Common Questions

What is UIM Insurance? UIM insurance is an additional automobile insurance coverage you can purchase. This coverage protects you in the event an uninsured or underinsured motorist causes a collision with you and you are injured or your automobile is damaged. We strongly recommend you obtain UIM coverage and further recommend that you read the fine print about how disputes are resolved. We recommend you only buy an insurance policy that allows disputes to be resolved by arbitration. Do not purchase a UIM policy that requires you to resolve disputes by filing lawsuits in court. This is much more costly and time consuming and much more stressful. We believe the insurance companies place the trial clause in their UIM policies to discourage their insureds from disagreeing with their settlement offers. We believe this is unfair and allows the insurance company to gain an unfair advantage due to their financial strength over their insured.

What is PIP Coverage? PIP coverage is Personal Injury Protection coverage which can be purchased through your automobile insurance policy. PIP policies are highly recommended by our office and provide a defined amount of coverage to pay medical bills, another defined amount to pay wage loss and another defined amount to pay household expenses. By far the most common PIP coverage is $10,000.00 but there are many other policies that provide larger amounts of coverage. If you have a PIP policy the money under the policy must be exhausted before you can have your health insurance pay any medical bills.

What happens if my car is totaled? You may wonder how you can determine how much your vehicle is worth and if the insurance company’s offer is fair. Typically you can look for ads in various publications for automobiles that were similar to yours and see how much they are asking to sell the vehicle for. This is one helpful way to establish the market value. Another way is to take a photograph of your vehicle before it was damaged to a local automobile dealer and ask them to write on their letterhead what they believe it was worth based on the various options and condition of the vehicle. You can also consult Kelly Blue Book or other online services which will also tell you the value of your vehicle.

Be aware that when the insurance company makes an offer to pay you for your totaled vehicle, that terminates their obligation to provide you with a rental car. Therefore, once you have received an offer on your totaled vehicle you should immediately return your rental car even if you do not agree with the offer that was made by the insurance company. Otherwise, you will become responsible for any automobile rental charges after the date of the offer.

Why can’t I talk about insurance at trial? The law in Washington State is that you cannot talk about the wrongdoer’s insurance policy at trial. This question is commonly asked of me by clients who are going to trial. We believe this places the plaintiff at somewhat of a disadvantage because juries may think that the money will come out of the wrongdoer’s pocket. Unfortunately, the law is clear that we cannot talk about whether or not a wrongdoer has automobile insurance or any other type of insurance at the time of trial.

Why do I have to pay back my insurance company? In many cases if you get a settlement or a recovery from a trial, you have to pay back a certain portion of the benefits you received from your insurance company as part of the settlement. The theory is that the insurance company paid your medical bills and when you were paid a second time for your medical bills in your settlement or at trial, that would be a double recovery. If you have been fully compensated for your injuries then the law typically requires you to pay back a portion of the payments the insurance company made on your behalf to your health care providers. There are many exceptions to this rule however, and we look at each case individually.

What does policy limits mean? In most insurance policies the insured (person who bought the insurance policy) purchases a certain amount of coverage. The coverage could be $25,000, which is the minimum amount required by law, or it could be much larger. The policy limits reflects the maximum amount of money that the insurance company may have to pay in the event there is a claim made under that portion of the policy. There can be separate policy limits for property damage, liability coverage, uninsured motorist coverage, PIP coverage and almost all other insurance policies.

What is bad faith? Bad faith refers to insurance companies that do not place the interest of their insured (the person who bought the policy) ahead of their own interest. Insurance companies owe a fiduciary duty to protect the person that bought the insurance policy. When the insurance company places its own interest ahead of the person who owns the insurance policy, that is bad faith. Bad faith is often the subject of many insurance disputes between the insurance company and the policy owner (insured).

What is the Insurance Fair Conduct Act? The Insurance Fair Conduct Act (IFCA) was passed by the Legislature, signed by the Governor, and approved by the voters in 2007 and is a significant victory for persons who purchase insurance policies (insureds/consumers). IFCA provides remedies to insureds who have been wronged by their own insurance company. Under IFCA, if your own insurance company unreasonably denies a claim, or engages in unfair claim practices, you may be able to sue that insurance company under IFCA and recover up to three times the amount of your damages plus attorney fees. So, for example, if your own insurance company forces you to litigate or arbitrate a claim by making an unreasonably low settlement offer, and you later obtain a significantly larger award for damages at trial or arbitration, you might be able to recover damages and attorney fees directly from your insurer through an IFCA claim. The goal of the law is to hold insurance companies accountable, to discourage unfair claim practices, and to level the playing field between large insurance companies and the consumer. There are a number of rules regarding the filing of an IFCA claim and we highly recommend that you seek the assistance of an attorney to discuss your rights and remedies under IFCA.

Why do personal injury claims take so long? In order to properly represent someone in a personal injury claim, it should not be settled or taken to trial until the lawyer knows the full extent of the person’s injuries. If the matter is settled prematurely or taken to trial before we know the full extent of the injuries, we may not obtain a sufficient recovery to compensate the injured party for all of their harms and losses. Therefore, in most cases, we wait until our client is either fully recovered or until the doctor tells us that they have a permanent injury and they can describe the injury and the effects it will have on the client’s life. Furthermore, if we file a lawsuit on behalf of an injured person we must request a trial date from the court. Typically courts will give us a trial date approximately six months to one year from the date that we request it.

What happens to settlement monies that are obtained on behalf of children who are injured? Minors who obtain a settlement have special rules that the lawyers must follow. Lawyers must have the court approve any settlement involving a minor. The court often hires a Guardian ad Litem to review the settlement to make sure it is fair to the minor. If the court finds that the settlement is fair, the court will insist that the money be placed in a blocked account, an annuity or some other financial vehicle like a trust so that the minor is protected. The court does not want the minor to lose his/her money because someone withdraws it from a bank account and then either refuses or is unable to pay the minor back. Therefore, all minor settlements must be approved by the court and must be placed in a secure investment until the child reaches at least 18 years of age.