Most insurance claims professionals understand that, as opposed to uninsured motorist (UM) coverage, which pays damages to an insured who is involved in an accident with an uninsured driver, underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage is automobile insurance coverage which protects an insured involved in an accident with a tortfeasor who doesn’t have liability limits sufficient to…
Automobile rentals is a $29 billion industry and constitutes a significant portion of the transport sector in America. In 2018, there were 2,212,925 rental vehicles on U.S roads. There are six million auto accidents in the U.S. every year, and rental cars are involved in a significant portion of those accidents. To make matters worse,…
Certain 2011 to 2021 Kia and 2015 to 2021 Hyundai vehicles were designed, manufactured, and sold without an electronic immobilizer found in over 95% of other vehicles. As such, these automobiles are prone to theft. Thieves typically break a back window to avoid alarms, expose the steering column, and fit a USB-A plug into the…
According to the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), each day last year, twenty people were struck and killed by cars. Nearly 8,000 pedestrians were killed by vehicles in 2021 – an increase of 11.5%. This represents both an alarming public safety trend and a growing concern for the insurance industry. A 2018 Governors Highway Safety…
Connelly v. Main St. Am. Group, 2023 WL 152540 (S.C. 2023) South Carolina’s Exclusive Remedy Rule has prevented an employee from collecting $350,000 in uninsured motorist benefits for injuries she sustained in an automobile accident she was in while a passenger in a vehicle owned and driven by a co-employee. Stephany Connelly and a co-worker…
Earlier in my career I handled a subrogation case involving a brand-new vehicle which was lightly tapped from the rear by a careless driver. The damage to the vehicle was very minimal, yet the vehicle was declared a total loss by my client because its frame had been “jiggled” and the cost to repair the…
Grothe v. Kushnivich, 521 P.3d 228 (Wash. App. 2022) One by one, states have begun to recognize a vehicle owner’s third-party claim for residual diminished value damage, or “stigma damage”, which is the loss of value of an automobile that remains after it is completely and professionally repaired. It is the loss of value that…
What you don’t know can’t help you. That is certainly the case in Iowa when plaintiff’s attorneys claim no obligation to reimburse a carrier exists based on a general assertion that the insured was not made whole. This objection overlooks the proper application of the made-whole doctrine to specific damage types as required under Iowa…
Insurance subrogation professionals are routinely faced with minimum limits scenarios which complicate otherwise straightforward subrogation cases. When a third-party liability carrier’s insurance limits are insufficient to pay the claims of multiple claimants, the carrier must begin to assess the hierarchy of the claimants – how to slice the insured’s pie. In order to do this,…
One day last month our firm received three separate, unrelated subrogation claim files involving serious personal injury, property damage, and a death resulting from tractor-trailers whose drivers had lost control after serving to avoid colliding with a deer on the highway. In two of the losses, the 18-wheelers overturned and were shortly thereafter struck by…