Category: Car Accidents

As a team of top Philly accident lawyers serving several areas across New Jersey and Philadelphia, Rizio, Hamilton & Kane, P.C. represents drivers and individuals who have been involved in car or truck accidents.

Continue reading “6 Things to Do After an Auto Accident”

As a Philadelphia car and auto accident firm, we see a tremendous amount of car accidents at this time of the year.  In fact, 2015 has been particularly bad because plummeting temperatures have negated the effect of precautionary ice measures such as salt.  Refreezing and black ice have created additional hazards this year.

What can you do to keep yourself safe this season?  Aside from the obvious (avoiding unnecessary travel in bad weather and keeping a safe distance behind other vehicles), review your car insurance policy.  If you are involved in an accident because of someone else’s negligence, you will need to make sure that you carry enough insurance to compensate you for your injuries.

First, go to your DECLARATIONS page, and check your tort status.  You should be FULL TORT.  FULL TORT does NOT mean “full coverage.”  In Pennsylvania, you have the option to be either FULL TORT or LIMITED TORT.  We have heard from our clients that often times insurance brokers push limited tort coverage.  It is slightly cheaper than full tort coverage and most importantly, it saves insurance companies money. They do not have to pay out as much on limited tort policies, and so THEY would like YOU to have limited tort insurance.  They can collect their premium from you, and they can avoid compensating you for your pain and suffering unless you have 1. a serious impairment of a bodily function, 2. been fatally injured, or 3. suffered serious and permanent disfigurement.  Be very careful about checking your insurance for FULL TORT coverage.  If you have limited tort coverage, you should amend your policy as soon as possible.  You are putting your entire family at risk without full tort coverage, because your tort choice extends to your resident relatives, or your family members that reside with you.

Next, check your policy for UNINSURED and UNDERINSURED MOTORIST coverage (UM/UIM coverage).   This coverage protects you from being under compensated for your injuries when you are struck by someone who has very little or no insurance.  In Pennsylvania, the minimum amount of BODILY INJURY (BI) insurance coverage is $15,000, which is not very much, considering that your outstanding medical bills could be that much in an accident.  With outstanding medical bills, you may not wind up with anything to compensate you for your pain and suffering or even your lost wages.  People often choose $15,000 or the minimum in BI coverage because this signifies the amount the insurance company pays out to someone else when their insured causes an accident.   Most people are not very concerned with how much SOMEONE ELSE can collect as compensation for their injuries.  However, if you have sufficient UM/UIM coverage, you protect yourself from those people who have chosen the minimum in BI coverage, or those who are not insured at all.

For more information on insurance coverage, check out our October 2014 Blog Posts called Tragedy Avoided: Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage and Car Accident Attorney: Full Tort or Limited Tort which can be found here https://www.rizio-hamilton.com/2014/10/.  Our Philadelphia car accident lawyers give in depth explanations of limited and full tort insurance and uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage.

If you find yourself in a situation where you have been injured in a car or auto accident, and you need legal advice, call our Philadelphia car accident lawyers.  One of our Philadelphia car accident lawyers will give you a FREE consultation and an honest assessment of your case.  Our Philadelphia car accident lawyers never get paid unless they obtain money for YOU.  And our firm’s auto accident attorneys have been battling insurance companies and winning since 1978.

On February 7, 2015, Bruce Jenner was part of a multiple car accident.  Jenner rear ended a woman with his SUV, pushing her into oncoming traffic.  The woman passed away as a result of her injuries.  The patriarch of the Kardashian clan must comply with a search warrant that was issued for his cell phone records, in order to prove that he in fact was not texting or otherwise using his cell phone at the time of the fatal accident.  More information about the accident can be found here: http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/bruce-jenner-car-crash-victim-identified-neighbor-kim-howe-201592

We know that texting and driving has become an enormous problem.  There are numerous public service announcements regarding the perils of texting and driving and phone manufacturers are devising ways to prevent texting and driving.  However, at this point, texting and driving is still creating accident after accident.  So, what can you do to PROTECT yourself?

Obviously, don’t text and drive.  But, beyond that, when you are on the road, look around you.  In a traffic situation, people who are either texting or using a cell phone are quite apparent.  They are usually looking down instead of at the road.   Often times, instead of accelerating when it is their turn to drive, they idle for too long.  If you observe this, keep a safe distance or change lanes.  Additionally, try to remember their license plate.  If they do cause an accident, you could be a witness.  If you are the victim of the accident, take it from this Philadelphia car accident lawyer, you WILL want to be armed with the knowledge that the potential defendant was texting and driving.  Using a phone during an accident will weigh heavily against the defendant.

If you have been in an accident caused by someone texting and driving, call us for a FREE consultation with a Philadelphia car accident lawyer.  We will give you an honest assessment of your case.  We have a Philadelphia car accident lawyer on call at all times because car accidents can happen at all times.

A recent AT&T survey indicated that nearly all drivers who own cell phones understand that texting while driving is dangerous, yet almost 75 percent of them continue to text and drive anyway. It is well known that we have a serious problem across this country when it comes to texting and driving. Pennsylvania enacted a law, along with many other states, that bans texting and emailing while driving. But, is the law really working? As Philadelphia car accident lawyers, we see countless texting and driving accidents.

Despite our state enacted laws, many people are still injured and killed every day as a result of texting and driving. AT&T’s DriveMode application was designed to help lessen the number of texting and driving accidents. The free app silences text alerts while driving, and automatically replies to texts. The app even turns on automatically when the vehicle is moving.

AT&T has further designed a feature that allows parents to receive alerts when their child’s DriveMode is turned off, when the auto-mode is disabled or when a new speed dial number is added.

The app is available for various smart phones, such as iPhones and Androids.

We can all do our part to stop texting and driving. No text is worth it!

If you have been injured as a result of someone texting and driving, and you need a Philadelphia car accident lawyer, call our office today. As Philadelphia car accident lawyers, we will help you through your journey to recovery. Sometimes, car accidents can create complex medical, financial and insurance issues. If that sounds familiar, call our Philadelphia car accident lawyers for help!

In Pennsylvania, we are only required to carry $15,000 worth of bodily injury coverage. Car accident lawyers call it a minimum policy or a 15/30 policy. This means that if YOU cause an accident, and OTHERS are injured, with your minimum policy, the injured person would receive up to $15,000 for his or her injuries, no matter how severe the injuries are. In the event that more than one person is injured, they would be able to receive up to $30,000 total (split up according to each person’s injury). Ok, so, that doesn’t seem so horrible.

Now, let’s flip the scenario around. Let’s say “Bob” has a minimum policy, runs a red light, and strikes your car. You were in the ICU for four days, suffered two broken legs, broken ribs, a punctured lung and head trauma. Your hospital bill alone is over $50,000. Not to mention the fact that you lost your job, you need physical therapy, and you have no way to pay your mortgage or car payment. You will only to be able to recover $15,000, UNLESS, you selected uninsured/under insured motorist coverage (UM/UIM) on YOUR auto insurance policy. UM/UIM coverage saves the day!

UM/UIM coverage protects you from drivers who are not insured (in Philadelphia, that could be close to half of the drivers you encounter) or drivers those who carry minimum policies.   It is NOT expensive, and it is NECESSARY.  If you have children, especially teenagers, you need UM/UIM coverage. Your UM/UIM coverage generally extends to your resident relatives, or your family members that live with you.

So, let’s look at the teenage child example. Your daughter is a passenger in her boyfriend’s car, when he loses control and strikes a tree, severely injuring your daughter. Your daughter’s boyfriend only has a minimum policy (mmm…shocker). You hire a car accident lawyer. The car accident lawyer pursues a case against your daughter’s boyfriend. Actually, against his insurance company. (**Remember, the insurance company defends the case and pays the settlement or judgment, not the individual.**)

OPTION A: if you do NOT have UM/UIM, you can only receive $15,000, which, after liens and expenses, may not even pay for her tutors to help her catch up with her schoolwork.

OPTION B: if you do have UM/UIM, then you can recover the $15,000 from the boyfriend’s insurance PLUS the difference from your UM/UIM. So, if you have a $100,000 UM/UIM policy, and you have two vehicles, stacked, (stacking increases the coverage by the number of cars you have on the policy – a $100,000 UIM policy with two cars is $200,000 worth of UIM coverage) then you may receive up to $185,000 to make up for the boyfriend’s lack of coverage.

I think we would all choose OPTION B. Now, take a look at your policy to make sure you have included UM/UIM in your auto insurance! If you are not sure, call one of our car accident lawyers, and they can help evaluate your situation in a FREE consultation.

 

So, you were in a car accident, and your car accident attorney asks you whether you are Full Tort or Limited Tort. What on earth does that mean?

Most of our clients think that Full Tort means Full Coverage, which is very far from the truth. If you selected Limited Tort, which most people do, because the premium is less for the Limited Tort option, then you CANNOT recover for the pain and suffering that you endured as a result of your car accident unless you prove that you have suffered a serious impairment of a bodily function, permanent disfigurement or death. That’s a pretty tough threshold to meet. You can recover for economic damages or out-of-pocket expenses, like your medical bills and wage loss. However, you will not be able to recover beyond those numbers.

There are some exceptions to the Limited Tort rule, such as being struck by a drunk driver, or being struck by an out-of-state registered vehicle. But, for the most part, those exceptions are fairly rare. Seek out an experienced car accident attorney, because Limited Tort cases can be complex. And you will need an attorney well versed in auto law in order to argue that you can meet the Limited Tort threshold. In all honesty, most car accident attorneys will not touch Limited Tort Cases.

So, what should you do now? It is extremely important for you to review your auto insurance policy. Look at your Declarations page, and check for your Tort option. Most often, your insurance agent just gave you a few quotes, and you picked the one that best fit your budget, without realizing the ramifications of your choice. Nuances of insurance policies are rarely explained to the customer, which is one reason why PA’s Tort option can be so unfair to the insured. You may have had absolutely no idea of the magnitude of the rights that you waived when you purchased your policy.

The amount of money that you could lose as a result of opting for Limited Tort insurance is far more than paying a little more each month in premiums. Also, don’t forget that your Tort option will extend to your family members, such as your children or other relatives in your home. We have had several cases where parents are devastated when they realize that their child will be unable to recover because of their Limited Tort option.

Remember, request a copy of your policy, and ask lost of questions. The best decision is an informed decision. Call one of our experienced car accident attorneys to figure out whether you are Limited Tort, and if so, whether you can get over the Limited Tort threshold.