Pennslyvania Automobile Insurance: Is Your Family Protected?

automobile accidents may result in devastating and permanent personal injuries. However, an alarming number of Pennsylvania residents who are seriously injured may be unable to receive any compensation for their pain and suffering because they failed to elect "Full Tort" automobile insurance and "Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage".

Clients are often unaware of the fact that although they may have serious injuries, including fractures, spinal injuries, herniated discs, and temporary disability, that they cannot recover for their pain and suffering because they have elected "Limited Tort" auto insurance coverage.

In Pennsylvania, individuals have the opportunity to select either Full Tort or Limited Tort insurance coverage. While there may be a modest savings associated with selecting Limited Tort coverage, in doing so, the policy holder eliminates the possibility of their family members being fairly compensated for their pain and suffering for all but the most serious injuries. It is important to realize that what insurance companies may call "full coverage" is not the same as the full protection which is provided to individuals who select Full Tort coverage.

If you select Limited Tort coverage, you and your family members can only recover for pain and suffering if the personal injury results in:

1. Death
2. Serious impairment of a body function, or
3. Permanent serious disfigurement (example-scarring)

While the first and last situations are very obvious, the question of whether or not someone has suffered a "serious impairment of a body function" has been hotly litigated in the Pennsylvania courts with results varying widely from county to county. Recent decisions have denied individuals who have selected Limited Tort coverage from receiving compensation for pain and suffering for fractures, injuries to the discs, neck and back, neurological problems and a host of other injuries where the individual ultimately recovers from the injuries without a permanent impairment. So, although you may be hospitalized and disabled for an extensive period of time, you may not be permitted to recover for your pain and suffering if you ultimately recover from the injuries.

In addition, if you have selected Limited Tort coverage for yourself and your family, that selection will keep you and your children from being able to collect for their pain and suffering, even if they are injured in a car which is driven by someone who has elected Full Tort coverage.

On the other hand, with Full Tort coverage, you and your family members will continue to have the right to be fairly compensated for any personal injuries caused by an automobile accident, regardless of the severity or duration of the injuries.

Another area of great concern involves clients who are injured by uninsured motorists, or by motorists who maintain limited amounts of liability insurance. When you purchase your automobile insurance, you are given the option of also purchasing Uninsured Motorist Coverage and Underinsured Motorist Coverage. Uninsured and careless drivers are everywhere. More than 1 in 13 vehicles operated on Pennsylvania's highways are uninsured. If you are in an accident with one of those vehicles and you do not have Uninsured Motorist Coverage, you and your family members could end up with catastrophic injuries without the right to recover for those injuries, even though you have selected Full Tort coverage. By selecting Uninsured Motorist Coverage, you provide your family with protection from negligent and uninsured drivers.

Underinsured Motorist Coverage provides similar protection for you and your family members. If you are involved in a serious accident and the other driver does not have enough insurance to fairly and adequately compensate you and your family for your injuries, your Underinsured Motorist Coverage will provide you with additional protection.

Full Tort and Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist insurance work together to give you and your family complete protection.