Uninsured or Underinsured At-Fault Drivers – Durham Accident Lawyer
Your personal automobile insurance may provide coverage should the at-fault driver have too little insurance coverage or no insurance coverage at all.
Generally, an at-fault driver is uninsured if:
- 1. The accident is classified as “hit and run;”
- 2. The at-fault driver is “unidentified;” or,
- 3. The driver illegally operating a vehicle without an active vehicle insurance liability policy.
“For purposes of an underinsured motorist claim asserted by a person injured in an accident…the total amount actually paid to that person under all bodily injury liability bonds and insurance policies applicable at the time of the accident is less than the applicable limits of underinsured motorists coverage for the vehicle involved in the accident and insured under the owner’s policy.” N.C. Gen. Stat. § 20-279.21(b)(4).
Simply put, the amount available in underinsurance is calculated by subtracting the at-fault driver’s exhausted insurance coverage amount from the amount of underinsured/uninsured coverage on your own, or any applicable, insurance policy. It is possible to collect underinsured motorist coverage from multiple policies, in which case coverage is equal to the combined the highest limit available on each policy. This is called “stacking”
Wallace Pierce Law regularly pursues complex injury claims where Identifying Insurance Coverage is essential.