Motor vehicle accidents fall under personal injury law or Tort Law, a branch of civil law based on negligence. When a lawsuit arises out of a motor vehicle accident, there are two specific parts of the lawsuit.

The first part is called Liability. With respect to liability, the dispute becomes who is right and who is wrong. Liability determines who is responsible for the accident and who pays for medical bills, lost wages, and property damage. Liability is the legal responsibility for causing the accident and the resulting damages; in essence, who is the party who acted negligently.

Let’s say that it’s been determined that the party who struck your vehicle was wrong; this means that you win the liability section of the lawsuit.

Once liability is determined, you move to the next part of the lawsuit which is Compensation or, the how much?

You divide compensation damages into two parts: 1) economic loss and 2) non-economic loss.

Economic loss is something that already has a value — quantifiable losses such as unpaid medical bills, lost wages, out of pocket expenses, the cost of repairs for the damage done to your vehicle.

Non-Economic loss is the intangible such as pain, suffering, emotional stress, and loss of enjoyment of life.

So, when you sit down to complete an Auto Insurance Application to customize your coverage, you are presented with various types and amounts of coverage. These include Liability Coverage (property damage / bodily injury to others), Collision (your vehicle’s damage), Comprehensive (non-crash damage), Uninsured Motorist, Under Insured Motorists, Personal Injury Protection (PIP)/Medical Payments, and other coverages such as rental reimbursement and roadside assistance. Your policy is customized based on your vehicle’s class, your budget and state requirements. In the state of Pennsylvania, a driver is mandated to have a minimum of $15,000 of liability coverage which pays for injuries and property damage you cause to others in an accident.

There is another option of coverage that is consistently overlooked and under emphasized — the Tort Options. A consumer is presented with 2 check boxes that read:

[ ] Limited Tort and [ ] Full Tort.

if you check the Limited-Tort box, most customers do not realize they have just limited their right to recover damages.  That fact deserves repeating. When you select the Limited Tort option, you have waived your right to recover non-economic loss in a Tort Action (lawsuit). You abandon your right to collect for pain and suffering, emotional stress and loss of enjoyment of life. Limited Tort equals limiting your right to damages. The insurance companies don’t want you to know this.

So, let’s say you get into an accident and you now have a herniated disc. You don’t really need surgery but it really hurts. What is your loss? Your vehicle is banged up, you have a deductible, you have insurance to cover the costs to repair the damage done to your vehicle, plus you have a couple of medical co-pays and you missed a week of work. What’s your loss?

Answer, a five hundred dollar deductible and a week’s worth of work. Right? Let’s say this amounts to $5,000. If you checked the Limited-Tort Option on your auto insurance application, you’re limited to recover only $5,000.  Let’s add more injury. The government forces us to buy insurance and then they allow the insurance companies to sell us products that make us legal but not protected.

Let’s say somebody hits you and you herniated your discs and now you need surgery that will cost you $200,000 in medical expenses, not to mention the pain and suffering involved with recovery. The person who hit you doesn’t have any insurance or own any substantial assets. They are liable for your injury; they owe you the cost of the surgery but they don’t have insurance or the money. What do you do? This scenario happens 90% of the time. So, what do you do? You, the consumer, must anticipate this occurrence because it’s highly probable that this will happen. You can protect yourself by checking the Full-Tort Option. Full Tort is the option that allows you to maintain and unrestricted right to sue the liable party, the person whose fault it is, for all damages, economic and non-economic damages. Full-Tort provides you the maximum legal protection allowing the injured to seek compensation for pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, medical expenses, property damage and wage loss.

How do you know if you have Limited Tort or Full Tort?  With each insurance policy, the insurance company offers a Declaration Sheet (the “Dec Sheet”).  The Declaration Sheet declares what insurance you have purchased and the amount of premium associated with the selected coverages. What is most alarming is the insurance company often hides the Limited and Full Tort Options on the Declaration Sheet.  If your Declaration Sheet hides the Tort Option you have selected or if you are unsure of which Tort Option you had selected, call your insurance agent or company and get the answer right away.

It is my highest hope that you never experience the trauma and injury a motor vehicle accident can cause but if you do, call my office. We’re here for you.