Seatbelts Save Lives-and Recoveries!

When injured in an automobile accident, one damages component you frequently hear about is Pain and Suffering. While many politicians have tried to correlate "pain and suffering" with "frivolous," pain and suffering is just a catchall category for what we call the intangible damages. Things like the frustration at not being able to go throw the football with a child, not pursuing a hobby, not being able to dance with a spouse or climb that last fourteener. Very real losses, but one's that are very hard to monetarily quantify. In the cases that my firm handles, these losses can often far exceed the economic losses like medical bills or wage loss.

Did you know that if you are injured in an accident and were not wearing your seatbelt, the Colorado Legislature enacted a law that says you forfeit the ability to be compensated for non-economic damages? I know it seems crazy that the at fault party could be less responsible for the damages they cause just because of you didn't have a seatbelt on.

These type of laws are collectively referred to as "Tort Reform." Every time you hear about a new "tort-reform" law, what it really means is that some injured person will have fewer options to get compensated for their very real damages. As the House and Senate in Washington debates "Health Care Reform" beware of any provisions that purport to "stop lawsuit abuse" or to "protect doctors." These are carefully crafted ways of saying Tort Reform, and in the end, an injured party will lose out.

So, today's message is WEAR YOUR SEATBELTS, and look out for Tort Reform-It kills a case that could be your only hope!

Don't waive medpay!!!

Increasingly, a disturbing trend in our office is that victims of car accidents are finding out that they have waived the important "medpay" coverage mandated by current insurance law in Colorado. Amazingly, when asked about this "waiver'', many of our clients don't recall waiving anything on their auto insurance.

Here is the scoop: In 2009, Medpay became mandatory coverage in Colorado unless you waive it in writing. ANY TIME an insurance company wants you to waive anything, be absolutely sure you know what you are waiving. Right now, medpay is one of the best values on your policy, just like UM and UIM coverage discussed elsewhere on this blog. Don't waive it!

What if I already have insurance? Isn't it double coverage? NO. Medpay is designed to be primary to other insurance, meaning it pays first before your health insurance kicks in. Second, since you will generally have to pay back benefits paid under your health insurance when you collect from the at-fault driver, you want medpay to pay as much as possible before the health insurance bills begin to pile up. After all, the biggest plus of medpay is that you don't have to repay those benefits. In legal parlance, medpay benefits are non-subrogable-a good thing.

In our practice, we routinely make the insurance companies provide proof that a customer actually made a knowing waiver of medpay. In situations where they cannot provide this proof, usually a copy of our client's signature, we can often force the insurance companies to retroactively reform the insurance company to provide those benefits. If you feel like you were duped into waiving coverage you didn't understand, call John R. Fuller, P.C. to discuss your situation.