Procrastinators of the world unite!!!
…and take comfort in this post.
This incident just happened to us today at the office.
A client was on Route 28 coming into Pittsburgh when another car swerved into her lane of traffic and sideswiped there.
Pretty clear it was the other person’s fault.
So far so good. Mostly the injuries were soft tissue in nature.
Back and neck complaints.
My client went to the emergency room and her family doctor and most likely will follow up with physical therapy to get better.
The client should be entitled to make a claim for her pain and suffering due to the negligence of the driver who sideswiped her right?
No one will ever get to retire on the claim but there is value to it.
Now here is the rub.
It’s in the tort option the client selected.
As you know, in Pennsylvania you have a choice of selecting either the full tort or limited tort option on your auto Insurance policy.
The full tort gives you the right to sue for soft tissue injuries caused by someone else.
Like we have here.
The limited tort option on the other hand limits or voids your right to sue for soft tissue injuries.
Some exceptions but none that apply here.
When you pick the limited tort option, you pay a lower premium.
That is the major advantage to that option.
So at this point it wasn’t looking good for our client’s ability to make a claim.
However…
And this is where the drum roll comes in for procrastination….
It turns out, the client had just purchased the policy a week before the accident and had never sent in the signed limited tort option for coverage.
The law in Pennsylvania is that if the insurance company does not have a signed tort option saying the client wants the limited option then she is automatically considered to be full tort.
It turns out the client had her hands full as a single mom with 3 little children.
She never sent in to her insurance company the signed tort option required in Pennsylvania.
So even though the insurance company is going to balk at this and say your client told us she wanted the limited tort option, they do not have the one piece of paper necessary to make their case.
Namely the clients signature on the tort option page.
lol.
Sometimes Pittsburgh wrongful death car accident and tort option attorney Bernie Tully believes it is better to be lucky than good.
thanks for reading.
BERNIE the attorney.