Heather Lindsey Pentycofe, Associate Attorney

While most people know that they must carry liability insurance coverage in California or risk losing their driving privilege, few people realize that while liability insurance protects you in cases where you are at fault, it provides you no benefit where, as is often the case, you are the victim of somebody’s else’s negligence. The coverage that will provide you with invaluable protection and in an amount you choose to purchase, is Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage.

In years past people injured in accidents could rely on insurance companies making reasonable offers for the losses they sustained. As the saying goes, those days are gone! In the last few years the long standing rights of injured people to receive fair compensation for their losses including compensation for their medical expenses, loss of earnings and for the pain and suffering they experienced have been severely limited by our Courts and a series of decisions that have diminished the rights of victims and emboldened the insurance companies to make offers of settlement that are not merely inadequate but often insulting.

When accidents occur the first consideration, after insuring that the injured are given appropriate care and medical attention, should be the preservation of accident scene details that may one day become critical in determining the rights of the victims. While it would be nice to know that those who cause accidents are honest, caring individuals who want to own up to their responsibilities and insure that those they hurt are properly compensated, most, even those who may admit fault at the scene, turn out to be anything but truthful after they speak with their insurance company or the lawyers they hire. Regrettably, and with ever increasing frequency, insurance companies persuade their insured’s to not admit anything but rather to consider their future insurance premiums when making statements or giving their depositions. Similarly, the lawyers hired by the insurance companies, especially those who are employed as “house counsel” are all too often more interested in saving their employer/insurance company money and less interested in seeing justice done or the having the truth come out.