When a Crash Is Catastrophic, Insurance Limits Become the Problem
In a catastrophic crash, the injuries are severe and the stakes are high. Surgeries, permanent scarring, long term disability, and months away from work can turn an accident into a life changing crisis. In these cases, the biggest danger is not just the injury itself. It is the reality that the available insurance may fall dramatically short of what the case is truly worth. Attorney Jobeth Bowers explains the pitfalls that show up when everything has already gone wrong and why your own policy often becomes the only real path to meaningful recovery.
The True Value of a Case and What You Can Actually Collect
A jury can award any amount it believes is fair based on the evidence. That is the theoretical value of a case. But the practical value is often controlled by insurance limits, because collecting money beyond those limits is rarely realistic.
Here is the scenario Attorney Jobeth Bowers uses to make this clear. Assume everyone agrees the case is worth one million dollars. There is no debate about fault or damages. If the at-fault driver only carries the Maryland minimum of thirty thousand dollars, the insurer will often offer that limit as soon as the severity is documented. Once the limit is offered, the insurance company has largely done its job. Its duty to protect its insured stops at the policy limit.
If the case goes to trial and the verdict is one million dollars, the insurance company still pays only thirty thousand dollars. The remaining nine hundred seventy thousand dollars becomes an excess judgment. And in most real-world situations, that excess judgment is never collected in full.
Why Excess Judgments Often Turn Into Nothing
When a person faces a judgment that large, bankruptcy becomes an obvious option. Someone with minimum insurance limits often does not have meaningful assets to pursue. Even if wage attachments or collection efforts are possible, the path is expensive, slow, and uncertain.
That is why Bowers Law runs due diligence and asset checks before deciding whether chasing money beyond the policy limit makes sense. In serious cases, this investigation can cost thousands of dollars, but it answers the most important question. Is there anything real to collect, or would a trial victory only create paper debt that disappears.
Sometimes a defendant can contribute money to settle before a verdict, but that is rare. It usually happens only when significant assets are discovered. Otherwise, the gamble is that the other driver suddenly acquires wealth during the lawsuit, and that is not a plan. That is a lottery ticket.
Enhanced Underinsured Coverage Is Built for These Worst Case Scenarios
This is why underinsured motorist coverage matters so much, especially enhanced underinsured motorist coverage. If you only carry the older style underinsured coverage, your recovery can still be capped in devastating ways.
Consider a slightly better at fault policy. The other driver has five hundred thousand dollars, but your case is still worth one million. If you have one hundred thousand dollars of underinsured coverage without enhanced stacking, you may be stuck at five hundred thousand total. But if you carry enhanced underinsured motorist coverage, you can stack your one hundred thousand on top of the five hundred thousand. That puts you at six hundred thousand. It is not the full value of the case, but it is a major improvement.
The point is not that catastrophic crashes are common. The point is that when they happen, the financial damage is so large that being underinsured becomes a second disaster.
What Coverage Levels Make Sense for Homeowners
Attorney Jobeth Bowers recommends that homeowners seriously consider higher limits, both for liability and underinsured motorist coverage. Home values have risen, and long term loss of income after a serious injury can put a mortgage at risk.
A practical benchmark is to look at what it would take to pay off the home if you could not work for a long time. Your underinsured motorist coverage should at least match that number, and often more. The surprising part is that raising coverage limits is often not as expensive as people assume. The jump from one hundred thousand to two hundred fifty thousand can be a relatively small increase because most claims fall below one hundred thousand.
Get a Free Policy Review Before You Need to Use It
If you have not reviewed your auto policy recently, now is the time. Bowers Law offers free policy reviews with no pressure and no sales pitch. The goal is to help you understand your options, what to ask your agent, and what changes could protect you in a worst case scenario.
You can always buy more coverage before an accident. You cannot buy it after. If you want a second set of eyes on your policy, reach out and get clarity now, while you still have the power to change the outcome.
The post The Value Of Catastrophic Injuries: What Could Go Wrong When Everything Has Gone Wrong. first appeared on Bowers Law.
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