How Policy Limits Impact Accident Claims

 

You’d be hard-pressed to drive anywhere in town without encountering billboards with Queens car attorneys, and other personal injury lawyers in NYC, boasting about their multi-million-dollar settlements and verdicts. This advertising is intended to not only give people the impression that you can get big money for minor injuries but also that having a big injury means you’ll collect astronomical sums. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. The harsh reality is that even if you sustain injuries, you’re almost always limited to collecting the full policy limits of the applicable insurance.

New York Insurance Law

In New York state you are required to carry a minimum of $25,000/$50,000 of liability insurance in order to register a passenger vehicle. This minimum insurance coverage provides $25,000 maximum payout per person and $50,000 per incident no matter how severe the injuries are, for claimants who survive the accident. Wrongful death claims are limited to $50,000 per person. There are higher required minimum coverage requirements for commercial vehicles. For example, all types of taxis are required to carry a minimum of $100,000/$300,000 in liability coverage and large trucks have higher minimum requirements depending on their weight and use. So why do so many personal injury attorneys in NYC claim to be able to collect such large amounts of money for car accidents when they know that insurance coverage will limit the payout in most cases? It’s because most Queens car accident attorneys know that clients don’t know this and they’ll break the bad news to them when the case is settled and they take their fee.

Collecting More Than the Policy Limits

In most cases, it’s virtually impossible to collect money about and beyond the policy limits, but there are some exceptions. In order to collect directly from the person who caused the accident, you would need to have a trial that goes to a verdict and then collect the judgment against the defendant’s assets. Since most wealthy people have high policy limits and umbrella policies to protect their assets, this hardly ever happens. It’s very unlikely that the court will allow you to seize the home or vehicle of a middle-class person, so the judgment will be virtually impossible to collect. Even if a court would approve throwing people out of their homes and leaving them without a way to get work or get their kids to school, these assets are often encumbered by mortgages and loans, leaving very little equity to collect. So, when you see an advertisement for a Queens and Brooklyn car accident attorney claiming to collect millions of dollars, keep in mind how rarely it’s possible to do this.

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