Motor Vehicle Accidents Category Archives — Raleigh Injury Lawyer Blog Published by Raleigh Injury Attorney — Law Office of Michael D. Maurer, P.A.
Car accidents often involve multiple auto insurance policies, which can lead to confusion and headaches for injury victims. It’s also important to remember that insurance companies are for-profit entities who don’t always have the best interests of injured persons in mind. At Maurer Law, our dedicated team of North Carolina personal injury lawyers has aided numerous residents in interpreting insurance policies and ensuring that they receive the full amount of compensation that they are owed.
Recently, the North Carolina appellate court considered whether a trial court committed a reversible error by crediting payments made to the plaintiff under his own insurer’s underinsured motorist coverage against the judgment that the plaintiff obtained from the other driver in a civil suit. At the time of the accident, the plaintiff had an insurance policy that provided an underinsured motor vehicle coverage up to $250,000 per person. The defendant had an insurance policy that provided a personal liability limit of $100,000 per person.
The case proceeded to trial and the jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff finding the defendant negligent and awarding the plaintiff $263,000 in compensation. A few months later, the plaintiff’s insurance company sent him a check for $145,000 which it claimed represented the amount of underinsured motorist coverage that the plaintiff was owed under the policy. The defendant filed a motion asking the court to determine the amount of set-off that should be credited against the jury award based on the payment as well as other payments that the plaintiff received, including $3,000 from the defendant’s insurer as well as $30,000 from the settlement of a medical negligence claim the plaintiff asserted against the medical professionals who treated him following the accident.
The legal process includes many different rules that govern substantive aspects of your claim, like which evidence the other party can present and procedural aspects of your claim such as when you can seek an appeal. These rules can be complicated and it can be difficult to know whether you are proceeding in the right manner. This is why having a seasoned North Carolina personal injury lawyer can make all the difference when it comes to securing the compensation that you deserve.
In a recent appeal, the court discussed when a party can seek an interlocutory appeal. The plaintiff was operating a city bus when the vehicle was struck from behind by a regular passenger car. The plaintiff suffered injuries and filed a claim against the driver of the vehicle alleging negligence. The matter proceeded to discovery, which is the phase of litigation where the parties seek information from one another about the claim.
During discovery, the defendant filed a motion to compel seeking an order that would require the plaintiff to provide more robust answers to the defendant’s discovery requests. The court granted this order and compelled the plaintiff to provide more information about her physicians before the accident and her post-accident injuries and mental disabilities. She was also compelled to produce more information about her wage and hours worked following the crash.
Insurance policies play a big role in most car accident cases. Knowing your rights under an insurance policy and ensuring that an insurance company treats you fairly can be incredibly difficult, especially if you are dealing with severe and painful injuries as well as major disruptions in your everyday life. At Maurer Law, we proudly provide North Carolina car accident victims with compassionate and dedicated legal counsel in a wide variety of motor vehicle accident claims.
In a recent appeal, the North Carolina appellate court considered whether a plaintiff was properly an insured person for the purpose of an at-fault driver’s insurance policy following a collision. The plaintiff was an employee of a construction company when he was hit by a car while helping his co-worker back a truck and trailer onto the highway.
The plaintiff received workers’ compensation benefits for his injuries through the defendant insurer, which provided a workers’ compensation policy to the construction employer. The insurer also provided a business auto coverage policy to the construction employer with a million dollar limit for uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. This policy provided a hierarchy indicating when an accident victim is entitled to uninsured/underinsured benefits where multiple policies are involved. The plaintiff had a personal auto policy that provided $250,000 in underinsured motorist coverage.
Knowing when and how to file an appeal after a ruling in a case is a critical step to preserving your rights. If you do not comply with the appeal procedures, you will lose your right to appeal. There are many different ways and times during the proceedings that you can file an appeal. As knowledgeable North Carolina personal injury lawyers, we have handled numerous trials on behalf of injured residents and understand how to help you protect your rights.
In a recent appellate opinion, the court considered whether the plaintiff properly appealed from a partial summary judgment order dismissing her claims against two defendants in a wrongful death action that she asserted after her husband was killed in a car crash. The crash happened when a dealership allowed a relative of a vehicle buyer to take the newly purchased vehicle from a dealership lot. The relative crashed it into the back of the decedent’s vehicle, pushing him into oncoming traffic. The decedent’s wife brought a wrongful death claim against the vehicle buyer, the relative, and the dealership. All defendants brought motions for summary judgment and the trial court granted the dealership’s motion. The plaintiff appealed this ruling while her claims against the vehicle buyer and the relative remained.
Because the plaintiff still had pending claims against other parties in the lawsuit, the appeal was classified as an appeal from an interlocutory order, which means the order only resolved some of the claims in the action and not the entire action as a whole. In most situations, there is no immediate right to an appeal from interlocutory orders. In seeking her appeal, however, the plaintiff failed to comply with N.C. Gen. Stat Section 1A-1, Rule 54(b), which requires a trial court’s certification that an order is appropriate for immediate appellate review.
We trust school buses and other transportation systems to get our children safely from one place to another. When school administrators and drivers fail to use due care, a serious accident can result. There are special rules that apply to when a public entity can be sued in a tort action, making it critical to seek guidance from a seasoned Raleigh bus accident lawyer. In a recent appellate opinion, the court considered whether the plaintiff could bring a lawsuit for the alleged negligence of a school board employee in operating an activity bus that was transporting students to an extracurricular event. The accident happened in 2011 when the plaintiff was hit by the bus while it was on its way to a football game. The plaintiff contended that the driver of the bus was negligent at the time of the accident and that she was entitled to compensation as a result.
The plaintiff filed a claim with the North Carolina Industrial Commission pursuant to the Tort Claims Act. This statute provides a limited waiver for local government immunity by allowing lawsuits against boards of education for the negligent operation of school buses and school transportation service vehicles if the plaintiff is able to show that certain criteria are met. The Commission is the body vested with jurisdiction to hear these claims.
The Commission initially granted the defendant’s motion for summary judgment on the basis that the plaintiff did not show that his claim fell within the bounds of the limited waiver statutory provision. The plaintiff appealed, and the reviewing court reversed. The defendant filed a petition for discretionary review, which the responding court granted. The defendant asserted that the statutory provision did not allow the plaintiff to bring a claim based on the limited waiver provision because the statute does not cover accidents involving school activity buses. The plaintiff argued that a school activity bus falls within the ambit of the types of buses listed in the statute.
One of the most complicated aspects of any personal injury accident is dealing with insurance companies and determining the scope of any coverage involved. At Maurer Law, we have substantial experience as North Carolina car accident lawyers, ensuring that insurance companies treat our clients fairly and provide them with the benefits promised in the policy.
In a recent North Carolina appellate opinion, the court considered the application of an insurance policy in a car accident. The parties were two women injured in a car accident who required medical treatment for their injuries. The first woman was a passenger in the vehicle owned by the other woman. At the time of the accident, the at-fault motorist crossed the center line and collided with the driver’s vehicle. Immediately after the crash, a third vehicle struck the injured parties’ vehicle.
The injured driver asserted that she incurred $58,000 in medical expenses, while the passenger stated that she incurred $104,000. The first defendant had an insurance policy through GMAC with limits of $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident. The second defendant who was the driver of the third car to strike the injured women’s vehicle had a policy through All state that provided limits of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident. He also had a policy through Mercury with a limit of $250,000 per person. The first defendant’s insurer, GMAC, tendered the policy limits, which were split up among other parties involved in the accident, including the injured women.