Under-Insured Motorist Coverage is Important
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Although North Carolina requires motor vehicle owners to have liability insurance on all vehicles, the level of the required coverage is low. The law only requires liability insurance in the amount of $30,000.00 per person and $60,000.00 total for all occupants. With today's high cost of medical care, these limits are simply not enough.
Therefore, it is important to have under-insured motorist coverage. Under the terms of under-insured motorist coverage, the insurance company guarantees the insured motorist will have insurance in an amount up to the limit of its under-insured coverage if the insured is injured by the negligence of another person, no matter the limit of liability carried by the negligent driver.
If, for example, the victim of another driver's negligence has $100,000.00 in under-insured motorist coverage, the injured victim would recover up to $100,000.00 for the injuries caused by the negligence of the other driver. If the negligent driver had only the required $30,000.00 limit, the victim could recover from his own under-insured motorist coverage with up to $70,000.00 additional benefits.
An example of the need for under-insured motorist coverage is shown by a recent case that was settled in Wake County for $2,000,000.00. The unfortunate victim was struck by a dump truck and trailer whose driver had lost control as he entered an intersection and attempted to make a left-hand turn. The dump truck struck the victim's driver side door, causing the victim's head to go through his side window and hit the front bumper of the dump truck.
The force of the collision rolled the plaintiff's pickup truck all the way over such that it eventually came to rest on all four wheels. The victim incurred medical bills of approximately $500,000.00 as a result of numerous complications during a long hospital stay. Among the injuries suffered were a closed head injury, a mesocolon laceration, a cervical spine injury, and multiple fractures involving his face, pelvis, and sacrum.
The victim settled with the insurance carrier for the dump truck in September 2005. However, the settlement was far short of the amount necessary to fully compensate the victim.
In October of 2006, the victim settled with his under-insured's carrier and received a total settlement of $2,000,000.00.
The victim was fortunate in have two separate liability insurance policies on his own vehicles, each of which had under-insured coverage of $1,000,000.00. The claimant was able to "stack" these policies which resulted in total coverage of $2,000,000.00.