Personal Injury & Crime Victim Representation
Attorneys in Washington & Idaho

When the driver responsible for the collision does not have insurance or does not have enough insurance to cover your injuries, there are several ways to still recover a settlement.

UIM Coverage: Underinsured Motorist coverage is car insurance that you pay for (or if you are the passenger in a car involved in a collision) and can be utilized when the at-fault driver does not have enough insurance or has no insurance.

Purchasing UIM coverage is not mandatory in Washington or Idaho, so make sure you take this into consideration when deciding what car insurance benefits you want. Here at Perez & Perez Law we highly recommend purchasing UIM coverage because being hit by an un-insured driver without UIM coverage may result you not being compensated for your medical expenses.

Default Judgment: If the at-fault driver does not have insurance, you can file a lawsuit against them for the damages and injuries they have caused. If they don’t have any assets, it may be hard to collect the money you are entitled to. An attorney can file a lawsuit against the at-fault driver and seek a Default Judgement. A Default Judgment is when the at-fault driver does not respond to the lawsuit and the court makes a finding that you are entitled to a specific amount of monetary damages. You can work with a collection attorney or agency to recover your damages. 

There are a variety of reasons why people don’t have car insurance coverage: newly purchased vehicle, accidental lapse in coverage, minor driving another person’s vehicle, or not paying for car insurance in a timely manner. It’s best to consult with an attorney because a newly purchased vehicle or minor driving another person’s vehicle may require coverage where it was originally denied.

There’s no way to accurately predict or ethically guarantee the value of your case in its initial stages, and you should be concerned if an attorney does, and this is because policy limits and treatment expenses are both unknown in the initial stages.

When evaluating a case for settlement negotiations, insurance claims adjusters look to the type and value of the treatment you have sought, including past and future medical expenses, lost wages, domestic support, and out-of-pocket expenses. Insurance adjusters will include monetary losses that are reasonable and necessary and apply a multiplier of 1-1.5 for moderate injuries and up to 5 times for severe cases to account for pain and suffering. It’s often best to fully wait till you are done treating and have fully recovered from a collision before settling your case. This is because you never know how long or complicated treatment can be and once a case has settled, there’s no reasonable way to reopen the case for more medical expenses or further compensation.

Insurance adjusters also evaluate the at-fault driver’s policy and available resources to pay an insurance claim. Insurance carriers are bound to settle a case within their insured’s policy limits. For instance, if you have been involved in a significant collision and have a $100,000 in medical expenses, and the only available insurance coverage is a policy that is limited to $25,000, then the likelihood of recovering more than $25,000 is unfortunately limited. The type and amount of treatment may be irrelevant when there’s a small policy involved. This is why carrying Underinsured Motorist Coverage (UIM applies when the at-fault driver has no insurance or is not fully insured to coverage all losses) on your personal policy can be vital to ensure you are fully covered in the event of a significant collision and injuries.

For our crime victim representation cases, it’s more challenging to put a number of the pain our clients have experienced. We often include negligence claims as well as the intentional claims to ensure professional liability, homeowners/renters’ policies, or other insurance policies are triggered so that our clients have every available option for recovery.

A statute of limitations is the time limitation that an injured person has to bring a civil case.

In Washington, the period of limitation to bring claims involving intentional acts (crime victim representation cases) is two years and three years for claims involving negligence (motor vehicle collisions, medical negligence, medical malpractice, or premises liability claims).

In Idaho, the period of limitation to bring claims involving intentional acts (crime victim representation cases) and claims involving negligence (motor vehicle collisions, medical negligence, medical malpractice, or premises liability claims) is both two years.

However, there are unique factors that can impact these statutes of limitations, including the location of where the incident occurred, the nature of the relationship of the parties, or the discovery of the injury. The longer an injured person waits to consult with an attorney, the worse a case can possibly become because relevant evidence can be discarded, witnesses lose contact, and memories fade.