Personal injury accidents are stressful for everyone involved. The victim has to deal with their physical health, and the negligent party that caused the accident has to deal with insurance claims and increased insurance premiums. Suppose your negligent behavior caused an accident that resulted in a personal injury claim by another person. In that case, you need to understand how your insurance is going to handle compensating the victim. This includes understanding your policy limits.
A policy limit is the maximum amount of funds available under your policy to cover things like, property damage and bodily injury. So when you purchase car insurance, there will always be dedicated funds available for bodily harm. If you run a red light and wind up injuring someone, your policy limit for bodily harm may cap out at $50,000.00. That means that your insurance company will pay up to $50,000.00 and no more for medical bills, rehabilitation, and anything else related to their physical injury leaving you potentially exposed to pay for any additional medical bills the injured person may be claiming.
Whether or not to disclose what the policy limit is quickly become a sticking point in personal injury cases. Many insurance companies are incentivized not to reveal the policy limit. The idea behind that is that if the injured party doesn’t know the policy limit, they are unlikely to ask for the full amount. If they know what it is, they may fight for the full amount. The insurance carriers may also wish to disclose the policy limit to avoid the injured party asking for more than is available under insurance. In a personal injury case, the injured party’s attorney is likely to reach out to the negligent party’s insurance company requesting policy limits.
Whether or not it is in your best interest to disclose the limit is going to depend on the specific circumstances of your accident and the resulting injury. If you have been involved in an accident and wind up having to file a claim against your own insurance, you will want the advice of an attorney.
Call Karns & Karns today for guidance and representation. We can help you determine whether or not a disclosure is appropriate or in your best interests. So, don’t wait, and don’t try to handle this alone.
