Injury accident / Possible lawsuit

[danrmn]

What is the name of your state? Kansas

My son was the driver in a serious single car accident. He had passengers, one who had extreme injuries. Our insurance limits are $2500 PIP and then $200,000 bodily injury liability coverage. The insurance co says they will pay $2500 of the medical bills and then can settle with the passenger's family for up to $200,000. As far as my son is concerned, the insurance says they will pay the $2500 PIP, however he is not entitled to any other coverage because it was a one vehicle accident and his fault. Is this correct? Can the insurance determine my son was at fault even though no tickets were issued? I just don't understand if this is standard procedure or if we need a lawyer to help with our son's bills or protect us from the other passenger sueing for more than the $202,500. I want the passenger's medical bills paid, but I am afraid they will try to bankrupt us. Does it matter at all that the passenger chose not to wear his seat belt? Thanks for any help on this.

 

[las365]

Your underinsured motorist coverage doesn't apply here. You have $200K in bodily injury liability coverage. In my experience working as a legal assistant on personal injury cases in which we have represented both defendants and plaintiffs, unless you have very deep pockets, it would be unusual for someone to pursue you for damages over your policy limits.

How did the accident happen? If your son was not at fault, do you contend that someone else was?

 

[danrmn]

You are right. The $200,000 is bodily injury liability coverage. My son was the driver and it was a single car accident. He cannot remember what happened other than the road changed from asphalt to gravel and he lost control. Would the passenger's family initiate a lawsuit in order to collect the $200,000. The insurance company has sent letters describing the $2500 PIP, but nothing more.

 

[danrmn]

I only asked about my son's coverage because his medical bills amount to approximately $13000

 

[las365]

It sounds reasonable to assign fault to your son, since he lost control of the car. Accidents happen. In a one car accident, the driver is usually at fault.

Whether the parents of the either passenger have to file suit to get settlements acceptable to them is pretty much up to your insurance carrier and how it handles the claim.

Your son can get the PIP limit. I hope you have health insurance coverage for him. It should cover most of the rest.

 

[danrmn]

Thanks so much for your help. You really cleared things up for me!

 

[las365]

You're welcome. Sunday nights are quiet here; other people will likely come along tomorrow with additional information or suggestions. Keep checking back.

p.s. I hope your son and both passengers make full recoveries. Your son may benefit from some counseling. He's probably going to have a lot of pesky feelings to deal with because of the accident.

 

[ecmst12]

Your son was the only driver involved, who else's fault could it be? A driver is expected to be able to maintain control of his vehicle regardless of conditions; whether he was ticketed or not, he must have been doing SOMETHING wrong (not paying attention, or going too fast for conditions) or he would not have lost control of the car. You may want to consider increasing your PIP coverage if possible; having a young driver on the policy, the higher your limits the better. But your health insurance should cover his bills after PIP is exhausted; they may want a letter from the auto insurance stating that PIP is gone but that's about it.