fault or any other insurance coverage that may applies to the same expenses.  So even if you are driving down the road, fall asleep at the wheel, run off the road and hit a tree, medical payments coverage will pay your medical expenses for any injuries you sustain.

Medical payments coverage is good coverage to have for a lot of reasons.  First, auto accidents are the most common cause of serious injuries in the United States today.  Second, many times health insurance has deductibles or co-pays, so that you may still owe a significant amount after health insurance pays their part.  Medical payments coverage will help pay most or all of that, so that you don’t end up having to pay out of your pocket. Third, medical payments coverage is relatively inexpensive. Often a limit of two to five thousand dollars may cost less than fifty dollars a year. Fourth, medical payments coverage covers not only you but your spouse and children who live with you also.

Check the Declaration Page of your auto insurance policy to see if you have medial payments coverage.[4] If you don’t, then discuss purchasing this coverage with your insurance agent.  You can add this coverage at any time.  Many of our clients who don’t have this coverage wish they did.[5]

About the Authors: Bob Mertig is a claims consultant working under the supervision of Petersburg accident attorney Paul Hux. Bob assists clients in resolving their personal injury claims. Clayton Allen is a Richmond accident attorney and is a seasoned litigator. He has successfully handled all types of personal injury cases including brain injury, car accidents, trailer trailer accidents and wrongful death.

[2] See Va. Code §38.2-2201, at http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+38.2-2201 .

[3] The form Personal Auto Insurance Policy in Virginia states the injury must be caused by an accident and either while “occupying” a motor vehicle or being struck as a pedestrian. “Occupying” is defined as “in, upon, or getting in, out or off” of a motor vehicle.  (There are further exclusions limiting coverage to only four wheel motor vehicles and those designed for use mainly on public roads).  See Personal Auto Insurance Form Policy at http://www.scc.virginia.gov/division/boi/webpages/auto/PP00010105.pdf.

[4] The “Declaration Page” is the page that shows your name and address, the policy number, what vehicles are covered, what coverages you have, and the premium for each overage.  Normally the word “Declarations” appears somewhere on the page.

[5]This article attempts to summarize what medical payments coverage is and what it covers. There are a number of conditions, exceptions, and limitations which apply and are beyond the scope of this article. For more information, consult with an attorney who specializes in Automobile Insurance claims.

Attorney W. Coleman Allen, Jr.

Author: Attorney W. Coleman Allen, Jr.[1]

The short answer to this question is an emphatic “NO!”  The answer is emphatic, because the language of the policy might not only be incomplete, but actually misleading.  Consequently you may miss coverage to which you are entitled that is not even described in the policy, and may in addition fail to recognize what coverage is provided, because some of the terms used in the policy have very different meanings than they do in everyday conversation.

The “Rules of the Road” concerning insurance coverage are provided by state rather than federal law in the United States, under the U.S. Constitution.[2] So the rights of injured motorists in policies issued for delivery in Virginia are governed by the statutes of the Commonwealth of Virginia.[3] In addition to these statutes, the Bureau of Insurance of the State Corporation Commission is authorized to issue, and periodically issues updates of, a “Model Policy” of motor vehicle insurance, to which every insurance company writing coverage  in Virginia must conform.  If an insurance company such as State Farm, Allstate, or GEICO, issues a policy that gives less coverage than the Virginia statutes require or than is contained in the Model Policy, then the policy issued by the insurance company will be “automatically revised” by law to match what is required by statute or the Model Policy.  One clear result of this law is that even if an injured person were able to interpret the language contained in a motor vehicle insurance policy correctly, he or she still would not know the full measure of the coverage provided, because that would require review of both the relevant statutes and the current version of the Model Policy, in addition to the policy.[4]

The written insurance policy you are given when you first purchase the policy consists of two parts.  The first part is the Declarations Page, sometimes referred to as the “Dec Sheet,” which describes who the “named insured” or owner of the policy is; what vehicles are covered; and the specific coverages that you have purchased.  Typically the Declaration Page also shows the cost of each coverage on each vehicle.[5]

The second part of the policy, referred to as the “body” of the policy, generally includes ten to fifteen pages of small print, which explains the details of the coverages listed on the Declaration Page.  As Mark Twain commented almost a century ago, “the big print gives you the coverage, and the small print takes it away!”  These provisions buried in the body of the policy contain “exclusions,” which do indeed “take it away” when applied to the insurance coverage afforded.  The body of the policy also contains “conditions”, which further limit the coverage.  As indicated above, however, if the insurance policy sent to you by your company contains exclusions or conditions that are not permitted by a Virginia statute, or that are inconsistent with the Virginia Model Policy maintained by the Bureau of Insurance, then those exclusions or conditions are null and void, and will not be given effect in law.  In other words, you are entitled to the coverage, despite the insurance company’s attempts in the small print to “take it away,”  if there is a conflict with a statute or the Model Policy.

A new Declarations Page is sent each time the policy is renewed, often annually,  but a copy of the body of the policy is usually only provided when the insurance coverage is first purchased.  If you no longer have the body of your policy, a new one can be obtained from your insurance agent, and should be kept with your other important papers.

Aside from the need to consult and to understand the relevant statutes and the Model Policy in order to determine coverage, it is also necessary to understand the special meaning given to certain words that are frequently used in insurance policies, because their meaning when found in an insurance policy is often not the same as the meaning those words have in everyday conversation.  The legal description of such special meaning given to certain words is “terms of art,” signifying that they have a unique meaning when they appear in a specific legal context, that is not the same as their ordinary meaning.  For example, in everyday usage, simple logic tells us that every motor vehicle is either “owned” or “non-owned” in relation to any specific individual, since any person that we name either owns the vehicle or does not own it.   However, when these terms are found in an insurance policy, they have special meanings, such that there is indeed a third category aside from “owned” and “non-owned” vehicles.[6] Anyone attempting to read an insurance policy who encounters these words and attaches the ordinary, everyday meaning to them, will therefore misread the policy and reach the wrong conclusion as to what coverage the policy provides.

For these reasons, it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to consult a qualified attorney under any circumstances in which benefits are provided to an injured person through insurance coverage, rather than attempting to interpret the policy yourself.  Every year in Virginia, deserving claimants are deprived of millions of dollars of insurance benefits to which they are entitled, simply due to their failure to obtain proper advice from an attorney who specializes in handling cases involving personal injury or wrongful death, and who possesses specific expertise in the complex subject of the law of motor vehicle insurance coverage.   With the Allen Law Firm, the initial consultation is always free, so there is no reason not to find out what your rights are.

About the Author: Coleman Allen is an auto accident lawyer in Richmond VA. He has a career spanning over 30 years with the Virginia personal injury law firm Allen & Allen. In addition to car accident cases and truck accident cases, Coleman has successfully cases involving defective products, brain injury, wrongful death and aviation accidents.

[2] Under the U.S. system of government, as specified in the U.S. Constitution, some areas of law are controlled by federal law, and other areas of the law are reserved to the states.   Insurance is generally an area of the law that is reserved to the states.

[3] As the law of insurance is generally reserved to the states, and each state’s laws may therefore be different, this article is primarily concerned with auto insurance in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

[4] Interestingly, there is no Virginia “model policy” for any other type of insurance policy except a family automobile insurance policy; there is no “model policy” for homeowner’s insurance, life insurance, fire insurance, commercial liability, etc.

[5] For an example of what a “Declarations Page” or “Declarations Sheet” looks like, see the one at http://www.onlineautoinsurance.com/learn/what-is-policy-declarations-page.htm.

[6] As the terms are defined in the Model Policy, “owned” means a vehicle listed in the policy, and “non-owned” means a vehicle not owned by either the insured or any relative who resides with the insured. So, if the insured owns another vehicle that is not listed in the policy, then as to that policy, the vehicle is neither “owned” nor “non-owned”.

Robert L. Mertig, Claims Consultant

Author: Claims Consultant Robert L. Mertig

In Virginia, we see many instances where the at-fault party has only minimum limits of automobile liability insurance coverage, and the injured party also has only the minimum limit of $25,000.[1] Under these circumstances, often the most you can recover — no matter how serious your injury or loss – is only $25,000.

Increasing your liability and UM (Uninsured Motorist) limits protects you in two ways.  If you are the at-fault party there is more money available to compensate injured parties and obtain a release on your behalf.  This increased coverage also comes into play to compensate you if the other driver (liable party) only had minimum limits of liability and your injury or damages exceeded his/her coverage.  If this happens your policy would afford coverage up to your limits less the $25,000 of the at-fault party.[2]

It is extremely important for an individual to have more than the minimum limits of 25/50 liability coverage as mandated by law in the state of Virginia.  Based on my experience as a former insurance company adjuster and with the Allen Law Firm, I would urge all Virginia motorists to increase their liability coverage to a minimum of 250/500 on their automobile insurance policies.

You may want to ask your insurance agent about adding a personal liability umbrella policy for one million dollars.  This type of policy, called a PLUP (Personal Liability Umbrella Policy), is in addition to your basic liability coverage of 250/500 and provides peace of mind if you have the misfortune to cause a serious accident that results in multiple or catastrophic injuries to another person or persons.  Unfortunately, most umbrella policies do not also include UM (Uninsured Motorist) coverage.

Please do not hesitate to call the personal injury law firm of Allen & Allen if you have any questions about your auto policy coverage.

About the Author: Bob Mertig is a claims consultant working under the supervision of Petersburg accident attorney Paul Hux. Bob assists clients in resolving their personal injury claims.

[2] See “Auto Insurance: Having ‘Full Coverage’ Doesn’t Mean You Have Enough Insurance”, at http://www.allenandallen.com/blog/auto-insurance-2.html.