One of our first priorities in a personal injury claim is determining the source and extent of insurance coverage.  In many cases, the negligent driver who caused the crash will have insurance to compensate the injured victims.

However, it’s not always that straight forward.  The biggest problem we run into is that the negligent driver does not have enough liability insurance.  In Vermont, the minimum insurance coverage that driver must carry is $25,000.  23 V.S.A. § 800(a).  Even worse is when the driver does not have any insurance coverage.

So what then? The most frequent source of additional coverage is under the injured person’s own auto policy.  Vermont law requires that auto insurance policies issued in this state provide uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage in a minimum amount of $50,000.  23 V.S.A. § 941.

In some cases we looked to multiple policies of underinsured motorist coverage and “stack” the coverage when necessary.  There’s also situations where we may find coverage under a business policy or an employer policy depending on how and where the injury occurred.

At Bergeron, Paradis & Fitzpatrick we have been helping injured Vermonters obtain compensation for their personal injuries for over 30 years.