You need someone knowledgeable working on your claim and looking out for your interests as soon as possible also. If you’ve been injured after an accident, you should consult an attorney right away. A lawyer can help you decide whether it is in your best interests to pursue a claim and how to do so.

What can a personal injury law firm like Allen & Allen do for you that you can’t do for yourself?

First, one of our experienced and knowledgeable attorneys can advise you of any crucial deadlines in your case. They can explain relevant Statutes of Limitations that require you to file suit on or before a certain date. They can also tell you about time limits for filing mandatory “notices” of your claim in cases involving certain types of defendants. For instance, in Virginia, in a claim against a city, usually you must give a written notice within six months or the claim against the city is barred. Other missed deadlines can also prevent you from making a recovery.

Second, at the direction of our attorneys, our team of investigators will promptly investigate the facts surrounding your accident. After car accidents, tractor trailer accidents, slip and fall accidents, premises liability injuries, and wrongful deaths, Allen & Allen’s investigators are prepared to interview law enforcement officers and eyewitnesses, take photographs of the scene or vehicles, and preserve other relevant evidence that may help win your case. Sometimes a single picture of the damage to your vehicle, or of bruises or swelling, can be the key to a successful recovery in your case.

Third, the attorneys at Allen & Allen can identify the potential defendants in your case. When you are badly injured and your medical bills are substantial, this information may be critical to making sure that you receive a fair monetary settlement or verdict. Sometimes it’s not easy to identify all persons and/or entities, such as businesses or government agencies, bearing legal responsibility for your injuries. An experienced personal injury attorney has the skills and ability to track down the defendants in your case. The sooner you contact an attorney, the sooner the attorney can begin this process and the more likely it is this inquiry will be successful.

Fourth, our personal injury attorneys will explore all sources of recovery in your case. These may include:
• Insurance policies that may cover vehicles involved in your accident;
• Insurance policies that provide coverage for the person(s) or entities responsible for your injuries;
• Insurance policies that cover an employer of the person responsible for your injuries;
• Insurance policies that cover the vehicle which you occupied at the time of the accident; and
• Your own insurance policy and the policies of family members who live with you.

Fifth, and probably most important, an experienced attorney is equipped to develop a legal strategy that puts your case in the best posture to maximize the recovery you deserve. If your case is small because your injuries heal quickly and little medical treatment is required, then it may not be cost effective for you to have an attorney and you may be able to handle the claim on your own. In either event, a prompt meeting to discuss your claim will allow our attorneys to help you decide what you want to do. And remember – there is no cost or obligation for an initial consultation with one of our attorneys.

Attorney Elizabeth M. Allen

How much automobile insurance should you buy?

The answer is easy: As much as you can afford.

The primary reason to buy automobile insurance, both liability and uninsured motorist (UM) coverage, is to protect you and your assets. Your insurance company will almost never pay more in damages, to you or to a person you negligently injure, than the dollar amount of the coverage you paid for, no matter how high a verdict there may be either against you or for you. Sound complicated? I’ll illustrate with two hypothetical examples, one involving liability insurance coverage and one involving underinsured motorist coverage.

Liability Coverage Example
Suppose you buy a policy with limits of $25,000/50,000 in auto liability insurance coverage.2 As a result, you would be personally responsible for payment of the remaining $50,000! The injured person would likely seek to recover this amount from your savings and other assets. This is a harsh result, I am sure you would agree, and one you would want to avoid.

What would happen if you had purchased a policy with higher limits of $100,000/$300,000? Since the verdict is less than your limit, your insurance company would pay the injured person the entire judgment amount of $75,000. Consequently, you would not be obligated to pay any part of the judgment yourself. To sum it up, the more insurance coverage you buy, the less likely it is that you will ever be called upon personally to pay any part of a legal judgment against you.

Underinsured Motorist Coverage (UIM) Example
Your purchase of high insurance limits can also help you or your family members when one or more of you are injured through the fault of another driver. This might occur if you and/or relatives who live with you sustain serious injuries in a motor vehicle accident, and the negligent driver who caused the accident has less insurance coverage than you do.

How does this work? Suppose you were in an auto accident that was someone else’s fault, and you were injured. Suppose your injuries and losses are serious, and your medical bills and lost wages are substantial. In your lawsuit against the driver at fault, a jury awards you $100,000 in damages. /Now suppose the driver at fault has purchased an auto insurance policy with $25,000/$50,000 limits, and you have an auto insurance policy that provides $100,000/$300,000 limits in UM/UIM coverage. The at-fault driver’s insurance company will pay you only $25,000, which is the maximum amount of liability coverage the defendant bought which can be paid to one person with respect to one accident. (When limits of insurance coverage are stated as “$25,000/$50,000, the first number is the maximum amount the insurance company will pay to any one person injured in an accident, and the second number is the maximum amount the insurance company will pay to all claimants in a single accident, regardless of how many injured persons there are).

However, you can look to your own UM/UIM coverage to see if there is underinsurance coverage (UIM) available to you. Under Virginia law, if the limit of the UM coverage available to you is greater than the limit of the at-fault driver’s liability coverage, then he is considered “underinsured” with respect to you and you will have underinsurance coverage on your own policy to give you extra coverage.3 The availability of underinsurance coverage depends on a comparison between a specific at-fault driver’s total liability coverage, and the total limit of UM coverage on the injured person. (Sometimes either the at-fault driver or the injured person may be able to add together or “stack” several insurance policies). In the example above, since the verdict is $100,000 and the at-fault driver only has $25,000 liability coverage, his insurance company would pay the first $25,000 of the verdict. Then your insurance company would pay you $75,000 under you UIM coverage, because that’s the amount by which your own UM motorist coverage exceeds the at-fault driver’s liability coverage limit of $25,000. By adding your $75,000 in underinsurance coverage to the defendant’s $25,000 liability limits, the entire $100,000 judgment you won in court would be paid in full.

Now suppose instead that you had only purchased an auto insurance policy with a $25,000/$50,000 limit in UM coverage. In the accident described above, your insurance company wouldn’t pay you anything because your UM insurance coverage of $25,000/$50,000 is not any higher than the at-fault driver’s own $25,000/$50,000 liability limits. Yes, you can still pursue the at-fault driver personally through collection after trial. However, the average at-fault driver has few assets and collecting on a judgment can be a long, expensive, and often futile endeavor. In the end, it is always better to carry high liability/UM insurance limits yourself and ensure that you and your own family are protected in the event one or more of you sustains severe injuries caused by the negligence of a driver with low automobile insurance coverage limits.4

2 When you see a figure like $25,000/$50,000 in relation to an auto policy, it means the limits are “split”, that is, one injured person can recover a maximum of $25,000 under the policy while $50,000 is the most coverage the insurance company will pay out to all injured persons regardless of the number of people injured in the same accident or how badly they may be injured.

3 In Virginia, you may be entitled to undersinsured motorist coverage under more than one policy, and these policies can sometimes be “stacked” to give you more coverage. Va. Code § 38.2-2206. This is a complex area of law, and it is wise to consult an attorney to explore whether there is underinsurance in your case.

4 In Virginia, you cannot buy UM coverage in an amount that is higher than your auto
liability insurance limits.

About the Author: Elizabeth Morrell Allen has been engaged in the practice of personal injury law for over 30 years at the law firm Allen & Allen. From 1988 to 2004, Beth served as a branch manager of the firm’s Petersburg, Virginia office.

Attorney Kathleen Llewellyn-Duncan

By Attorney Kathleen Llewellyn-Duncan

Medical Expense coverage (sometimes known as Medical Payments) is an optional coverage available on Virginia Automobile Policies. This coverage covers all reasonable and necessary medical expenses for injuries resulting from a motor vehicle collision, or even arising out of the use of a motor vehicle. Medical Payments coverage covers anyone named on the policy (the “named insured”), a spouse, and any relative residing in the household. It also covers anyone occupying a vehicle on the policy. It will pay the medical expenses regardless of any other insurance and regardless of who is at fault. Medical Expense coverage covers medical expenses incurred within 3 years after the date of the collision or injury.

Although it’s an optional coverage because you don’t have to have it, by law Medical Payments coverage must be offered by your insurance company. Medical Payments coverage is usually offered in amounts like $1,000, $2,000, $5,000, and sometimes $10,000. Under Virginia law, you can “stack” the coverage up to a maximum of 4 vehicles on one policy. . For example, if you insure 3 cars and carry $1,000 Medical Payments coverage on each vehicle, you would “stack” the coverage if you are injured in an accident, so you really have a total of $3,000 limit for medical expenses.

Do you need Medical Expense coverage if you have health insurance?

If you have a good health insurance plan, it may not seem as critical to carry the coverage, but before you choose to drop it to save a little money, consider these questions: Does your health insurance plan have a deductible, co-pays, or co-insurance that would be out of pocket expenses? If your health plan is through your employer, how certain are you that you will remain with that employer? Does your health insurance pay for chiropractic treatment? Every year it seems like health insurance covers less, and the deductibles and co-pays get larger. Many people who have health insurance still find the Medical Expense coverage valuable in consideration of the medical costs that are not covered by health insurance. Keep in mind also that the most common way to suffer serious injury today is from a motor vehicle accident.

You may also want to consider whether or not you often have passengers in your vehicle. Remember Medical Payments coverage also extends to anyone in the vehicle who is injured in a motor vehicle collision. Typically passengers will be family or friends, and this will help cover them also.

Finally, consider this. Medical Expense coverage will “follow” you! If you are a passenger in another person’s vehicle that does not have this coverage, your own policy would apply. If they do have this coverage, normally your Medical Payments coverage will provide additional (excess) coverage if your medical expenses are higher than their limit of coverage. Also, if you are a pedestrian and you are injured by a motorist, your Medical Payments coverage would extend to you.

Premiums for Medical Expense coverage are generally low, so it’s inexpensive coverage to have. Typical rates are around $20 or less for $1,000 coverage, and, remember, you can “stack” that limit by the number of vehicles on the policy up to four. So, you should certainly consider carrying Medical Payments coverage to protect yourself and those who are in your vehicle. It’s good coverage to have and is relatively inexpensive. All the attorneys in our office have it!

This article is intended to give an overview of Medical Payments coverage on your family automobile insurance policy. Please note that there are a number of exceptions and conditions to Medical Payments coverage, and you should consult an attorney if you have any questions as to how this coverage may apply in a specific situation.

About the Author: Kathleen Llewellyn-Duncan is a personal injury attorney with the law firm of Allen & Allen. She works primarily in the Fredericksburg and Garrisonville offices.

What About My Car?

You may or may not have had severe injuries after your unfortunate car or truck accident but WHAT ABOUT YOUR CAR? If your car was damaged and the accident was not your fault, here are some guidelines to help you in dealing with the insurance companies and getting your car repaired.

What is covered?
You are entitled to payment for any damage done to your car and personal property, such as, clothing, eye wear, sports equipment, or personal belongings that were in your car at the time of the accident if the accident was entirely someone else’s fault. Items that may have been lost or stolen from your car are not covered.

How am I paid for damages?
You may be able to recover your losses from the following three sources:

Liability Coverage under the Defendant’s Insurance - If the other person’s insurance company accepts fault in your accident, they will normally pay a standard amount to have your car repaired. Unfortunately, insurance companies often take days or weeks to decide whether to accept fault in the accident. Therefore, your car may not be repaired in a timely manner.

Collision Coverage under Your Insurance - This is usually the fastest and easiest way to get your car repaired. Your car repairs will be paid under your own insurance policy regardless of who is at fault in the accident. You are responsible for paying any deductable up front. This deductable will be returned to you if your insurance company is repaid by the other party.

You may also be responsible for any rental car fees during the time your car is being repaired if you do not have rental reimbursement coverage under your own policy.

Uninsured Motorist Coverage under Your Insurance - If the person who caused the accident does not have any insurance or is not able to be identified, you are protected under the uninsured motorist coverage of your own policy. Depending on the type of accident, you may be responsible for paying a deductible.

How do I get my car repaired?

If your car is drivable – You should contact the other party’s insurance company to ask for an estimate of the cost of repairing your car. An insurance adjuster may arrange to come by and look at your car or you may be asked to take your car to the insurance company’s location. Once you get an estimate from the insurance company, take your car to a body shop of your choice for a second estimate. If the body shop feels the repairs to your car cannot be repaired as estimated by the insurance company, ask the Manager of the body shop to call the insurance company on your behalf. The insurance company will then issue you a check to the body shop to pay for the repair to your car.

Some insurance companies do not have local estimators and will ask you to get 2-3 estimates from local body shops for repairing your car. They will then issue you a check for the lowest estimate.

If your car is not driveable - The insurance company will send an adjuster to estimate the damage to your car. They will then issue a check to pay for the repairs. If your car has been towed to a repair shop or salvage yard, it is very important to have your car moved as quickly as possible to the body shop of your choice. Most of these locations charge a daily storage fee that you may be responsible for paying.

What if my car is “Totaled”?
The insurance company will compare the amount your car could have been sold for before the accident (fair market value) to the estimated cost of repairing your car (plus rental charges and salvage value) and pay you whichever amount is less. A car that costs more to repair than it was worth before the accident is called a “Total Loss”. The fair market value of your car is determined by the current price for a car similar to yours as listed by area car dealerships, newspapers, dealers surveys, and car value books.

When your car is declared a total loss, you have two options:

1. You can accept the total loss value of your car less the salvage value and keep your car.

or

2. You can accept the total loss and salvage value of your car by signing your car over to the insurance company. You will be required to sign the title and odometer reading statement. You may also be asked to sign a power of attorney to allow the insurance company to dispose of your car.

Rental Cars
While your car is being repaired or you are waiting on payment for a car that is a total loss, you may want to rent a car. Provided the rental is comparable to your car, rented at a reasonable price, for a reasonable amount of time, the insurance company will reimburse you. Under the law in Virginia, the insurance company must only reimburse your expenses; therefore, you are often responsible for renting and paying for a rental car in advance.

Insurance companies often argue the amount of time a rental car is used, so it is important that you follow up with the body shop to make sure your car is repaired in a timely manner.

Conclusion
We hope you find this information helpful in resolving the damages to your car. If your injuries are serious and you feel you need an attorney, please call Allen, Allen, Allen & Allen for a free consultation at 866-388-1307.

This guide describes how to handle your property damage in general. Please note that your insurance company may follow different procedures.

There’s not much you can do to prevent a car crash caused by someone else, but there is a lot you can do to protect yourself from the consequences of being hit by an uninsured or underinsured motorist.

The economic downturn has increased the number of uninsured cars on the road. According to The Insurance Research Council, in 2003 14.9% of cars on the road were uninsured. As the economy improved, that dropped to 13.8% by 2007. However, as the economy has weakened, the percentage of uninsured cars on the road has started back up. For each 1% increase in the unemployment rate, the Insurance Research Council has found a ¾% increase in the uninsured motorist rate. By 2010, 16.1% of all cars on the road are expected to be uninsured.

So what can you do to protect your family against an uninsured motorist? The first thing you can do is to find and read the Declarations page of your family automobile insurance policy. The Declarations page is often the opening page of the policy. It has the name of the insurance company at the top, your name and address as the insured, and a listing of all the vehicles insured by the policy. Near each vehicle listed you will find the coverage provided by the policy.

The next thing to do is to determine whether you have sufficient limits of insurance coverage on your policy. The two basic coverages on every policy are Liability Coverage and Uninsured/Underinsured Coverage. The first listed is Liability Coverage, usually listed in an amount such as 25/50, 50/100, or 100/300. This means that if you are at fault and hit someone, the company will pay up to these limit amounts multiplied by $1000. For example, 25/50 means your insurance company will pay up to $25,000 for any one person injured in the accident, and up to $50,000 total for all persons injured in one crash. 25/50 is the minimum limits required by Virginia law and the minimum you can have, but $25,000 does not go very far in these days of expensive medical care.

The other required coverage is Uninsured Motorist and Underinsured Motorist Coverage (UM/UIM). Your insurance company must provide UM/UIM limits equal to the Liability limits, unless you choose lower UM/UIM limits. That is a terrible idea; you don’t want to do that. UM/UIM Coverage is all that stands between you and possible financial disaster if you or a family member are seriously hurt in a car crash.UM/UIM coverage obligates your company to step in and provide insurance up to your UM/UIM policy limits if the other driver who causes injury has no insurance or has a lower limit than you do. UM/UIM coverage covers every member of your household even if you or another member is hurt as a passenger in someone else’s car.

So look at your UM/UIM coverage. What if you were badly hurt in a crash and couldn’t work for several months? Is the amount of your UM/UIM coverage adequate to compensate you for your injuries and losses? If not, call your agent and ask about increasing the limits. The cost of additional coverage is surprisingly little when you consider the next out of control car may not be insured.