Learning that you have been injured in a car accident by an uninsured motorist is always unsettling news and often leads to a complicated legal case.
So how do uninsured motorists even get on the road??
Sadly – many drivers find ways to skirt laws requiring adequate liability coverage, buying the coverage just long enough to get their cars registered and then letting that coverage lapse. During hard economic times, the number of drivers carrying no coverage or inadequate coverage tends to climb even higher. A recent study by the Insurance Research Council found that about one of every seven drivers was uninsured. That’s about 14 percent nationwide.
Scary – right?
Luckily, all automobile liability insurance policies issued in Connecticut are required to provide various types of coverage, including property damage and personal injury liability coverage, as well as uninsured and underinsured coverage.
So just what does uninsured and underinsured coverage provide?
This coverage is there to protect you in the event of an injury by allowing you to make a claim against your own policy to cover losses incurred in car accidents with at-fault drivers who either have no insurance coverage or inadequate coverage on their motor vehicle. It also protects you in the event you suffer an injury from falling or flying debris from another vehicle, are struck while walking, running or cycling, or in cases where you are forced from the road by another driver who flees the scene.
Attorney Michael C. Jainchill, of our office, is a recognized legal expert on the topic and the co-author of Connecticut Law of Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage, published by Atlantic Law Book Company, now in its Fourth Edition. The Connecticut Supreme Court has referred to this book, written for lawyers and judges, as the “leading treatise” on Connecticut uninsured motorist law.
Accident cases can be extremely complex, particularly accidents with uninsured and underinsured drivers. Protect yourself and your family. Call us at (860) 245-2412 or contact us online to discuss your legal options. Your first consultation is 100% free and without obligation of any kind. We can even travel to you if that would be helpful. Our goal is to understand your injury and all the circumstances around it and recommend the next steps to help you.