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How to Handle an Auto Accident


May 2, 2005

Each year thousands of Massachusetts residents are involved in automobile accidents. In some instances, drivers, passengers and pedestrians are injured. If you are involved in an automobile accident, do you know how to insure that you are compensatedfor your injuries or damage sustained to your vehicle?

In Massachusetts, automobile insurance is compulsory, which means that one must purchase a standard minimum insurance policy in order to register an automobile in the Commonwealth. The standard automobile insurance policy is approved by the Commissioner of Insurance and is the same no matter which insurance company issues it. It provides that every person registering an automobile must have four types of insurance with a minimum amount of coverage, also known as compulsory coverage. Automobile owners may elect to purchase additional coverage in order to minimize their personal liability, but this coverage is not mandated by law.

Four types of compulsory insurance mandated
by Massachusetts law

The first type of compulsory coverage is known as Compulsory Bodily Injury Coverage (BI). Compulsory BI benefits ensure payment of insurance proceeds to parties injured and/or killed as the result of the negligence of someone driving your automobile with consent in Massachusetts. Compulsory BI benefits do not apply to occupants in your automobile, if the accident happens outside of Massachusetts, or if the accident occurs in an area where the public has no right of access. The standard Massachusetts policy provides BI coverage of up to $20,000.00 per person with an aggregate of $40,000.00 of coverage for two or more people injured in the same accident.

The second type of compulsory coverage is known as Compulsory Personal Injury Protection (PIP). (All motor vehicle liabilityinsurance policies, issued or executed in the Commonwealth, shall provide PIP benefits, except to the extent that such benefits are reduced or eliminated by the purchase of a deductible.) PIP benefits are for the benefit of parties injured and/or killed in automobile accidents, regardless of who causes the accident. PIP benefits areusually collected from the insurer of the automobile in which the injured party was riding or, in the case of an injured pedestrian,from the insurer of the automobile that struck him or her.

PIP benefits allow the injured party to recover up to $8,000.00 for reimbursement for three kinds of out-of-pocket expenses, to wit:

1.) reasonable and necessary medical expenses incurred
within the first 2 years of the accident;

2.) 75% of lost wages or lost earning power; and

3.) "replacement services" for the benefit of the injured party.

If the injured party is covered by a private health insurance plan, PIP will pay the first $2,000.00 of reasonable and necessarymedical expenses. The party's health insurer will be requiredto pay the remaining medical bills. (If the private health insurer refuses to pay for all services rendered, PIP will usually pay thebalance of said expenses). The injured party is then permitted to recover his/her documented lost wages and/or "replacement expenses" from the balance of the $8,000.00.

The third type of compulsory coverage is known as Compulsory Uninsurance Coverage. Uninsurance benefits extend to parties thatare injured or killed as a result of the negligence of the operator ofan uninsured automobile. Circumstances under which a claim for Uninsurance benefits may arise include accidents involving stolen vehicles, hit-and-run accidents, accidents involving vehicles registered outside of the Commonwealth and not requiring insurance, and vehicles for which insurance coverage has lapsed. Compulsory minimum limits of Uninsurance benefits mirror those of Compulsory BI ($20,000.00/$40,000.00). A party may recover Uninsurance benefits from either the policy on which he or she is a named insured; if not a named insured then from the policy of a household member, or if neither a named insured or no insurance is available within his orher household, then from the policy covering the auto he or she is occupying at the time of the accident. Notice of hit-and-run accidents must be reported to the police station in the jurisdiction of the accident as well as the uninsurance insurer within 24 hours of the accident.

The fourth and final type of compulsory coverage is known as Compulsory Property Damage Coverage (PD). PD benefits extend to property damage sustained by someone other than you as the result of the negligent operation of a motor vehicle. A claim for PD may arise from the negligent operation of your vehicle or when you or any household member is driving any other vehicle. (In the latter instance the insurance for the vehicle being operated by you or a member of your household pays first, to its limits, and then your insurance pays). Recoverable property damage includes fair market value of repair, loss of use, towing, storage and costs associated with a rental vehicle. The minimum compulsory PD coverage is $5,000.00.

As indicated above, many automobile owners elect to purchase additional coverage in order to limit personal and/or corporate liability. In many instances, the coverage available to an injured party far exceeds that of the compulsory requirements discussed above. The attorneys at Graeber, Davis & Cantwell have years of experience prosecuting and defending automobile injury claims and have helped hundreds of clients receive the compensation they rightfully deserve.



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