Video Learning Resource Center – The Epstein Law Firm, P.A.

Uber accidents seem like a car accident, but they’re not. And they’re unique in today’s world. An accident when an Uber driver is regulated to the ride share laws of New Jersey. The first thing we have to say when we see someone is injured in an Uber or Lyft or rideshare accident was the app on because of the apps on or the app is off determines how much coverage is available from that driver. So it’s very important they have an understanding of the uniqueness of the coverage limits for an Uber driver. And Uber typically does not pay for medical bills from the car accident, which can also make it very tricky because in New Jersey, commercial vehicles don’t always have PIP coverage. They need to be taken out. And an Uber driver is not a private passenger car. It’s a car for hire the rideshare. So it kind of falls more in a taxi and limousine. So the coverages are different and we have to explore the coverage limits in detail. We have to find out what is going on with the driver and Uber or Lyft or the Rideshare. Were they engaged in the app or were they not engaged in the app? What prior history looks like and sometimes, if a case is worth more than the insurance limits provided to a driver, we have to look above that to see if Uber has additional insurance.

If a person has low PIP benefits or lower limits of PIP benefits in their car insurance policy in New Jersey, a person’s car insurance will only pay up to that limit. So, for example, a person is severely injured in a car accident and needs to have surgery 90 to 120 days after the accident. The person only has $15,000 of personal injury protection benefit. The car insurance company is going to pay up to the $15,000 and cease paying. So when the person needs a surgery, 90 to 120 days out person has to look at his or her health insurance or find financing for the surgery. If the person doesn’t have health insurance or a letter of protection, meaning the doctor will get paid out of any money that is recovered in the lawsuit. So if a person has limited PIP benefits, it really could hurt them in the lawsuit, meaning they’ll have to pay the doctor back more money or they may have to pay back their health insurance down the line if there is a right of reimbursement.

When a person has lower limits of underinsured motorist coverage, which we call UIM in New Jersey, the person is restricted in his or her ability of going against his or her own insurance company for compensation for his or her injuries from the car accident when the other driver has a low policy under insured motorist coverage, meaning the other person doesn’t have enough coverage. And what a person is able to do when the other person doesn’t have enough coverage is you start with the amount you recovered from the driver who injured you and you can go from that limit up to the limits of your own policy and recover the difference versus $300,000 of underinsured motorist coverage. The other driver only has $100,000 of coverage and the injury is worth 4 to $450000. Recover from the defendant for $100,000. Then you go against your own insurance company for underinsured motorist coverage for the $200,000 additional coverage. In a situation where a person only has 35,000 or $50,000 of underinsured motorist coverage, you’re out of luck. You’re stuck with $100,000 from a drivers insurance company, even though your case is worth more and you’ve sustained severe and permanent injuries.

In New Jersey. We have lawsuits with people who have the limitation on lawsuit, and people have no limitation on lawsuits. It’s easier to explain the no limitation on lawsuit to no limitation on lawsuit, which used to be called the no threshold is when a person elects to have no limitation on their right to sue for pain and suffering. And in New Jersey, we do call it an election. You need to allow that limitation or no limitation. That’s part of the application process. So if you elect no limitation on lawsuit, you can sue for temporary and permanent injuries with no restrictions and no requirements other than presenting a doctor’s report to explain what your injuries are. So you’re not restricted in any way.If you’re injured and want to bring a claim or a lawsuit with a limitation on lawsuit in your insurance policy, and that’s the election to sue for pain and suffering, a person has to prove one of six injuries to sue for pain and suffering, to get compensated for the pain and suffering of the injuries, death, loss of a fetus, dismemberment, which means loss of a limb displaced fracture, meaning the fracture goes all the way through the bone, significant scarring or disfigurement, meaning someone can see it from five or ten feet away. And it’s obvious. And then number six is permanent injury. Many cases and it’s in most cases in the car accident world, often are tried in the permanent injury category where the insurance company for the defendant or the defense firm is saying the person does not meet the requirements of a permanent injury in New Jersey. What does a permanent injury mean in New Jersey under the limitation on lawsuit? Permanent injury is defined as an injury that has not healed and will not heal with future treatment. And a doctor has to say that. And a doctor has to show that the injury is permanent with objective medical evidence, MRI, X-ray, CAT scan, some other diagnostic test.