There is always a significant surge in car injuries and accidents during the holiday season. Several factors lead to car accidents, such as a rise in travel traffic and drunken driving-related car accidents. Listen to your Injury Lawyer’s advice in Mississauga and follow the holiday season rules to have a safe holiday.
Avoid any peak-time travel, drunken driving or not looking at the road while driving. Assign a driver if you plan to consume any alcohol, or get a different mode of transport to reach your destination safely. At one time, a driver that had been hit by an uninsured motorist had no way of obtaining some form of compensation, without pursuing a lawsuit. Today, that is no longer the case. Still, there are times when the victim of an accident must ponder this question: Would it pay to sue this uninsured individual?
What might cause the victim of an accident to ask such a question?
Some states, but not all of them require insurance companies to offer both underinsured and uninsured motorist coverage (UMI). Yet even in state where such coverage has been made available to consumers, not everyone that buys a car insurance policy decides to purchase a UMI option.
Insurance companies increase the size of a policyholder’s premium, if that same policyholder has purchased a UMI option. That is why some policyholders refuse to buy it. Consequently, if any one of them were to get hit by someone that lacked insurance coverage, then that same unfortunate driver would need to think about suing the responsible motorist.
Other situations that push an accident victim to initiate a type of legal action
In states that have a no-fault policy, the victim of an accident is not allowed to sue the defendant for damages. Still, there is an exception to that rule. That exception enters the picture if the victim of an accident has sustained exceedingly serious injuries. In that case, the injured victim does have the right to sue the responsible party.
Another situation that could trigger the filing of a lawsuit would involve a dispute between a policyholder and that same policyholder’s insurance company. For instance, it could be that some car owner has purchased a UMI option. Then that same car owner and driver has been in an accident.
The other driver had not paid for insurance coverage. Still, the insurance company had denied the fact that the policyholder’s UMI coverage had been triggered by the reported accident.What action could the unfortunate driver/policy holder take? The driver that had been denied UMI coverage could agree to enter into arbitration with the uncooperative insurer.
