California Personal Injury and Insurance Blog

Multiple Policies on 1 Car

This has come up a few times lately in my personal injury cases so I thought I would discuss it with you. Here is the scenario: Bob is driving his Aunt Sally's car. Bob is 25 and has an insurance policy. Sally is 43 and has an insurance policy as well. If Bob rear ends Paul, which policy pays for Paul's personal injury damages?

This is an interesting question and one which doesn't have an easy answer. (And one which most attorneys do not know the answer to!) The first answer is to read the policy. Most policies will have a provision explaining what happens when there is more than 1 policy in effect. The options are simple:

1. A policy may say that it is primary. This policy will pay first up to the policy limit.
2. A policy may say that it is excess. This policy will pay only after the other policy pays.
3. A policy may say that it shares on a pro-rata basis. This means that each policy pays based on its share of the limits. A few examples:

A. If each policy has a $100,000 policy limit, than each policy pays 50% of the claim.
B. If Bob's policy is $50,000 and Sally's policy is $100,000, then Bob's policy pays 1/3 of the claim and Sally's policy pays 2/3 of the claim.
C. If Bob's policy is $300,000 and Sally's policy is $100,000, then Bob's policy pays 75% and Sally's policy pays 25%.

When you are driving a friend's car, or a friend is driving your car, is pays to see which policy is going to pay for the damages if someone is involved in an accident.

Slightly Off Topic - A&W Root Beer

Why am I writing about A&W Root Beer? Because we are in a recession. And the government isn't doing us much to get out of the recession. So, A&W is trying to do something this weekend. I thought I would mix it up a bit today.

Today, in my mail, I had an overnight package. It came from A&W. Yes, that A&W. Apparently, A&W knows about my blog, which you can find here! And so they sent me a letter and some "stuff." The stuff first:

1. An A&W 90th Anniversary T-shirt;
2. An A&W 90th Anniversary Mug; and
3. An A&W 90th Anniversary Book.

The t-shirt is brown. I understand brown is the new black. And a free mug? This isn't one of those cheap plastic mugs. This is a good glass mug that is good for drinking a cold root beer! And the book is a real book. Quite cool. For instance, I learned that A&W was started just down the freeway in Lodi, CA.

Back on track: A&W wanted me to spread the word. What word? Three cool things:

1. Friday, June 19 from 2 to 8pm you can get a free A&W Root Beer Float.
2. Saturday, June 20, a national cruise night at participating restaurants. Okay, if I had a classic car that would be sweet!
3. Sunday, June 21 is Fathers Day and you can treat your dad to an A&W Papa Burger for 90 cents.

WOO HOO! I will be getting my root beer float tomorrow!

Why am I writing about A&W Root Beer? Because we are in a recession. And the government isn't doing us much to get out of the recession. So, A&W is trying to do something this weekend. I thought I would mix it up a bit today.

Today, in my mail, I had an overnight package. It came from A&W. Yes, that A&W. Apparently, A&W knows about my blog, which you can find here! And so they sent me a letter and some "stuff." The stuff first:

1. An A&W 90th Anniversary T-shirt;
2. An A&W 90th Anniversary Mug; and
3. An A&W 90th Anniversary Book.

The t-shirt is brown. I understand brown is the new black. And a free mug? This isn't one of those cheap plastic mugs. This is a good glass mug that is good for drinking a cold root beer! And the book is a real book. Quite cool. For instance, I learned that A&W was started just down the freeway in Lodi, CA.

Back on track: A&W wanted me to spread the word. What word? Three cool things:

1. Friday, June 19 from 2 to 8pm you can get a free A&W Root Beer Float.
2. Saturday, June 20, a national cruise night at participating restaurants. Okay, if I had a classic car that would be sweet!
3. Sunday, June 21 is Fathers Day and you can treat your dad to an A&W Papa Burger for 90 cents.

WOO HOO! I will be getting my root beer float tomorrow!

Driving Pet Peeves

Okay, I found this in my newspaper this morning and had to share it. Tony Bizjak, the "Back Seat Driver," presents his list of top 10 pet peeves.  The #1 pet peeve - people who use their cell phone without a hands free unit.

I would come up with my own list, but Tony is right. Tailgating, cutting people off, running red lights, are all on my list too. Oh, and people who do not pay attention. I don't understand that. I saw three accidents in the last 4 days when people rear ended the car in front of them, who was stopped for several minutes. It was just a case of not paying attention.

Read Tony's column and let me know your top pet peeves.

Police reports are not evidence

This is a topic that comes up often. In fact, I hear it not just from clients, but also from many insurance adjusters. They tell me that the police report is admissible evidence that my client did something wrong.

The simple fact is that the police report itself is not evidence. A jury will never see the police report. The jury can hear about the investigation. The jury can hear what the police officer saw or heard. But the jury will never see the report or hear the officer's conclusions.

Why? First, the police report is hearsay. It is an out of court statement. It is not admissible for that reason. But, beyond that, the California Evidence Code specifically excludes the police report. Therefore, the report never makes it to the jury and the jury never hears what the officer determined.

The question of fault is a question for the jury to decide. So, while important, the police report is not the final determination of who caused an accident.

The value of a good lawyer

Some people think a good attorney can just increase the value of your case. And he or she can, as I will discuss. But, before we get there, a good attorney can help you avoid wasting your time.

Case in point: attorney asks me today if his client can pursue a claim against his insurance company when the client was at fault for the accident. The answer, as every driver's ed student at Franklin High knows, is no. Uninsured motorist coverage only protects you if the at fault driver has no insurance. There is no insurance to pay you if you cause an accident.

But, this attorney was actually pursuing this claim. How much time and energy were wasted on a case that never had value? Too much.

In addition to avoiding wasting your time, a good attorney will get you more for your case. Insurance companies do not want to talk about it. But, their own reports show that an attorney can get you 30 to 70% more, on average, then you can get on your own.

How do you hire the right attorney? Besides reading my blog, you can get my free report by emailing me at hiringatty@jonathangstein.com to learn how to hire the right attorney and how that can get you everything you are entitled to after an accident.

Auto Insurance Zip Codes Matter

No, not for rating reasons. At least, not this time. When you complete your insurance application, you have to list the zip code where the vehicle will be garaged. This is information the insurance company uses.

When you move, you need to let the insurance company know. This may be a temporary move. For example, maybe you move for college. Or, your child goes off to college. You need to let the insurance company know. Maybe it is a permanent move and you have a PO Box for your mailing, but you move from zip code 12345 to 12346. It may not seem like much, but it is important.

What happens if you do not notify the insurer of your move? Your claim could be denied. The insurance company will consider it a "material misrepresentation." This means they can deny your claim and even cancel your policy.

Make sure you give the insurance company this information as the potential downside outweighs the amount of time it will take to give it to them.

UNUM Found Guilty of Fraud

This just came across my desk:

"A Boston jury has found that Unum(NYSE: UNM), the nation's largest disability provider, defrauded the UnitedStates by forcing its customers to submit false claims for disabilitybenefits to the Social Security Administration (SSA), when Unum knew that they were not eligible for government benefits.

By engaging in this fraudulent conduct, Unum imposed substantial burdens on an already overwhelmed Social Security program and caused the taxpayers of the United States to spend money to process and deny these false claims."

It has been common knowledge in the insurance industry, and the plaintiff's bar, that UNUM wasn't always playing by the rules. But this takes it to a new level. If you have a UNUM policy, you may want to look somewhere else for disability coverage.

AIG - At It aGain

AIG should have a new name - At It aGain. (Sorry, I had to take a  little creative license to make it work.) AIG just got bailed out from the government. So, what do they do? Spend over $200,000 on hotels and a spa retreat.

I do not know how you live, but my guess is that $200,000 is a lot of money to most of my readers. Heck, it is a lot of money to most of the people in the country. I could take $200,000 and do plenty of things with it. Yet, for some reason, AIG takes a bailout and then does not apologize for using it this way. Unreal.

Folks, not like you don't have enough reasons to switch from AIG to another insurance company. Fiscal irresponsibility is one more.

Road Safety Measures

Tony Bizjak of the Sacramento Bee had an article in yesterdays paper about road safety measures. Some of the ideas are counter-intuitive but work. These ideas include removing safety devices like stop signs.

Tony writes: "Danger lurks on the road, for sure; but it may not be where we think it is.

Stop signs, for instance, can lead to bad crashes. But a curvy, cliff-side road with no guardrails may have few mishaps.

Why is that? Buckle up as we take an insider's look at road dangers, inspired by author Tom Vanderbilt's new book 'Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us).'

The True Danger Zone

This is no surprise: Intersections are crash magnets. Half of all crashes happen there, including one of the deadliest – the broadside.

How do you cut crashes at intersections? Stop signs and traffic signals are the all-American way.

But they're not a guaranteed defense. Plenty of drivers simply don't obey them.

Most of us assume a green light makes it safe to go through an intersection. So we fail to look both ways before entering. It can be a fatal mistake."

For the rest of the ideas from Tony, go read his article. (By the way, I highly recommend reading Tony every week in the Bee!)

Five Truths About Driving

Since he is such a better writer than me (hence he gets paid for it and I don't), I am going to paste Tony Bizjak's article from the Sacramento Bee today:

Today, we unveil five "truths" you should know about driving.*

(*Which you may refuse to believe.)

Our inspiration is the new book "Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)."

We talked last week with author Tom Vanderbilt. He's like The Bee's Back-seat Driver, only smarter.

Truth No. 1: We're not as good a driver as we think we are.

Vanderbilt thinks it's a bit funny and a bit sad that in every survey most drivers say they are above average.

But, technically, only half of us can be above average. That means plenty are poor drivers and don't know it.

Why? We're good at ignoring clues: If we get a ticket, it's because the police obviously are trying to make a quota. If our passenger yells "look out," he's just a nervous Nellie. If a driver honks at us, he's an incompetent who can't handle the road.

Truth No. 2: We are not so nice when we're in our cars.

Cars dehumanize us. Consider: Would we cut in the supermarket line if we see someone not close enough to the person ahead? Would we mouth "Watch it, knucklehead" to a guy who brushes by us to find a seat in our row at the movie theater?

In our cars, we look at other people's rear ends a lot, not their eyes. We can't bond, or even communicate. Because we probably will never see them again, there is no payback for being nice. We even decide things about them based on the vehicle they drive. SUV driver? Self-centered egotist. Prius driver? Self-righteous do-gooder.

Truth No. 3: You're not in a traffic jam; you are the traffic jam.

Vanderbilt doesn't believe traffic jams are our fault. But the way we drive in traffic – braking, speeding, tailgating, switching lanes, refusing to signal and basically doing whatever works best for us at the moment – makes traffic worse. That leads to the next truth.

Truth No. 4: The other lane isn't really going faster.

It just looks that way because we focus more on the cars passing us than on the cars we pass. In congestion, lanes move individually like accordions, spreading out and speeding up, then scrunching up and slowing down. By jumping lanes, we don't get where we are going much faster, but we make the accordion worse for drivers behind us.

Truth No. 5: Traffic flows like … rice! (So slow down, you may get there faster.)

If you pour rice too fast into a funnel, grains clog up and come out slowly. But if you pour the rice slowly, the grains actually get through the funnel faster. There's less bunching up. That is the reasoning behind freeway ramp metering. If you sequence vehicles coming onto freeways, the overall traffic speed is improved.

You still with us? There's plenty more in Vanderbilt's book. Next week, traffic willing, we'll offer five counterintuitive truths about road dangers, including why it may be good to get into a (small) crash."

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I highly recommend you read Tony weekly in the Bee.