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Attorney Representation in Phoenix, Arizona Since 1996

Phoenix Lawyers - Insurance Claims Problems For Arizona Car Accident Claims

When someone has been involved in an Arizona car accident, it is important to not only make a claim against the adverse insurance company of the driver that caused the accident, and also to make a claim with the insurance company of the person who was hurt, even if that person was not at fault and did not cause the accident to occur. Sometimes there are multiple layers of insurance that as attorneys we know are able to be uncovered. For instance, let’s suppose you are involved in a car accident and you are a passenger in your friend’s vehicle. The other driver is at fault and a crash occurs in the middle of an intersection. The adverse driver’s insurance is what we call “primary.” The next insurance is what we call “secondary.” The secondary insurance would be the “underinsured” coverage of your friend’s vehicle. The third layer of insurance would be your own underinsured coverage. Even though you are a passenger in another vehicle, your underinsured coverage is still applicable. In fact if you are hit by an automobile and you are riding a bike or are a pedestrian, your automobile insurance coverage can still apply. That is, if you have the correct types of coverage.

As experienced Arizona personal injury lawyers, Alexis and Mark Breyer, the founders of Breyer Law Offices, have specific knowledge when it comes to insurance coverages. Insurance coverage is a very complex area of law. Many times insurance companies deny that a coverage even exists on the policy, claim that the coverage is not applicable, or say that the coverage should not be paid out at all because another coverage should be paid out first. It is important that all insurance coverage be examined for each claim. At Breyer Law Offices, when we have a new client, we immediately obtain the policy report, sometimes by going directly down to the police station to get a copy of the police report as soon as possible. We immediately work on gathering evidence, verifying the insurance coverage of the adverse driver and uncovering evidence as to what policies may be available. Many times people do not have certain coverage that would benefit them at the time of the car accident. What injury victims do not realize is that many times even though certain coverages do not show up on their declaration page of their insurance policy, they may still in fact be entitled to the coverage under Arizona law. That is, an insurance agents have to follow certain steps when selling insurance coverage to people. If these steps are not followed, it is possible that even though a person did not buy uninsured or underinsured coverage, that under the law they are still entitled to this important coverage and that the coverage is applicable to the accident. It is this type of knowledge of personal injury and insurance claims law that helps obtain the best possible settlement. As experienced attorneys in injury and wrongful death law, we have the in depth knowledge that is necessary in all areas of injury law to help clients.

Some of the most important types of coverage to injury victims are medical payment coverage, underinsured coverage and uninsured coverage. Medical payment coverage is coverage that pays for a person’s medical bills. Even if a person has health insurance this coverage is still helpful. Many times when a person is seriously injured, they may have huge deductibles. Medical payment coverage can help pay these deductibles. Another scenario would be where a person is seriously injured in an automobile accident and remains in the hospital for a few weeks but their health insurance coverage only covers the first 2 weeks of hospital stay. The medical payment coverage could pay the hospital bills after the health insurance stops paying. There are many other scenarios where having medpay coverage can be beneficial to someone after they have suffered an injury in a car accident when someone else was at fault. Many health insurance plans do not pay for long inpatient rehabilitation facilities. After an automobile accident, many times people will have surgery at the hospital and then will be taken to an impatient rehabilitation care center where the injured individual will have to go through inpatient physical therapy and other rehabilitation at an inpatient rehabilitation facility. Most health insurance companies limit inpatient rehabilitation care to 6 to 12 weeks. Medical payment coverage could help pay for the rehabilitation stay that health insurance would not pay for because of the limits on health insurance coverage. These are just some of the scenarios based on real cases that we have handled throughout the years. We can tell you any time we have had a client who has had health insurance, it is often less stressful for the clients when they have previously purchased medical payment coverage as well. That being said, most individuals do not have medical payment coverage. It does not appear that this coverage is a huge selling point for insurance adjusters. Even when a person does not have medical payment coverage when they are involved in a car accident in Arizona, we are still able to work with medical providers and find ways based on our legal experience so that the injured individual has less stress and can receive the medical care that they need.

Arizona Uninsured motorist claims and coverage

Uninsured coverage is a necessary insurance coverage in Arizona, even though it is not mandatory and it can be waived. In Arizona, most insurance coverages are sold in what we call an “a la carte” fashion. What that means is that the only insurance coverage in Arizona that is required is “liability” coverage. Liability protects you if you are at fault or alleged to be at fault for an accident. In Arizona, the minimum limits for liability coverage required by Arizona law is $15,000/$30,000. What this means is that if a driver has the required minimum liability coverage and cause a car accident, the most one person would be entitled to for their personal injury claim from the insurance coverage of the at-fault driver is $15,000. If two or more people are involved in the accident, the most that they would be entitled to under the minimum legal requirements for car insurance in Arizona is $30,000. If there are three or more people who are injured, they would have to split the $30,000 and still no one injured person could receive more than $15,000. Obviously, the minimum requirements in Arizona are very low. In many cases the cost of the air ambulance – the helicopter that takes people from the scene of the car accident to the hospital in some emergency situations- costs more than the $15,000 minimum insurance limit.

Many drivers are driving around without any insurance at all in Arizona. This is no surprise to many of us. Uninsured coverage is a coverage that protects you if someone hits you and the at-fault driver has no insurance. Seeing that there are so many drivers in Arizona who do not have any insurance at all, uninsured coverage is a very important coverage to have on your automobile insurance policy. Different amounts of coverage can be sold for uninsured coverage. When a person is hit by a driver who has no insurance, this is something that we have to investigate further before we accept that claim that the at-fault driver has no insurance at all. Many times we hire investigator to do asset checks to see if the at-fault driver has any assets that can go toward our client’s injury claim. We also can conduct a deposition or have the at-fault driver complete an affidavit of no additional insurance. As experienced attorneys in injury and wrongful death law, we take different steps to find a way to obtain compensation from some source for our client. Which methods depends on a variety of factors in any given case. What is important in the end, however, is that if there are no possible ways to collect against the at-fault driver, that you have uninsured coverage to protect yourself. If an at-fault driver has no insurance and you have no uninsured insurance, you may be facing paying all of your medical bills on your own. Uninsured motorist coverage is there to protect individuals when they most need it and uninsured motorist coverage is a coverage that should be purchased by all drivers. If you are thinking about purchasing uninsured coverage and do not know what coverage to purchase, you can fax your declaration page to our office and we will review your insurance policy. If you have been involved in a car accident and have been seriously injured and are unsure if the adverse driver has insurance or if you have the correct type of insurance, feel free to call us so we can discuss your claim with you. We will review your claim and your policy coverage. We have many times found that even though a driver did not purchase uninsured coverage because the law was not followed when the driver purchased the coverage that we are able to force the insurance company to honor an uninsured claim.

Arizona Underinsured coverage

Underinsured coverage is coverage that protects a driver when they are hit by another driver who does not have enough insurance. We have countless examples of this that we have dealt with on a first hand basis. This coverage is particularly important in Arizona because the minimum limits for liability coverage are so low. Let’s say you have a broken leg because of a car accident. The at-fault driver has $15,000 in liability coverage. Your hospital bill is $30,000. Clearly, $15,000 is not enough to cover your claim. In this instance, you could have your underinsured coverage available to you.

People ask all the time if using their coverage will affect their rates. The answer is no. If you have to use your uninsured coverage or underinsured coverage, your rates will not change. Your insurance company is prohibited by Arizona law to increase your premiums for using applicable coverage when the at-fault driver does not have enough insurance coverage. In fact, after your insurance company pays the coverage, in some cases they will pursue the at-fault party. No matter what your insurance company decides to do, the bottom line is that they cannot increase your premiums for using coverage that you pay for to have available in these exact cases.

Contact Alexis and Mark Breyer, Breyer Law Offices

Arizona insurance coverage law is complicated. Medical payment coverage, underinsured, and underinsured coverages are just some of the coverages that are available in Arizona which have been discussed, above. If you have been injured in an automobile accident in Arizona, you need an experienced injury and wrongful death lawyer in Arizona fighting on your behalf. Mark Breyer is a certified specialist in injury and wrongful death law in Arizona. He has been certified in injury and wrongful death law as a specialist by the State Bar of Arizona. Only approximately 200 lawyers in the state of Arizona – out of about 20,000 lawyers in the entire state - have received this distinction by the State Bar. To receive this distinction, a lawyer must show ample trial experience, receive peer reviews and reviews by Judges, as well as pass a rigorous all day exam. Alexis Breyer also has handled over one thousand injury and wrongful death claims. As a team, we believe Breyer Law Offices has earned an excellent reputation and has helped injury and wrongful death victims throughout the entire state of Arizona. We handle very serious injury and wrongful death claims. We are able to review your claim with you and offer a no obligation, free consultation. If you have an insurance policy that you would like us to review, you can contact us to review your policy. It is our mission to fight for the injured victim and level the playing field between the insurance company and the little guy.

Breyer Law Offices, P.C., offers free consultations at no further obligation to you. To learn more about your legal options at this free consultation, please send us a message through our Website or call (602) 978-6400; (623) 930-8064; (480) 753-4534; o para llamarnos en español, (602) 222-8787.