Full $500,000 Policy Awarded

After a driver ignored a stop sign in the Orange County hamlet of Deerpark, the car crashed into the passenger side our client’s car. While there was not a huge amount of property damage to the outside of our client’s car, he was bounced around inside the compartment of his car causing more damage to his already injured low back. Unfortunately, a few years earlier our client had another car crash that injured his low back and those injuries required two surgeries to his lumbar spine. This crash aggravated those injuries and caused a new injury to his shoulder. Fortunately, our client purchased $500,000 Underinsurance as part of his car insurance policy. This enabled him to pursue up to $500,000 from his own insurance if the car that caused the crash had less insurance than him. That is exactly what happened. The insurance on the car that blew the stop sign only had $100,000 of insurance. After collecting the full $100,000, we pursued the $400,000 available from our clients own insurance company. Even though he paid his premiums on time and had valid coverage, the insurance company refused to offer anything. According to the insurance contract we had to pursue an arbitration. Trial Partner Nancy Morgan presented a strong case to the arbitrator. An award of $500,000 was made and we were able to collect the additional $400,000 for our client. Managing Attorney David Gross initially worked on the case and made all the necessary filings enabling us to pursue the additional benefits.