From time to time, the Eastwick Press offers a variety of community leaders the opportunity to write columns we think would be of interest to our readers. This week, we are featuring Attorney Daniel S. L. Rubin of the law firm Girvin & Ferlazzo, PC. Here is his advice.
If you don’t have supplementary underinsured motorist coverage on your automotive policy you need to put down this article and call your insurance broker right now!
Some of the worst news I have had to deliver to a client is that although they did nothing wrong, although the other driver was 100% at fault, I am only able to recover $25,000 to cover all of their medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering. While almost every person involved in a motor vehicle accident will be entitled to $50,000 in no-fault benefits, anyone who has ever been in a serious car accident can verify that money doesn’t stretch very far. Once these benefits are extinguished, the most likely source of additional recovery is from the at-fault driver’s automobile liability policy.
Under New York State Law, to lawfully operate a motor vehicle on public roads, a person is only required to carry $25,000 in liability insurance. If you don’t have Supplementary Underinsured Motorist (“SUM”) coverage through your own insurance policy than this may be the most you can hope to recover from the at-fault driver after a catastrophic accident. While it is possible to pursue the at-fault driver’s personal assets, a person who carries the mandatory minimum level of liability insurance is unlikely to have extensive assets.
Fortunately, there is an alternative to relying on other drivers to carry adequate insurance, enter SUM coverage. SUM coverage is an additional form of insurance that anyone can purchase through your own insurance company to ensure that there will be adequate insurance available regardless of whether the at-fault driver has sufficient liability coverage (or any insurance at all). Here is how it works. Let’s say, in the future you are proceeding through an intersection when your vehicle is broadsided by a driver who ran a red light. Unfortunately for you, you fracture your ankle – an injury that commonly results in a long rehabilitation followed by life-long disability. In such a case we would expect your damages to easily reach (or exceed) $300,000. The at-fault driver carried the state minimum liability coverage of $25,000. After reading this article, however, you went out and purchased SUM coverage. Smartly, you upped your liability coverage to $300,000 (which is much more affordable than you might think) and bought a corresponding $300,000 in SUM coverage. In your personal injury action Girvin & Ferlazzo would collect $25,000 from the at-fault driver and the remaining $275,000 from your own insurance company, netting you a total recovery of $300,000.
In essence, SUM coverage permits you to buy insurance for every other driver on the road. Even more importantly, SUM coverage follows you and the other members of your household covered on your automobile policy in every vehicle they ride or drive. Don’t rely on other drivers to have the foresight to purchase adequate liability insurance, make sure you are covered. Call your insurance agent right now and up your limits. I recommend a minimum of $300,000 in liability and $300,000 SUM coverage.
Daniel Rubin is counsel at the firm of Girvin & Ferlazzo. To reach Daniel, please call 518-462-0300.