by
JERROLD KAMENSKY, ESQUIRE
Senior Partner, Kamensky- Cohen
Auto accidents are, unfortunately, an ordinary part of our lives. They are costly, not only because of our auto insurance expenses but also because of the impact on our lives both economic and as a result of pain and inconvenience they cause.
Having practiced law in the areas involving personal injury for almost forty years I have seen the impact on my clients lives ranging from minor soft tissue (muscle, tendons and ligaments) to lifetime disabilities such as burns, brain damage, crippling fractures and nerve damage causing paraplegia and even quadriplegia. Our office has also handled many cases resulting in death which certainly impacts significantly on the lives of a family and friends of the unfortunate victim.
While some accidents can certainly be avoided by careful, attentive and defensive driving you cannot always protect yourself from the negligence of others, especially in the age of cell phones, GPS guidance systems and text messaging.
So if you do find yourself in an automobile or other moving vehicle such as motorcycle, bicycle or truck accident, shown below are the important steps you should take to protect yourself from possible legal, medical and/or financial problems that might arise from that accident:
At the scene:
a.) Contact police immediately so that a proper accident record is created that describes the events that led to the accident and the consequences of the accident. Be certain the report the accident to the police officer in a concise statement (please do not talk to much) and in a light most favorable to you. While you may be tempted to make polite apologies to another driver, they can be construed as an admission of fault, so do not do it. Even if you might be at fault, do not make any statements of fault. Let the police make there own judgment.
b.) Never tell the officer at the scene of the accident that you are not injured even if you think you feel fine. A statement that you are shaken up unsure if you are hurt will help should litigation become necessary. We are not suggesting you lie, just letting you know that most soft tissue injuries such as muscle, ligament and cartilage damage will not become apparent for 12-24 hours. A statement that you are not injured at the scene of the accident will, without doubt, be used against you in any later settlement discussions, trials and even insurance claims for medical attention should injuries later show up as a result of the accident.
Insurance Claims:
Make sure you get the name of the other driver’s or drivers’ insurance company at the time of the accident. Report the accident to your insurance company immediately giving them the date and time of the accident and the other driver(s) insurance information. DO NOT GIVE YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY ANY OTHER INFORMATION WITHOUT FIRST SPEAKING TO AN ATTORNEY. Neither the other driver(s) NOR your insurance company is looking out for your best interest. Trust me on that…your insurance company may talk of “good hands” but they are looking to pay the least amount of money on any claims you make as possible.
Repairing your vehicle: Take your vehicle to a qualified Auto Body Shop. If you have property damage coverage on your insurance policy, your own insurance company will arrange for the repairs. Your deductible or a portion of it may be paid by the other driver’s insurance company depending on the assessment of who is at fault for the accident. That is another good reason to speak to your attorney first before any further steps are taken. BE CERTAIN TO OBTAIN PHOTOS OF THE DAMAGE BEFORE REPAIR FROM THE BODY SHOP. Digital copies are best.
Medical Care:
a.) Always see your family physician within three days of the accident and if you are feeling any pain at the scene of the accident you would like to go to the hospital. If an ambulance is necessary because you are not feeling up to driving or your vehicle is not capable of being driven, ask the officer to arrange for an ambulance for you.
b.) At the emergency room and any subsequent visits always report any pain that you are feeling no matter how small you think it is at the time. The reason is that if your pain gets worse and becomes a permanent problem, it is extremely important that you are able to “connect the dots” back to the accident. Consistent reporting of areas of pain that increases and even decreases over time will establish the connection to the accident. Throughout your treatment be very careful what you say. I recently had a case in which my client was severely injured in an accident required pain surgery and was left with a severe permanent injury to his leg. After the surgery he advised his physician that he was feeling “80% better”. This was used against him at the time of trial. Report your accident truthfully but in a light most favorable to you. At the ER people tend to focus on the place in their body where they are feeling the most pain. That is not always what ends up to be the real problem so be certain to report all pain, if it is present in any place in your body as it can get a lot worse. After specific descriptions of pain, a statement to the triage nurse and or treating ER doctor to the effect that “I ache all over” (if true) can assist later in evaluating your case should new symptoms appear at a later date.
Medical Expenses:
a.) PIP coverages on your auto policy – Most drivers in New Jersey have personal injury protection coverage (PIP) on their automobile insurance policies. This coverage is considered one of the best in the nation as it provides $250,000.00 of medical coverage. In exchange for that substantial amount of coverage you are liable for a copay and deductible of $1,200.00 on the first $5,000.00 of medical expenses. That money is non refundable, however, if a doctor treats you for a substantial period of time they will sometimes be willing to reduce the copay obligations. In addition, if you have your own health insurance, you should report both policies to your physician because the copay and deductible can, in some cases, be picked up by your health coverages.
Health Insurance alternative – Some people have opted out of the PIP coverage when selecting their policy coverages, have no auto insurance or may not be eligible for PIP1 for reasons to complex to go into here. If you have substituted your own health insurance policy as primary on your auto policy or have no auto insurance and use private health insurance or medicare/medicaid coverages you may be required to reimburse your insurance company for the money they lay out for your care related to the injuries sustained in the accident. If you settle with the other driver’s auto insurance company without this being taken into consideration you could be stuck for those bills. A knowledgeable attorney who is experienced in auto accident injury cases will know to include the amount of the bills in your settlement so you are adequately protected. This is one of the reasons that the insurance industry likes to settle before the lawyer is involved.
c.) In addition there are complex insurance issues that arise when you are injured in a state in which you do not reside. These are called conflict or choice of law issues. Our lawyers are admitted to practice in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey . In those cases where a Pennsylvania licensed and insured driver is injured in New Jersey and/or the reverse, the insurance laws can get quite complex and it is very important that you become aware of, and your attorney is familiar with, those complexities. Jerrold Kamensky and Philip Cohen teach those matters for continuing legal education courses.
Selecting your lawyer:
a.) Of course you knew that I would get to this point and I have a good deal of bias in this area. Kamensky- Cohen & Associates has been practicing personal injury and insurance law since 1972. It is not the only area of our practice and I would suggest you see our website to explore other areas that we can help you with. We have exceptional depth of experience in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania and we have taught other lawyers on the inter-relationship of automobile insurance law between the two states.
If you click on the friends and family link below you will connect to our website and you can sign up to become a member of our “friends and family”. So long as you are a member thirty days or more before you are involved in an accident you will be treated with a special rate as set forth in the friends and family section.
Once you are a member of friends and family we will assist you, without charge in reviewing your automobile insurance and provide you with advice on how to get the best protection for the least amount of money. We are here to help you.
By Jerrold Kamensky, Esq.,
Senior Partner, Kamensky Cohen
Protecting yourself with your own automobile insurance involves a comprehensive understanding of which coverages actually protect you from the claims against you by other drivers as well as claims made by you against other drivers. It is our view that one of the primary purposes of automobile insurance protection is to protect yourself from uninsured and underinsured drivers causing injury to you. In order to optimize your coverages for these purposes, careful attention must be paid to the selection of all aspects of your coverages. The following article explains two important aspects of selecting the right coverage and how what you choose on one effects what you are allowed to choose on the other.
LIABILITY COVERAGE – pays for bodily injury and property damages that you or a driver of your automobile causes to others. It also pays for the cost of an attorney selected by the auto insurance company to defend you against claims made against you by the other, injured driver. Injury damages include medical expenses, pain and suffering and lost wages. Property damage includes damaged property and automobiles. New Jersey and Pennsylvania (like 45 other States) require minimum coverages, but you can, and should, purchase more coverage than your state requires. The following selection criteria will help assess the need for additional coverages over and above what the minimum requires.
a. Assets Available for Seizure by an Injured Person Due to Your Negligence. Because your liability selection is provided to protect you and drivers of your car from claims of others for negligence related to the use of your automobile, it is important to be aware that the limits of your liability coverage are not the limits of what the person you injured can recover against you but they are the limits of what the insurance company will pay. If, for example, you have selected and purchased a $15,000 liability limit and as a result of your negligence in the operation of your motor vehicle serious injury is caused to another, your own assets can be seized to compensate for those injuries.
Income Earning Capacity. Even if your assets are limited, other means of collection are available through garnishment of your wages and liens on Real Estate. For example; with the diminished bankruptcy protections now available, a judgment against you can be a long term threat that will have impact on your credit rating and ability to transfer jointly held property. The judgment grows daily with the addition of interest.
c. Financial Capacity to Pay for Coverages. – It is easy to see that the more liability coverages that you have, the more protection that you have. Of course, there is always the concern that increased coverage takes more money out of pocket. While this is true, it is important to know that the lower levels of coverages are, dollar for dollar, the most expensive. Why? Because, like all insurance coverage, the purchase price is tied to the cost (plus substantial profits for the insurance company and large executive bonuses 1)and, obviously, there will be far more frequent minor injury claims than claims for serious crippling injuries. In addition, the insurance company is paying for the cost of your attorney, which may not vary significantly despite the difference in injuries caused so those first dollars of coverage are the most frequently paid and hence the most expensive.
(According to the America Association of Justice the CEOs of the top 10 property/casualty firms earned an average of $8.9 million in 2007.)
UNINSURED/UNDERINSURED COVERAGE – (“U” coverages) provides you with insurance coverages when you are the injured party and the other guy has insufficient liability coverage (“Underinsured”)or no insurance (“Uninsured”) to pay for the extent of your injuries and damages.
The Need/desire to Protect Yourself from Injuries That You Suffer Caused by a Negligent Drive of Another Car. When you are injured due to the negligence of another driver you should no more rely on that driver to have adequate protection for you than you would rely on him to drive safely. Defensive insurance purchasing is as important as defensive driving and both can protect you from the devastating effects of an accident by purchasing adequate Uninsured/Underinsured insurance protection. We have seen many cases where a negligent, reckless or even a drunk driver has caused serious injuries to our clients and the “bad” guy had no coverage or minimum coverages. It sounds simple – just increase the “U” coverages on your policy. The problem is that you can only increase those coverages to the maximum of the amount of Liability coverage that you have selected (see above). To determine the cost of protecting yourself you have to measure the cost of increasing both your Liability and”U” coverages. The following chart will help and is taken from actual quotes for six months of coverage which we provided for a client of ours.
The “lesser coverage” is what his policy reflected at the outset of his coverage consultation in our office. The “increased coverage” is what we recommended and he purchased after our free consultation.
| Coverage Type |
Lesser Coverage |
Increased Coverage |
Cost differential |
| Bodily Injury Liability |
$15,000/30,000 |
50,000/100,000 |
$20.00 |
| Property Damage Liability |
$5,000 |
$100,000 |
$ 9.00 |
| Threshold selected2 |
No Limitation |
No Limitation |
$ 0 |
| uninsured/ underinsured |
$15,000/30,000 |
50,000/100,000 |
$ 4 |
| uninsured/ underinsured property damage |
$5,000 |
$100,000 |
$ 8 |
| PIP3 |
15,000
($250 deductible) |
250,000
($250 deductible) |
$18. |
| Total cost difference |
|
|
$59.00/
six months coverage |
2 The Threshold can limit your ability to recover against the other guy even when he is clearly in the wrong. He could have been drunk, asleep or reckless and if you have failed to select out of the default “Limitation on Lawsuit” you could be out of luck even though you have been faithfully paying for your insurance for years. If you have the “Limitation on Lawsuit” threshold on your policy (insurance companies love that!) you cannot recover for your pain and suffering unless a jury determines that your injuries meet a certain statutorily defined “threshold”. Individuals suffering from “soft tissue” injuries, even severely herniated disks causing a lifetime of pain and suffering, are currently being denied recovery in approximately 90% of jury trials in New Jersey. Watch out for this one because if you do not select out of the “Limitation on Lawsuit” you will pay a lot and get no bang for your buck!
 3 Your PIP (Personal Injury Protection) coverage is important! Insurance companies will often recommend the $15,000 coverage instead of the default coverage of $250,000. The difference is only $18/year more for a good deal more protection to pay your medical bills should you be injured. Even a modest injury can result in medical costs that will dramatically impact on your pocket book and the cap that many health policies now place on your coverage. The $250,000 coverage is considered one of the best in the nation and should be your selection.
 Check out the above footnotes in the chart because they demonstrate the manner in which you can easily be deceived into purchasing far worse coverage when the cost of the much better coverage is minimal. Many of these coverages must be offered by law but are discouraged by the insurance companies. The “Limitation on Lawsuit” threshold is the insurance company’s profit mill. Tha’s why they lobbied the legislature hard for a law that allows them to write your policy with the “limitation on lawsuit” coverage unless you elect out of it. They lull you into thinking that you will be able to sue the other driver, but based on the fact that you have failed to deselect the default coverage of a “Limitation on Lawsuit” policy, you will not be able to recover in 90% of the cases that go to the jury. Many prominent lawyers will not take cases that are subject to the “Limitation on Lawsuit”. Do not make that mistake – deselect ” Limitation on Lawsuit” and be sure that the policy reads “No Limitation On Lawsuit”.
Both of the policies that I have shown above are shown to have selected a “No Limitation” policy. Actually, when my client came to me, he had not deselected the “Limitation on Lawsuit” policy. The difference in the cost of the policy with a “No Limitation” selection would have been only $90/year additional. Had he chosen a “no limitation” policy, the injuries that he had suffered would have been recoverable without question. Without the “no limitation” selection, we were not, unfortunately, able to take his case to help him recover damages for his substantial injuries. Nothing is more frustrating for a lawyer than to see a seriously injured victim of an auto accident unable to care for himself because of uninformed selection of insurance coverage!
Prices for auto insurance will vary depending on factors such as age, gender, location, amount of driving and driving record. The differences in coverage costs for far better protection are surprisingly less than one might think. Most people rely on their insurance company/agent’s recommendations. These recommendations are not necessarily in your best interests.
As I said above, there are a wide variety of factors that influence the cost of your auto insurance purchase. For instance, if you are looking to buy a car, some cars have equipment that may bring down your auto insurance costs. Security devices and tracking devices such as “On Star” will save some money. If you think you can afford that mid life crisis red Porsche, be sure to consider the cost of the insurance when you do your budget. Cars that are on the car thief’s “favorite list” will increase your insurance costs and that cost needs to be factored into your decision.
It has become much easier to compare rates for insurance because of the access to rating
on the internet. Figure out what you want and price the coverages with several different carriers. Rates will differ. Be sure to let whichever carrier you choose know about discount factors for which you qualify. If you don’t know which discounts you may qualify for, ask! Some of the more common discount factors are good student discounts and/or multiple cars on a single policy. A good driving record will bring the costs down and a bad one can make you a high risk and expensive insured. Even reducing your annual mileage estimates by car pooling or public transportation will impact some on the rates.
The best way to evaluate the impact of your policy is to come in to Kamensky-”Cohen for a free review of your policy. We will tell you how the coverages you have selected really protect you or not should you be involved in an accident and help you evaluate your best cost/protection ratios.
On May 19, 1998, the State of New Jersey adopted the Automobile Insurance Cost Reduction Act. The statute was intended to reduce the cost of automobile insurance; however, that purpose was accomplished primarily by reducing the benefits available to persons who are injured in automobile accidents. This means less coverage to pay for medical treatment and less rights to recover monetary damages from careless drivers who cause accidents. This new law went into effect on March 23, 1999 and affects all policies purchased or renewed after this date. We strongly recommend that you elect the following coverage to properly protect yourself and your family.
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Introduction:
This purpose of this guide is to help you, when purchasing auto insurance, to select the coverage that will best protect you and your family if you are ever involved in an auto accident. If you have any questions left unanswered by this pamphlet or would like a lawyer’s opinion about your auto insurance policy, call Kamensky – Cohen & Associates for a free consultation.
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Introduction:
This purpose of this guide is to help you, when purchasing auto insurance, to select the coverage that will best protect you and your family if you are ever involved in an auto accident. It is not to be considered legal advice and each individual auto insurance policy must be tailored to your specific financial position. If you have any questions left unanswered by this pamphlet or would like a lawyer’s opinion about your auto insurance policy, call Kamensky – Cohen & Associates for a free consultation.
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