There are many insurance issues that will arise in a New Mexico personal injury or wrongful death case. These issues are both critical and complex.
Because recovery for your injuries and damages will typically ride on insurance coverage issues, it is important to understand them. It is critically important to identify all insurance that is available for coverage of your claims.
The Albuquerque Attorneys of Collins & Collins, P.C. have significant experience with insurance issues and can guide your through these difficult issues.
Policy Limits Vary Depending on the Type of Accident
The issue of insurance policy limits will come up early in almost every personal injury case in New Mexico. Policy limits are the level of insurance coverage available to cover an injured person’s injuries and other damages.
Policy limits will vary depending upon numerous factors. These include the type of incident or accident. For instance, auto insurance limits will often differ significantly from truck accident coverage. These in turn will differ significantly from medical malpractice coverage, homeowner’s insurance, business premises coverage, corporate liability coverage, personal liability umbrella coverage, and so on.
Policy Limits Vary Depending on the Type of Defendant
The policy limits on insurance coverage is a factor wealth. Higher wealth individuals, companies and institutions have greater resources to purchase protection.
In addition, policy limits are a factor of risks. In case of high wealth individuals, companies or other institutions, the risks of loss are great. In the case of those with little wealth and no assets, there is little risks since they have little to nothing to lose in case of a lawsuit.
In short, the available policy limits will depend chiefly on the wealth of the defendant. Policy limits will closely reflect the wealth and assets of the covered individual or entity.
Individual Defendants
New Mexico is a relatively poor state. The great majority of its citizens lack sufficient personal assets to cover significant liability for personal injury lawsuits.
Most personal injury suits will involve an individual defendant. There are many cases where the negligent defendant will have ample coverage. More common, there will be little to no coverage available.
It is important to identify as quickly as possible which type of situation you are dealing with. In the case of little or no coverage, you will be looking to your own coverage for recovery on your injuries and other damages.
Corporate and Institutional Defendants
Companies and institutions often carry significant levels of insurance. This reflects the fact that these companies can afford it and need it.
However, even here, the policy limits will vary significantly depending upon the company, the type of business or industry, and the types of injuries. In some cases, there may even be legally required policy limits. In others, there may be liability caps so that only minimum levels of coverage are carried.
Keep in mind that claims against companies will cover a vast array of accidents and each will have different types of coverage and associated policy limits. A company may have coverage for its vehicles, business premises, equipment, employee negligence, institutional negligence and many other types of coverage.
In short, the policy limits will depend on the particular company, the type of accident, where the accident occurred, who was involved, and many other factors. It is important to understand these variables and how each will affect policy limits and coverage for your injuries.
An Attorney Can Help
Insurance overage issues will be extremely important in the evaluation of your claims. Keep in mind that the insurance company does not have to tell you the policy limits on each policy. However, you do have a right to know if there was coverage.
An personal injury attorney experienced in insurance issues will be able to guide you through these determinations. Although it may not be possible to tell with certainly what the policy limits are on each policy, an experienced attorney will be able to identify every possible insurance policy.
Once the policies are all identified, the attorney should be able to give you a pretty good idea of whether there will be ample coverage for all of your losses.