When you are involved in a car accident, you may experience physical injury, many doctor office visits and you may miss time away from work. Depending on the circumstances, insurance may pay for your medical bills. Even so, there are situations where you may have reason to file a personal injury lawsuit for a car accident.
There are two different insurance rules in the United States: fault and no-fault. In a no-fault state, a person’s own insurance company will pay for their bills no matter which one of them caused the collision. In a fault or tort state, the driver who caused the accident is responsible for any bills that are associated with the crash.
California is a pure comparative fault state. This means that a driver is responsible for the percentage of the accident they caused. For example, if you were in a collision with one other car, and you were found to be 45% responsible for the accident, the other driver would be 55% responsible for the accident.
A driver in California must have $15,000 of insurance per person and $30,000 per accident. You must also be insured for $5000 for property damage.
In many cases, a person’s medical bills will exceed the amount of money for which an at-fault driver is covered. There are some people who have no insurance and there are some times when the insurance company does not want to pay you what you are owed. If you do not get the money you need for an accident, you may want to consider filing a lawsuit.
When the Bills are Higher than The Insurance Coverage
$15,000 doesn’t go very far in a hospital and many people only have the minimum amount of insurance. Often times a car accident will result in injuries that will require ongoing care. If this is the case, you may have to sue the driver personally in order to pay your bills.
If you have suffered permanent disfigurement or a bone fracture, you may also want to file a lawsuit.
When the Other Driver Does Not Have Insurance
The state of California requires you to carry $15,000 of uninsured motorist coverage for one person and $30,000 per accident. However, If your bills exceed your coverage, you may want to talk to an attorney about whether or not it is worth it to file a lawsuit against the driver.
When the Insurance Company Will Not Pay Enough
When you file a lawsuit, an insurance company will have 40 days to accept or deny your claim. If they accept your claim, they will make you a settlement offer. The offer that they make you is likely to be less than your injuries are worth.
At this time you should hire a personal injury attorney to help you with your case. They will be well versed in dealing with insurance companies and can negotiate on your behalf.
If your attorney is not able to get you the settlement that you want, you can file a lawsuit. You will have two years to file such a suit in the state of California.
Car accidents are time-consuming, painful, and costly. Suing is often the only way to get the money you need to recover from your accident.
Authoritative Sources:
http://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumers/105-type/95-guides/01-auto/auto101.cfm
