STW Law Group

Experience Matters in Handling Median Crossover Wrecks

Al Welshans — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 12:37:40 +0000

According to the Federal Highway Administration, crossover wrecks are three times more severe than other highway crashes. They often result in head-on collisions with innocent victims and account for on average of 250 freeway deaths per year. This translates into one fatality every 200 freeway miles.

The causes of these wrecks can be as simple as a speeding driver, drunk driver or distracted driver losing control of his or her vehicle and crossing over the median into oncoming traffic. However, they can also be more complex and involve other contributing factors such as merging traffic from access roads, improperly changing lanes, or even defective road design and construction of roadways.

Our firm has represented individuals injured and killed in median crossover wrecks on interstates, public roadways, and private drives. In evaluating these cases our lawyers think outside the box and look for all potential sources of recovery. This can be extremely important in these types of cases due to the severity of injuries involved and limited or lack of insurance coverage by one or more at-fault drivers.

Two of our cases involved clients injured in crossover wrecks on private drives designed, constructed, and owned by casinos.

An uninsured casino employee crossed a raised median becoming airborne striking our clients’ cars. Our clients suffered extreme injuries resulting in two deaths and requiring extensive surgeries for the surviving passengers. Although our clients had uninsured motorist coverage, their coverage was insufficient to cover theirs and their loved ones’ losses.

The four-lane roadway was marked with official speed limit and roadway signs. However, the firm’s investigation discovered that the roadway was a private drive which was designed and constructed by several casinos. We filed suit against both the casino employee driver and the casinos who constructed the roadway. The matter was ultimately resolved by settlement during trial under a confidentiality agreement.

FHWA, Recommends Ready-to-Use Safety Technologies (October 2003).

An Insurer Cannot Ghost It’s Insured

Al Welshans — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 12:34:17 +0000

Has your insurance company ghosted you? Well don’t be surprised. It happens more than you think. Our firm has experience in these types of cases. Wilson v. NGIC, 18-cv-00055, (N.D. Miss. March 19, 2019).

This is the fact scenario:

You are in a serious automobile wreck which is not your fault. Your medical bills are already $30,000.00. The at-fault driver has minimum limits coverage. In Mississippi, this is $25,000.00 per person.

You had a good insurance agent who advised you to carry uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. Your total uninsured motorist coverage is $300,000.00. You contact your insurance company and put them on notice of your accident.

You hire an attorney, and the at-fault driver’s insurance company offers to pay you their policy limits of $25,000.00. However, they want an agreement that you and your insurance company will forever release the other driver from further liability. Your attorney notifies your insurance company of the offer and the requirement for a release of the at-fault driver. Your insurance company agrees, and you receive the first $25,000.00.

You completed treatment and have $100,000.00 in medical bills and some permanent injury. Your attorney makes a demand from your insurance company for your policy limits. The insurance adjuster received the settlement package and demand but did nothing with it. Time passes and despite numerous calls, emails, and letters, your insurance company fails to respond to the demand.

In Mississippi, an insurance carrier cannot ghost you or your attorney. The insurance company has a duty to investigate the claim and communicate with the insured or the insured’s attorney. Bankers Life and Cas. Co. v. Crenshaw, 483 So.2d 254, 276 (Miss. 1985). If a carrier does ignore you or your attorney, they may be liable for not only the contractual damages, but for your attorney fees and punitive damages. Wilson v. NGIC, 18-cv-00055, (N.D. Miss. March 19, 2019).

Wilson v. NGIC

What to do if you are hit by an uninsured or underinsured driver

Al Welshans — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 12:31:07 +0000

According to the Insurance Information Institute, approximately 12.6% of drivers in the United States have no liability insurance. This percentage is even greater in Mississippi (29.4%) and the surrounding states of Tennessee (23.7%), Alabama (19.5%) and Arkansas (19.3%). In addition, individuals who are insured often carry the minimum liability limits which in Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, and Arkansas is only $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident.

Odds are, you or a family member will be involved in a wreck with an uninsured motorist or perhaps an individual with limited insurance coverage. If so, then we can help you recover from your automobile insurance policy’s uninsured motorist provisions.

Uninsured motorist coverage is important because it is designed to protect you, your family, and occupants of your car from injuries caused by an uninsured or underinsured driver. Our firm strongly recommends to our clients that they carry this coverage in amounts at least equal to their liability coverage.

All automobile insurance companies writing insurance in the state of Mississippi are required to offer uninsured motorist coverage. It can only be excluded if the named insured knowingly signs a waiver of coverage.

In addition, uninsured motorist coverage may not be limited to the amounts listed for the car you are in at the time of the wreck. Mississippi case law has established that uninsured motorist coverages for various cars can be stacked or added together to provide additional coverage.

Uninsured or underinsured motorist cases can be very complex and involve complicated issues of law and fact. Failure to handle these cases the right way may limit the amount of coverage or cause your insurance company to deny coverage altogether. Our firm has extensive experience helping injured individuals recover from insurance companies for injuries caused by uninsured and underinsured drivers.

We recently handled a case for a client who was driving a motorcycle when he was forced to lay his motorcycle down on the roadway to avoid a merging automobile. The at-fault driver had substantial insurance coverage which we recovered for our client. However, the driver’s coverage did not cover all our client’s injuries. As a result, we sought recovery under our client’s uninsured/underinsured motorist insurance.

The client had five automobiles under one policy. Each of these automobiles had uninsured motorist coverage. In addition, the client had two children attending college with automobiles registered in their names and insured in their names under separate policies with the same insurance company. However, the insurance carrier denied that our client was covered under the policies of his two children. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi ruled that our client was covered under his children’s policies in addition to his five cars. See Kroger v. GEICO, 3:19-cv-00050-NBB-JMV (N.D. Miss. April 28, 2020).

This was a unique case because one child attended the University of West Virginia and that child’s policy was issued as a West Virginia policy. West Virginia law did not allow stacking of coverage.

The court found that the West Virginia policy was governed by Mississippi law, and West Virginia’s anti-stacking provisions were against public policy and void under Mississippi law. See Kroger v. GEICO, 3:19-cv-00050-NBB-JMV (N.D. Miss. April 28, 2020). The court’s opinion resulted in our client having a total of $2,050,000 in uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage.

Insurance Information Institute, Facts + Statistics: Uninsured Motorist, https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-uninsured-motorists.

Wrongful Denial of Accident Claim

Al Welshans — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 12:27:15 +0000

Accidental death policies are like life insurance policies. They pay the face value to beneficiaries when the named insured dies by an accident. Some life insurance policies also include a double indemnity provision which doubles the payout to beneficiaries where the named insured dies by accident.

What if the insurer denies the beneficiary’s claim because it was caused by an intentional act? You need to know that in Mississippi an accident can be an intentional act by a third party.

We had this arise where a storeowner was shot and killed in a robbery. The death was caused by the intentional act of the robber, but the storeowner was just an innocent bystander to the robbery. We represented the widow. The insurer eventually settled the case at trial by paying almost fifty (50) times the face value of the policy.

Don’t give up just because the insurer tells you there is no coverage. Have a knowledgeable attorney review the policy and reason for denial.