| Tort Liability of Owners/Operators of Private Motor Vehicles |
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| While the owners and operators of private motor vehicles sometimes think of their possession of auto insurance as totally eliminating any potential tort liability on their parts, such owners and operators remain subject to the tort system to the extent that their insurance coverage does not encompass part or all of their legal liability for an incident that has caused personal injury or property damage to another person. Such a situation can arise, for example, where a court judgment reflecting injury or damage caused by an insured private vehicle owner or operator exceeds the limits of his or her policy, or where the insured's failure to provide required notice to an insurer or cooperate in the defense of a legal action causes the insurer to assert that it is not required to provide coverage for the loss under the policy. More... |
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| Personal Injury Automobile Accident Cases |
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| If an insurance policy covers accidents of travel, it must be shown that a death or disability resulted from such a risk before benefits can be paid. A death caused by the collision of automobiles is clearly within the ordinary interpretation of accidental means. This result is not prevented by any negligence of the insured. Courts feel that clauses of this nature must be given a reasonable construction. If the insurance terms are not expressly limited, some courts will extend coverage to situations where the use of an automobile was not an important factor or where the particular loss was fairly removed from an event that involved the use of an automobile. Other decisions, however, are not as generous. Some courts will not trace back an injury to an automobile or extend benefits to a particular loss or expense. More... |
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| Setoffs and Underinsured Motorist Insurance Policies |
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| An automobile insurance policy may contain a set-off clause, which provides that an insured cannot recover bodily injury benefits under both the liability coverage part and the underinsured motorist coverage part of the policy. When an insured fully recovers his or her losses under the liability provision of an automobile insurance policy, the insured could not then seek to recover under the underinsured motorist provision of the same policy. More... |
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| Contingency Fee Arrangements in Auto Accident Cases |
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| When a person, who is injured in an automobile accident, needs an attorney to file a lawsuit against those who caused the person's injuries, the attorney's fees could prevent the injured person from proceeding. Most injured persons cannot afford to pay an attorney's hourly fee to bring a lawsuit to recover damages that could include medical expenses, lost wages, pain, future medical needs, and other expenses. To make litigation affordable for an injured person, attorneys in automobile accident cases do not charge an hourly rate or a fixed amount for legal fees. Instead, the attorney and injured person agree that the attorney's fee will be determined by the amount of the settlement awarded to the client. This is called a contingency fee arrangement. More... |
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| Motor Vehicle Insurer's Right to Reimbursement of Indemnity Payments |
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| The obligations of insurers to make payments under policies of motor vehicle insurance are based on the sometimes uncertain answers to questions about the extent of coverage and the liability of an insured to a party making a claim under the policy. An insurer may therefore face a difficult decision as to whether to make a payment in response to a third party's demand for such payment under a policy, risking the possibility that the payment is uncalled for in light of some limitation in the coverage, or to deny such a request and risk a claim that the insurer's failure to make the requested payment has made it liable to an insured for additional damages, such as the amount of a judgment in excess of the policy limits. More... |
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