Las Vegas Accident Attorneys Explain What to Do After Under-insured Motorist Crashes
If you are involved in an accident that another driver causes you to endure, you are typically able to pursue a claim for compensation from the driver who caused that accident to occur. You can pursue your claim in court or can negotiate a settlement. Usually, the other driver will be insured — as required by law — and the insurer for the driver who caused your accident will agree to pay you money to settle your claims or will pay any judgments ordered by the court up to policy limits.
While nothing about an accident and injury claim is ideal, the best outcome in these types of situations occurs when a motorist has sufficient insurance to provide you with full and fair compensation for all of the losses that you have endured due to the auto accident in the state of Nevada.
In some unfortunate cases, however, a motorist does not have sufficient insurance to fully cover all of the damages resulting from the accident that motorist has caused to occur.
When a driver causes a crash and has too little insurance to provide coverage for the accident, then crash victims are in a difficult position. They are dealing with an accident case called an uninsured motorist accident claim and getting full and fair compensation for losses becomes harder. In these circumstances, it’s important to get the proper legal help from a Vegas personal injury lawyer who knows how to successfully make claims involving uninsured motorists.
LV Personal Injury Lawyers can provide the help and support that you need to take legal action if you or your loved one is in a collision with a driver who has too little insurance coverage to pay for your losses. Attorney Zachary D. Clayton, Esq. will work closely with you to determine if you can make a claim with your own insurer or can pursue a claim and try to recover compensation directly from the driver who hurt you even if he has too little insurance to pay.
What are Underinsured Motorist Accidents?
Drivers need to buy liability insurance, but they may purchase only the minimum coverage required. This often is insufficient to provide full compensation when dangerous accidents happen, especially if the injuries sustained in the accident by collision victims were serious, permanent, or fatal.
When there are too many victims in an accident, the driver may also not have enough insurance to cover all of their losses as policies usually set not just a per person policy limit but also a per-accident limitation on the amount of money that will be paid out.
If you get hurt in a crash and a driver who was responsible for causing your accident doesn’t have enough insurance to compensate you for all of your economic and non-financial loss, this is an example of a situation where you’re said to be uninvolved in an underinsured motorist accident. This is different from an uninsured motorist crash, which occurs when the driver who caused your accident has no insurance at all.
Who is Responsible for Underinsured Motorist Accidents?
If an underinsured driver causes you to become involved in an accident and suffer injuries here in Las Vegas, that driver is still responsible for causing your accident. However, the problem comes because when you try to pursue a claim against him, he may not be able to pay you enough.
The insurance policy for the underinsured driver will pay only up to policy limits, even if an injury settlement would typically be worth much more or even if a court enters a judgment to award you more compensation.
You will not be able to collect more money from an insurance company because the policy limits establish the limits of the insurer’s responsibility.
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One option you have is to try to collect compensation directly from the driver who caused the accident. If the person who hurt you has substantial assets, you could potentially receive compensation from him instead of from the insurer for the losses and damages that exceeded policy limits. You might need to go to Nevada court and get judgment enforcement, which could mean asking the court to put a lien on the driver’s assets or garnish his wages.
Unfortunately, many underinsured motorists don’t have many assets and do not have the money to pay you damages. In these circumstances, your options are more limited. Insurance won’t pay, and you can’t collect money from someone who has no money to give you. When this happens to you, you can try to pursue a claim through your own insurance policy under any underinsured motorist coverage that you had. Your insurer would stand-in for the driver who hurt you and could compensate your losses up to the amount of underinsured motorist coverage.
You may also decide to look into whether any other parties might be partially or fully responsible for compensating you for losses, such as the employer of the negligent driver if he was working at the time or the manufacturer of a vehicle if there was a defect in the car that caused or exacerbated your injuries. Other third parties may have more money or insurance coverage and may be able to provide you with broader compensation for your damages.
Compensation for Underinsured Motorist Accidents
While you should be entitled to be fairly compensated for all of the losses that you endured, it can be difficult to obtain full compensation for damages when the driver responsible for compensating you is unable to pay and has insufficient insurance coverage.
LV Personal Injury Lawyers will help you to make a claim for financial recovery and will work with you to negotiate with your insurer to obtain the maximum compensation possible from your uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage. We can also help you to identify third parties who may be to blame for causing your accident to occur.
Getting Help From Vegas Car Accident Attorneys
To get help when you have been hurt by an underinsured motorist, contact Zachary D. Clayton, Esq. for help today. His dedicated and experienced legal team knows the ins-and-outs of the laws on obtaining compensation and we’ll fight for your right to be fairly compensated for damages.
Give us a call today to learn more.