Do you have enough Insurance?

You're Injured, Now What?

An update to keep you informed on personal injury situations.

I don’t think that insurance companies generally inform their clients adequately about the risk of having inadequate insurance coverage.  In California you are legally insured if you have a minimal policy of 15/30 coverage.  This gives up to $15,000.00 coverage for a single individual’s claim.  It will pay out as much as $30,000.00 for claims from two or more individuals.  When you purchase automobile insurance the question that arises is how much insurance do you need.  It boils down to what risk an individual is willing to take by purchasing minimal insurance.  In a worst case scenario a driver can be involved in an accident that causes millions of dollars in damages.  Most insurance’s are not adequate for those types of cases.  Studies show that the median award is $28,000.00.  This means that while the 15/30 minimal policy is inadequate, a 50/100 policy is usually adequate.  However, if you own a house with any significant equity you really should have an umbrella policy that increases the coverage up to one million dollars.  We have heard that insurance companies tell their insured’s not to be too concerned because most personal injury firms will only make policy limits demands.  I can’t speak for other firms but I know that, depending on the case, we do an asset check before we recommend to our client to make a policy limits demand only.  Just recently our firm collected $145,000.00 over the $50,000.00 insurance which the driver had.  In that case, even a 100/300 policy would have been inadequate.  The defendant owned his home free and clear.  He also had significant cash deposits in various accounts.  That individual should have had a one million dollar liability policy to have been properly insured.  If you have been involved in an accident in the Placentia, Yorba Linda, Anaheim, Fullerton, or Brea area, look to The Law Offices of Kennith L. Peterson for local representation.  We are the Placentia auto accident attorneys.