Category Archives: Insurance Coverage

If a chicken is injured crossing the road to change a tire, does insurance cover it?

Insurance policies typically provide coverage for injuries “arising out of” the “use” of a covered vehicle. This obviously means driving a car, but what if you are not driving? What if someone hits you while you are changing your tire, or while out of your car exchanging information with another driver? This varies a lot […]

Insurance Company Seeks to Avoid Mandatory Arbitration

A woman was rear-ended by another driver. The other driver’s insurance paid policy limits, but this was not enough to cover the personal injury claim. She then sued her own insurance company under her underinsured motorist coverage. Her insurance company moved to set the case for a jury trial, and not first to Mandatory Arbitration. […]

Unpunished Good Deed – Insurance Coverage When Someone Else Lies

Perla was driving with Mirtha as her passenger when they got into a two-car collision. Both were injured. Perla and the other driver exchanged information. Perla lied to her insurance company, Allsate, and told them that she did not know the identity of the other driver, and that he had left the scene. Just before […]

Insurance Company Allowed an Offset for Amount Already Paid

An underinsured motorist (UIM) caused an injury-accident. The injured woman was a passenger in the other vehicle. Her driver had Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage on his auto insurance policy. That company paid the woman’s medical bills under the PIP coverage. She later made a UIM claim against her driver’s policy. The insurance company asked […]

Court Denies Injury Victim Attorney Fees

Our law firm was not involved in the lawsuit described in this article. Generally each side in a lawsuit must its own attorney fees unless there is fee shifting by contract or a legal exception. Under some circumstances an insurance company may have to pay part of an injury victim’s attorney fees and legal expenses. […]

Court Rules Insurace Policy Covers Diminished Value to Vehicle

Our law firm took no part in this decision. After the plaintiff’s vehicle sustained damage in a collision his insurance carrier paid the full cost of repairs, less a deductible. The plaintiff claimed that the policy covered loss for the diminished value of his vehicle, but his insurance company disagreed. The plaintiff filed a class […]

Court Rejects Claim for Reimbursement of Deductible

Our law firm was not involved in this case. In a recent opinion the Washington Court of Appeals rejected the argument that an insured should be reimbursed for its deductible when the insurance company collects from the at fault party.[1]

Mahler Reduction

Mahler is an important Washington State Supreme Court case concerning subrogation and attorney fees. Normally an injury victim who recovers damages must reimburse their own insurance company for benefits the insurance company paid that are related to the injury, such as medical expenses, or other damages caused by the at fault party. However, it is […]

Subrogation and the Made Whole Rule

Insurance carriers typically have the right to be reimbursed under the insurance company’s right of subrogation when their insured recovers from an at fault party. In Washington the injury victim must first be made whole before the injured person’s insurance company is entitled to be reimbursed. [1] This means that if an injury victim recovers […]