How Insurance Can Affect The Outcome of A Personal Injury Claim?

Following a rear-end collision, it seems clear which driver should be held liable for damages. Still, that may not guarantee a large compensation for the driver in the car that felt the impact from the hit at the car’s rear.

Why not? Because the drivers’ insurance can affect the outcome of a personal injury case, including the outcome for a car accident.

An insurance company asks some basic questions, after becoming the target of a claim.

Does the at-fault party have liability coverage?If so, what is the extent of that coverage? The level of a policy holder’s liability coverage determines the amount of money that the claims adjuster has to play with during the negotiations. The outcome of the negotiations usually represents the outcome of the personal injury claim.

The only time when that statement does not hold true comes when the 2 disputing sides fail to reach an agreement during the negotiations. In that case, the plaintiff may elect to file a lawsuit, as per Accident Lawyer in Waterloo. That would make it possible for a trial to be scheduled, and for a jury to determine how large a compensation the plaintiff deserves to receive.

Examples showing the effect of insurance

If the at-fault driver has no insurance, but the driver that was hit has uninsured motorist coverage, then the insurance company treats the policy holder’s claim like an accident involving a 3rd party. Depending on the policy limits, the damaged caused by the accident, should be covered by the uninsured motorist coverage.

If the coverage guaranteed by the policy that was purchased by the at-fault driver fails to cover all the expenses created by a given accident, the driver that got hit might not be able to obtain a sufficient amount of compensation. Still, if that same driver has purchased underinsured motorist coverage, then, depending on the policy limits, that coverage might be used to make-up for the difference.

In both of those cases, the insurance company decided who was at fault and who could get paid any amount of compensation. If a driver that was hit did not have either uninsured motorist or underinsured motorist coverage, then he or she might need to file a lawsuit. That would allow the same driver to sue the person that had been found at-fault.

Yet even then, the insurance could affect the outcome of that personal injury lawsuit. For instance, if the jury awarded the compensation that is greater than the limits on the defendant’s liability coverage, then the plaintiff would have the option of going after the defendant’s assets.

It could be that the defendant did not have many assets. In that case, the plaintiff would be deprived of the awarded compensation’s full worth.