I got asked a question this week by a friend from Spanish Fork, Utah, that I thought might have more universal application so I’m going to answer it here in this video. Somebody told me that they had been involved in an automobile accident and it was their fault. And unfortunately the insurance had paid out a $100,000 policy limits without getting a release. And so they were getting sued for that. That’s a big problem and I guess the number one answer to that is make sure you have enough insurance coverage. A $100,000 really isn’t that much anymore. Policy limits have been kinda standardized it seems like for the last…I’ve been in practice 25 years and it seems like they haven’t really changed much. At the same time, the cost of medical care keeps going up year after year and expenses keep going up. So a $100,000 might’ve been enough 25 years ago but it’s not enough anymore. So talk to your insurance agent and have that looked at.
Second answer is if you’re involved in a serious automobile accident and it’s your fault the insurance companies does have obligations to you to kinda look out for you a little bit. That’s not absolute. But what I would suggest is if it’s a serious accident and somebody else has really been hurt badly you need to get in there right from the get-go and be involved instead of just turning it over to the insurance company and not worrying…not thinking about it or worrying about it. Get involved and you may have to start thinking about gathering some assets or getting a loan in order to pay any deficiency in the insurance coverage.
So those are my two suggestions on that. Normally when people call and say, “Hey, I got involved in an accident and it’s my fault. What do I do?” I just say, “Look. You got insurance to…you paid for your insurance. Now take advantage of it. They will hire an attorney for you. They will represent you.” And normally that’s good advice but in a really serious catastrophic case if there’s not gonna be enough policy limits there you may wanna go out and get your own attorney to help you negotiate with the insurance company. But second advice would be just really get involved and follow that case and know what’s going on.