Unfortunately, no. “Liability” in this context refers to your liability for another person’s damages if you cause an accident. So if the accident was your fault (or at least mostly your fault), your liability insurance would pay medical expenses and car repair costs for the people in the other car. It will not cover your own medical care expenses or property damage. (There are other types of insurance that cover these things, but unlike liability insurance, they are not required, so not everyone has them.) If the accident was the other driver’s fault, then their liability insurance should cover your costs in the same way.
If you’ve been in an accident and are struggling to get insurance coverage for your costs, you’re not alone. Insurance companies aren’t always eager to pay out claims, even when they should. They may make excuses why your claim isn’t covered, leaving you frustrated and wondering how to pay your bills. What you need is an experienced car accident lawyer to represent your interests and remind the insurance company of their obligations.
Attorney Ali Awad specializes in getting the insurance company to pay claims, and he founded the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm to help accident victims get what they’re due. It quickly grew to be one of the fastest-growing law firms in the country. When he’s not fighting for clients, Mr. Awad offers legal knowledge to more than one million followers on social media. If you have a stack of accident bills you can’t pay, please contact the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm for a free review of your case.
What Does Liability Insurance Cover?
Liability insurance covers two categories of damages: Bodily injury and property damage. The state minimum requirement is $25,000 in coverage for each, although larger policies are available. So if the driver who hit you was at least mostly responsible for your accident, their liability insurance should pay your claims up to the policy limit.
Bodily injury liability covers medical costs and other expenses related to your injuries. This includes in-patient and out-patient care, follow-up visits, physical or occupational therapy, prescriptions, and other treatment to help you get back on your feet. But it also covers travel expenses to see a doctor who isn’t in your neighborhood, mobility aids like a wheelchair or cane, exercise equipment needed for physical therapy practice you do at home, etc. Both mental and physical pain and suffering damages are also part of most bodily injury liability policies, as are damages for permanent disability or disfigurement.
Property damage liability is most often used for costs to repair a damaged vehicle. However, it can also cover damage to other personal property like a phone, laptop, or other expensive items that happened to be in the car with you when the crash took place. It may also cover your bicycle if you were hit while bike riding.
What Does “Mostly At Fault” Mean in a Car Accident Case?
This distinction is made under Georgia’s comparative negligence statutes, which allow for the possibility that some accidents are jointly caused by both drivers. Each driver can be assigned any percentage of the fault from 0 to 100 percent. In some cases, it may be 100 percent one driver’s responsibility. But in many other accidents, each party made at least one error that contributed to the crash.
Under the state’s comparative negligence laws, the party who is more than 50 percent at fault cannot collect damages from the second driver. This is what we mean by “mostly at fault.” The driver who was less than 50 percent at fault can collect damages, but these will be reduced by the percentage of fault they were given. As you can imagine, the less fault you take responsibility for, the better off you’ll be with your claim.
Not surprisingly, insurance adjusters and drivers often try to exploit this law by claiming you were mostly at fault. Sometimes they manage to convince people who had little or no responsibility in a crash that it was mostly on them. We’ve talked with people who were convinced they caused a collision when they only made a minor mistake that had little or no bearing on the eventual crash. Don’t let this happen to you. Speak to a car accident attorney before you talk to the insurance company.
What if the Other Driver Didn’t Have Liability Insurance?
The ideal answer is, “Your uninsured motorist coverage will take care of it.” However, if you don’t have uninsured motorist coverage, your options will be greatly reduced. Or, if you had severe injuries and extremely high medical bills with a minimum coverage uninsured motorist policy, your damages may be far more than your uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage (UM/UI).
If one of these situations is the case, we will look to see if you have MedPay or Collision coverage, as these may also kick in when the other driver’s liability insurance is lacking or nonexistent. MedPay takes care of your medical bills in an accident, regardless of fault. You can use it if you caused the accident, if you had a run-in with a deer or other animal, or if you were hit by an uninsured driver or a hit and run driver. Collision coverage will take care of your property damage in the same situations.
If you only have basic liability insurance with no UM/UI, MedPay, or Collision policies, you may be forced to pay for your healthcare and car repair bills. However, before you give up and accept this outcome, contact a personal injury lawyer for a review of your case. Sometimes they may be able to find other ways of securing compensation, such as suing a third party who may have contributed to the accident. In rare cases, it may be worthwhile to consider a lawsuit against the other driver, although in most situations, an uninsured driver won’t have enough assets for a lawsuit to recover any money. We always work to find every possible method of getting compensation for the client, so let us take a second look at your case.
Call the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm
For a free consultation about your car accident, please contact the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm. We work on a contingency basis, so if we take your case, you won’t owe us anything until we successfully conclude your case. Visit online to see how much your case is worth or call us at (470) 323-8779.
