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Not Such A Sweet 16th Birthday

Why is it so important to have adequate underinsured motorist coverage on your car insurance policy?  Let me tell you a story about a beautiful young girl whose parent’s insurance coverage made the difference.

Gillian was celebrating her 16th birthday.  The day turned out to be anything but sweet.  She was in a friend’s car which skidded around a turn, left the road and struck a tree.  Gillian’s face battered the windshield – she was rushed to the hospital where she received 75 stitches to her forehead, chin and ear.  Shortly after I took the case, I learned that Gillian’s friend had only a $25,000 car insurance policy.  Would that be all that Gillian could collect?  The good news was that her parents had stacked their underinsured motorist coverage and a total of an additional $200,000 was available.  The bad news was that her parent’s insurance company refused to pay the amount of the coverage.  They claimed that her scar was not that serious – were they right?

A few weeks before the trial, I saw a newspaper photo of a man who received a $125,000 award.  He was a cocaine dealer who had been beaten by the police and received 60 stitches in his face.  I sent the photo to the insurance company and told them if that case was worth $125,000, then Gillian’s case was certainly worth more than the parent’s policy. The insurance company looked at the convict’s photo and to their credit, sent out a check for the policy limits.      Stephen M. Karp, Esquire