Auto Accident

My husband was in a car accident. The responsible party's insurance is only for $100,000. Our medical bills combined with lost wages is higher than this amount. Is the party responsible to pay medical, vehicle, lost wages, and pain & suffering charges if their insurance does not cover them? If the insured party is 16 years old are the parents of the child responsible to pay this debt? What are our chances in recovering our losses if she was tickted for the accident?

anything over the insurance amount you have to sue her and the parents in court....

so do they have any property? or any money?

[ALawyer]

If there are serious injuries - and if you are talking about $100,000 not being enough, there must be -- and you do not have a lawyer, you are foolish. VERY VERY FOOLISH.

The insurance company is only liable for the first $100,000 provided it acts in good faith. (In some cases it can be liable for more if it fails to settle within the policy limits. It is possible that the injured person or her parents may have underinsured coverage that may have their own insurance company to pay more. And in some states certain medical expenses are not counted against the policy limit.)

In very few cases does the injured party collect more than the policy limit -- most claims settle far below that. In recent years I have not heard of a case in which there was a large policy and the wrongdoer's insurer simply threw in the full policy limt where the injured person did not have a lawyer.

In addition, in some circumstances there may be others liable besides the owner and driver. If the driver was working for someone, and the accident happened in the course of her employment, the business may be liable. If the driver had any alcohol the bar or other person who bought or supplied it may be liable. If there is a defective aspect to the car, the repair shop or manufactuerr may be liable. If the injured party was on the job, there may be disability.