Case Considerations for Car Collisions and Accidents

No Fault Personal Injury Protection

Every Massachusetts auto insurance policy has it, but what does it cover? PIP insurance coverage includes the following:

• at least the first $2000 in medical bills if you have private health insurance up to $8000 in medical bill coverage if you do not have private health insurance coverage
• lost wages causally connected to a disability arising from the accident- up to $6000 in lost wage coverage if you are limited to $2000 in medical bill payments due to having private health insurance
• overall combined/aggregate cap of $8000 between medical bill payments and lost wages if you do not have private health insurance

Adequacy of Insurance Coverage to Compensate Your Damages

• Mandatory, minimum auto liability insurance coverage required – $20,000 if there is only one injured claimant and $40,000 overall no matter how many injured claimants there are
• Application of uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage- a.k.a. “Coverage U”
  • Threshold consideration- if the at-fault party has the minimum 20/40K coverage the coverage U on your policy must exceed 20/40K before you effectively have any coverage U to apply to your damages
  • Where the at-fault party was driving an uninsured vehicle- your policy will always provide at least $20,000 in uninsured motorist coverage
  • If your coverage U has a higher limit you will have more to apply to your damages
  • hypo-example- You have lOOK in damages the at-fault vehicle that hits you has $20,000 in coverage and you have lOOK in coverage you; you will effectively have 80k in coverage U to apply to your damages

There is also a threshold of $2,000 in related medical bills and a three year deadline to file your car accident claim, known as the statute of limitations.