Total Injury

American Family Mutual Insurance failed to offer Michael Whitehead enhanced personal injury coverage with his last automobile insurance policy renewal before he broke his neck in a automobile rollover accident.  A Denver, Colorado jury found the insurance company liable for not offering Mr. Whitehead optional no-fault personal injury coverage as required by state law. 

The award consists of $1 million for punitive damages and $250,000 for pain and suffering.  The automobile accident left Michael Whitehead paralyzed and he is expected to need expensive medical care long into the future.  American Family is also ordered to pay an estimated $250,000 for medical expenses and interest.

Many other drivers have filed lawsuits with Colorado personal injury attorneys against American and other insurance companies for the same type of negligence.

Michigan's chief Insurance Regulator stepped in last week to prohibit insurance companies from inserting a clause in their contracts that would limit an insured's ability to make underinsured motorist claims under their own vehicle insurance policies. Earlier this year, Michigan took similar steps regarding uninsured motorist coverage.

Some insurance companies had sought to include a contract provision requiring such claims to be filed with the insurance company within six months of the accident. Michigan has now precluded any limitation that would reduce the period for filing below the three year statute of limitations in tort cases.

Not all states have taken action to prevent against this kind of contractual modification, though, so make sure that you understand the terms of your insurance policy clearly--and when you're considering new coverage, ask the company how long you have to file uninsured/underinsured motorist claims.

Florida Governor Jeb Bush has indicated that he may veto the bill passed by the legislature to extend Florida's no-fault automobile insurance personal injury protections.

Florida law currently provides for no-fault personal injury protection, which benefits personal injury victims by getting medical bills and other related expenses paid without necessity of a determination of fault in an automobile accident.

The law is set to "sunset" in October, 2007 if lawmakers don't take action to extend it. But insurance companies have been lobbying hard to persuade lawmakers to let the provisions die. The legislature passed a bill extending the statute for an additional two years to allow opposing forces to hammer out a compromise, but Bush says that he may veto the bill, which would mean that Florida residents would lose their no fault protection next year unless a resolution is reached before then.

According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, the top ten cities in the United States for staged accident claims--claims where the accident itself was manufactured purely to seek compensation from an insurance company or property owner--are:

1. Miami
2. Los Angeles
3. Houston
4. Chicago
5. Philadelphia
6. Tampa
7. Cleveland
8. Orlando
9. New York
10. Boston

That means that plaintiffs working with insurance companies in those areas may be greeted with a greater degree of skepticism and more thorough investigation of claims than they might in areas where fraud is less common--and both of those things can mean delays.

Delays work to the advantage of the insurance company: recollections fade, evidence may be misplaced, the need to pay medical and other bills create pressure on the claimant to settle for less. Discuss these issues with your personal injury lawyer before making any decisions about your cased based simply on the need to finalize your case and get bills paid--that pressure may be exactly what the insurance company is banking on.

Insurance companies are lobbying state legislatures across the country to limit liability in civil litigation, to eliminate mandatory no-fault insurance, even to restructure jurisdiction of civil cases to move litigation to areas with traditionally lower jury verdicts.

Those activities provide a far more realistic picture of the goals and priorities of an insurance company than does the friendly voice on your telephone after you've been injured in an accident. When a representative of the insurance company contacts you, she'll be looking to do some very specific things:

* Get you talking about your injury (possibly "off the record") and lead you into making statements that can later be used to deny or minimize your claim;

* Convince you that your claim isn't worth as much as it might be, and that you're better off to settle quickly without talking to a lawyer;

* Get your signature on a settlement agreement before you have the opportunity to find out the full extent of your injuries, medical bills, and lost work time.