When an At-Fault Driver is Uninsured or Underinsured in NYC

All drivers in NYC must carry auto insurance in case of an accident. However, the law does not stop some people from driving without insurance or not having enough insurance to cover a victim’s losses.

If an at-fault driver hits you but is uninsured or underinsured, it might not be as big a problem as it seems initially. New York is one of the few states that use “no-fault” insurance rules, so your own insurance is designed to cover certain damages from a car accident. If your coverage was enough to pay for your medical expenses and other damages, you will likely not even need to consider the other driver’s insurance or lack thereof. Still, car accidents tend to result in damages your insurance will not cover, like pain and suffering. If the other driver does not have insurance, you might be able to file a lawsuit instead, but only if you suffered “serious” injuries in the collision.

Get a free, private case evaluation from our NYC car accident lawyers at The Carrion Law Firm by calling (718) 841-0083.

How Do I Recover Compensation from an At-Fault Driver Who is Uninsured or Underinsured in NYC?

The last thing you want to hear from an at-fault driver after a crash is that they do not have insurance. Fortunately, New York is a no-fault insurance state, so the fact that the other driver does not have insurance might not even be an issue. Under a no-fault system, known as “personal injury protection” (PIP) coverage, injured parties turn to their own insurance provider for compensation. While this mitigates some of the problems, you can still be impacted by a driver’s lack of insurance. Our Long Island car accident lawyers can explain the limitations of this system and how to pursue compensation from a driver without insurance or who has too little insurance to cover all your damages.

Personal Injury Protection Insurance

PIP insurance is designed to cover some of your losses after a car accident without having to prove who was at fault or how they were negligent. Every insured driver in NYC must carry a minimum of $50,000, but you can purchase policies with higher limits for additional coverage. Your PIP coverage will initially compensate you for reasonable and necessary medical and rehabilitation expenses, so the at-fault driver not having insurance will not be an issue just yet.

PIP also covers your lost income, but only 80% of it. Further, you can only get up to $2,000 a month for your lost earnings for a maximum of three years, which might be well below what you would have earned had you been able to work after the crash. PIP will also only cover up to $25 a day for other expenses related to the accident, like transportation costs to and from medical treatment, which most NYC residents know does not cut it when commuting in the city.

Perhaps most importantly, PIP will not compensate for any non-economic damages, which you likely know as “pain and suffering.”

Uninsured and Underinsured Insurance

Since PIP is designed not to cover all your losses, you will need additional coverage to fill the gap if the other driver is uninsured. New York also requires drivers to carry coverage for uninsured motorists in their policy for this situation or when injured in a hit-and-run accident. You can also purchase underinsured motorists coverage if the other driver is insured but cannot cover all your losses under their limits. However, this coverage only compensates you for bodily injuries from the accident. It does not cover property damage from the crash.

If this is sufficient to cover your damages, filing a claim against the other driver might be unnecessary, making the lack of insurance moot. But if you still have economic losses or want to recover compensation for pain and suffering or property damage, you must file against the driver directly.

Claims Against At-Fault Drivers

The trade-off for quick access to compensation from your insurance is that you cannot file a third-party insurance claim or lawsuit against the at-fault driver unless you overcome the “serious injury” threshold under I.S.C. Law § 5102(d).

Serious injuries include death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement, fractures, miscarriage, permanent loss, permanent consequential limitation, or significant limitation of use of a body organ, function, or system, and A medically diagnosed injury or impairment of a non-permanent nature that prevents you from performing most of your usual daily activities for at least 90 days within the 180 days immediately following the occurrence of the injury or impairment.

You can file a claim against the at-fault driver if your injuries meet this threshold. However, you can go directly to filing a lawsuit against them since the driver does not have insurance to make a third-party claim.

Generally speaking, you can pursue all the damages stemming from a car accident in your lawsuit, including economic and non-economic damages. If you were only claiming property damage from the accident, you could see if the at-fault driver has property liability insurance but can file a property damage lawsuit even if you cannot file a lawsuit for personal injuries.

However, getting your case into court is only half the battle. The other side is determining whether the at-fault driver has the economic means to pay your damages. Even if you win your lawsuit and the court orders the other driver to pay the damages requested, you cannot recover money from a completely broke defendant. This is known as being “judgment proof.”

That does not mean holding them accountable in a lawsuit is not worth it. While they might be judgment-proof when the order is made, that might not always be true. Judgments are typically effective for a few years, so if the driver comes into some money, you can file a claim to have the judgment enforced.

Call Our Car Accident Attorneys in NYC Today for Help Getting the Compensation You Deserve

For a free case review with our Brooklyn car accident lawyers, call The Carrion Law Firm today at (718) 841-0083.