Insurance & Personal Injury Attorney in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Insurance and Personal Injury

More In This Category

View Transcript

I’m often asked how does insurance work in a personal injury case, and insurance obviously plays a significant role in resolving personal injury cases. For a car crash case, for instance, in Minnesota we’re required to have automobile insurance, and like good Minnesotans most of us have it. Overwhelmingly most of us have it. As a part of that, you’re required to have Minnesota no-fault benefits, which is a tremendous insurance value. Not all states have no-fault benefits, but no-fault benefits are available to people if they’re involved in an accident involving a motor vehicle. You’re entitled to $20,000.00 in medical expense coverage and $20,000.00 in wage loss coverage, and that’s regardless of who’s at fault. You can drive yourself into the ditch or into a tree and you’re eligible for those benefits. On the other hand, a drunk driver may hit you who is completely at fault and still your own company pays the $20,000.00 in medical expense and $20,000.00 in wage loss. That doesn’t affect your insurance premium, and those benefits are made available to you.

Very often it seems clear that if you’re involved in a motor vehicle crash of some kind, you’re eligible for those benefits, but oftentimes the distinction of whether an automobile is involved or not involved can be a little a more gray than it might appear on the surface. In addition to that, if another person hits you and causes an injury, you have claims against their insurance company above and beyond the benefits that may have been paid by your insurance company under the no-fault system. That’s called a liability insurance claim. Now, that claim isn’t resolved until your injuries have stabilized, until your doctors are comfortable giving statements about your condition and your prognosis. That’s the time when you and your good attorney, hopefully, go to the insurance company and make a demand to resolve the claim.

Minneapolis personal injury lawyer Jim Carey explains the role that insurance plays in a personal injury lawsuit.

More Videos From This Lawyer