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Even a minor car accident with a recoverable injury like a broken limb or soft-tissue injury can quickly cause financial hardship with a large emergency room bill and a week of missed pay. More serious or catastrophic injuries can be life-altering, with impacts on an injury victim’s ability to work or manage their daily routines. Accidents are expensive as well as traumatizing when they cause injuries in addition to property damage. Learning that the driver who caused the accident has no car insurance or that their policy isn’t adequate for your extensive damages adds further distress to the challenges of overcoming a car accident. After a car accident with an uninsured or underinsured motorist in New Haven, injury victims may need legal guidance to learn their options.
All legal drivers in Connecticut must carry at least the minimum required insurance. Connecticut requires drivers to have coverage for $25,000 in bodily injury liability per person or $50,000 total bodily injury liability per accident and $25,000 in property damage coverage per accident. This protects an at-fault driver’s assets by providing coverage to injury victims for their medical expenses as well as the damage to their car. Fortunately, Connecticut is one of the majority of states that also requires drivers to carry uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage to provide compensation after an accident when an at-fault driver does not have insurance or if an injury victim’s damages like medical expenses, lost wages, diminished earning capacity, and pain and suffering far exceed the limits of the at-fault driver’s liability insurance.
Connecticut is a fault-based insurance state with a modified comparison negligence insurance system. In this type of system, an accident victim can recover compensation from a negligent driver’s liability and property damage insurance as long as they are less than 50% at fault for the accident and the other driver is more than 50% at fault. If an injury victim shares fault for an accident, the insurance company subtracts their percentage of fault from their compensation. For example, if they find an injury victim was 20% at fault because they were exceeding the speed limit but the other driver was 80% at fault because they rolled through a stop sign, the injury victim could still recover $80,000 of a $100,000 damages claim. Unfortunately, if the at-fault driver does not have adequate coverage or no insurance at all, the injury victim must explore other avenues for recovering compensation.
Because Connecticut requires drivers to carry uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, a person injured in a car accident caused by a driver who lacks insurance can recover compensation through the uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage included in their insurance policy as long as they promptly report the car accident to their insurance company.
In some cases, injury victims recover compensation through a lawsuit against the uninsured or underinsured driver; however, this is only a viable option if they have significant assets—which often is not the case with an uninsured or underinsured driver. Additional coverage may be available through optional collision or comprehensive coverage if a motorist added those options to their insurance.
An attorney from Weber & Rubano is ready to provide the skilled representation you need after an accident with an uninsured or underinsured motorist. We are the New Haven car accident attorneys who get results for our clients. Call our New Haven car accident law office today for a free confidential consultation.