Legal Question in Personal Injury in Arizona

In Arizona, what is the maximum total value of a personal injury auto insurance claim? For example, suppose both parties in a collision carry $100K/$300K insurance and they are judged 70%/30% at fault (different insurance companies), if some single individual suffers grievous injuries in the accident exceeding $100K in expenses, is the total maximum value of that individual claim $100K or $200K (each company liable up tp $100K since each had some liability for the loss)? And does that change if one car is uninsured but you carry uninsured motorist coverage of $100K?

Thanks, Jim


Asked on 5/01/13, 8:31 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Frank Waters Frank T. Waters, Attorney at Law, PLLC

There is no maximum value when it comes to a judgment against the person who caused the accident. However, you are referring to limit of insurance liability. A $100k/$300k means a maximum of $100,000 for any one person, and a maximum of $300,000 for the whole accident. So if only one person is hurt and thier hospital bills were $250,000, the insurance only has to pay $100,000. If 20 people were hurt the insurance company would split $300,000 among all 20 people based upon the severity of the injuries, but they wouldn't have to pay more than $300,000 even if there were $10 million dollars in injuries. Your uninsured coverage is another matter. It pays if there is NO insurance from the person who caused the accident. UNDERINSURED (UIM) pays if the other person's insurance is not enough. So in the above example with $250,000 in medical bills a person could get $100,000 from the opposing insurance company and $100,000 from their own insurance company. The 70%/30% fault splits the recovery. So if you had $100,000 in injuries and were 30% at fault, the other side would pay you $70,000. If the other party had $100,000 in injuries and they were 70% at fault, they would still get $30,000 from your insurance policy. If a car swerves into oncoming traffic and hits a semi head on, they will do about $1000 damage to the semi, but they could have a $1 million dollar claim. The accident could be determined to be 99% their fault and they would still get $10,000 from the other party and would have to pay the semi driver $990. I hope this helps.

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Answered on 5/02/13, 10:12 am


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