Uninsured motorist claims are claims where you have bought insurance and you’re making a claim against your own policy because the other guy doesn’t have insurance: exactly what the term says “uninsured motorist”.
“I was hit by a motorist in a car that had no insurance”, that’s what it is. And you buy that insurance on top of your PIP and property damage to ensure that you’re covered.
The problem is the insurance company, your insurance company, puts the hat of the defended driver on. So they start making arguments, “Well, he’s not hurt that bad”, “His bills are exorbitant”, “I don’t think they’re related”, “He had a prior accident”, “What about his football injury?”
All of a sudden, your insurance company that’s all lovey-dovey with you, and they say, “Oh just send our bills to the PIP”, turns into the other side and says, “We’re not paying.”
We actually go to trial against those and they’re good trials because the insurance adjuster is sitting at the other table and the argument to the jury is, “My client paid for insurance that they don’t want to pay.”
And that’s why it’s adversarial, but those are probably the most attractive claims because everybody’s paid into insurance and then when it comes time to pay that homeowners’ claim, they don’t pay it.
Same with the uninsured auto case, “I’ve been paying this stuff for seven years, and now I finally get hurt and you don’t pay it.”
That’s when you need a lawyer to clear that up.
