Any lawyers or insurance people to answer this question

Really this is just a hypothetical question (knock on wood) but im renewing my auto insurance policy and i have the option to increase it from the current coverage to a much higher one for a sensible amount more per policy..

but i was just wondering, if you get into an accident that is your fault, and the other party suffers a death or is injured and later ends up dying, where does insurance gets involved and where do they draw the line?
what happens if the other party sues you for the death, i dont know let say million dollars? wrongful death? (im not sure if this term only refers to those accidents caused by negligence , not just a regular accident)

so if the other party's member dies in the hospital, let say their costs were $200,000 for the hospital, and then later he dies , so they sue you for 1 million.

what happens here? im not really too knowledgeable about this stuff, but whenever i do this stuff i always wonder about these things.

thanks

oh, and it's sort of hard to find the answer to this on google. all i get are insurance and other type of subjects off tangent.
and i dont want to call my insurance i dont want to give them any suspicions you know!

This is not legal advice.

In your hypothetical, the insurance company would pay out up to the policy limits.

However, your scenario about paying medicals up to 200K, then a death occuring is not possible. Insurance companies will not pay until a final claim is made so monies would not be paid until after the death of the individual.

Anything in excess of the policy limits may come back against you. In your hypo, insurance would pay up to 200k for the wrongful death claim, and the remainder would be upon you.

If the insurance co. refuses to settle within limits the insured may have a claim against the insurance
after the fact.

Originally Posted by theincumbent

Click to expand...

This is not legal advice.

In your hypothetical, the insurance company would pay out up to the policy limits.

However, your scenario about paying medicals up to 200K, then a death occuring is not possible. Insurance companies will not pay until a final claim is made so monies would not be paid until after the death of the individual.

Anything in excess of the policy limits may come back against you. In your hypo, insurance would pay up to 200k for the wrongful death claim, and the remainder would be upon you.

If the insurance co. refuses to settle within limits the insured may have a claim against the insurance
after the fact.

thanks . but let say the accident (more prone to happen then actual negligence ,let say, in yours or my case in our lives) was from just a regular accident due let say rain, or i honestly didnt see someone coming, and then someone dies.

they send him to the hospital, hospital costs 200,000, but then he dies, then can they still sue you for wrongful death one million (besides funeral costs and so forth)? because it wasnt really out of gross negligence (driving while drunk, road rage, disregard of laws, etc) . it was just two sensible drivers who unfortunately got into an accident.

so they would wait to see if the person dies before making any one claim?

Originally Posted by sho'nuff

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so they would wait to see if the person dies before making any one claim?

"they" is the plaintiff? Thats going to be up to them, but they can certainly file for damages and then amend the complaint if the victim dies...

Originally Posted by sho'nuff

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thanks . but let say the accident (more prone to happen then actual negligence ,let say, in yours or my case in our lives) was from just a regular accident due let say rain, or i honestly didnt see someone coming, and then someone dies. they send him to the hospital, hospital costs 200,000, but then he dies, then can they still sue you for wrongful death one million (besides funeral costs and so forth)? because it wasnt really out of gross negligence (driving while drunk, road rage, disregard of laws, etc) . it was just two sensible drivers who unfortunately got into an accident. so they would wait to see if the person dies before making any one claim?
I'll defer to the actual lawyers on the board and will limit myself to saying that your insurance policy protects against a variety of situations where you might be liable and, the higher the policy limit, the less likely it is that your personal assets will be put at risk by your liability.

Basically, insurance covers up to the amount you've paid for. After that, it's all on you. And if by the shittiest luck you're determined to be liable for an amount above your insurance coverage, you're pretty much screwed. Plaintiff will take that judgment and go after whatever assets you have left (well, depending on the state in which you live), and if that's not enough, your wage could be garnered, up to a percentage.

Or you can make it like OJ and move to Florida.

This is a totally hypothetical response and should not be considered legal advice. It makes no difference, in the civil world, whether it was a "regular" accident or a negligent homicide-type accident. If you caused it, you'd be liable. Now, you might get criminal prosecution on top of the lawsuit if the facts would support it. You'd have to be very drunk, racing, or hopped up on drugs to get such a charge, though.

Regarding your insurance, most policies state that they will cover/defend you up to your policy limits. Beyond that, you'd be personally liable. Note, however, that most insurance companies will not leave you high and dry to defend yourself. They'll want a full release if they offer up their policy limits. This is usually the case when you have decent limits. Finally, the plaintiff's attorney and his client will have to decide whether it would be worth it to pursue judgment against you. Most won't. But, if you have some money, they might. However, if you have money, you should buy as much insurance as you can afford. It doesn't cost that much more than a standard policy.

As an insurance agent, I always try to sell higher limits for just this reason. It is also important to look at a couple of other coverages that may or may not be available in your state. Uninsured motorist and under-insured motorist. These coverages are for you, so that if the other person that hits and injures you, you can file against your own policy if the other party's policy has been maxed out. Insurance is regulated differently in each state so this may vary in your state, but is something you should consider. UM and UIM are often very inexpensive to add to your policy. If you are really worried about this kind of situation you might also look into getting an umbrella for addtional protection. Call your agent, they should be able to point you in the right direction.

Seriously? If you have a lot of assets, you need more insurance. If you ain't got nothing to take, you don't.

"Oh, well, what if I get a 10 million dollar judgment against me...?" Then you file for bankruptcy.

Have you considered an umbrella policy? This may be a cheaper option than paying for higher limits on your motorist coverage. Plus it covers more than just auto accidents.

Umbrella policies often require $250K in underlying coverage. And, yes, it is usually cheaper to get what you need in your auto policy and then buy the umbrella.

Bottom line is, if you have money/assets, buy as much insurance as necessary to protect against a catostrophic lawsuit that could wipe away all of your money/assets.

If you don't have any money, you can probably just get away with buying the minimum coverage. Even if someone got an excess judgment against (a judgment in excess of your policy limits), you could file for bankruptcy the next day and not owe them a penny.

In most cases, the risk of a judgment proof defendant with low liability limits filing for bankruptcy is so great, that it's not worth it for a plaintiff's to spend the money that is necessary to get through a trial and get a judgment without there being a nice insurance policy waiting at the end of the road.

Say, for example, that you have a wrongful death case. In a wrongful death case, you will likely need these experts: an accident reconstructionist (to prove liability), a forensic pathologist (to prove conscious paid and suffering), and an occupational economist (to prove lost future earnings and the value of lost services). To hire these experts, get them to issue reports, get them to appear for depositions, and get them to testify at trial, you are probably looking at over $50,000 in expert fees alone. So, the question is, do you take the risk of spending $50,000 when someone has $15,000 in coverage (meaning, once the policy is paid, you are still out of pocket $35k), only to have the defendant file for bankruptcy the second the judgment is issued? Most of the time, the answer to that question is "no."

DISCLAIMER: This is not legal advice, just a hypothetical response to a hypothetical question. For actual legal advice, consult a lawyer familiar with the specific laws of your jurisdiction and the specific facts of your case.

I have an auto insurance question that I really need help with! Any insight is greatly appreciated.

My mom's parked car in front of her house got hit when some dude fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into the car parked behind my mom's car, totaling it and causing damage to my mom's car.

Her insurance agency made her pay her $500 deductible. Now the other insurance agency (the guy that hit her) is giving her the runaround. They were "investigating" the accident for like a month, and now the agency has told my mom that they might not give her back her deductible because "california law" says that there's a maximum of $10k for any one accident and they considered this case one accident; since the other car got totaled there might not be enough money for them to pay her. Is this total bs? My mom's insurance agency is not helping her at all, in fact shes had to deal with the guy's insurance directly and it's been a huge hassle. She just wants her deductible back since it was clearly not her fault.

I fail to see the point of paying insurance if someone is gonna crash your car and then YOU have to pay for it. We really don't know what to do at this point.

^hmm. that is terrible. i would like to know too. im wondering if your mother has a well-known auto insurance provider or some day-time tv advertised one like General auto insurance. does this make any difference? i would think the ins companies have to be dealing with each other on this.