Dirty Little Secret

Time after time I’ve heard it, but it’s still a secret to the general public. The purpose of my post today is to let everyone in on the secret. It’s about car insurance and car wreck cases. Yes, car insurance and car wreck cases. Sounds exciting doesn’t it? Insurance isn’t exciting until you need it or are injured in a car wreck.

In Alabama, if you own a vehicle, you are required to have liability insurance. See §32-7A-4, Code of Alabama (1975). The minimum coverage in Alabama is $25,000.00. Most people are aware because when you go to the courthouse to buy your tag, you are required to provide proof of insurance. That’s a good thing and most Alabamians have car insurance. We all pay insurance premiums for something. Your car, your house and on your life. The premiums pay for a team of lawyers to defend us if something goes wrong. Afterall, bad things happen to good people.

DIRTY LITTLE SECRET

So, here’s the dirty little secret: if you are injured in a car wreck and ultimately have to present your case to a jury, you (the injured person) are not allowed to let the jury know that the person responsible for injuring you has car insurance. Unfortunately, that’s the law in Alabama.

I have heard from other attorneys and even jurors that have tried car wreck cases, that the jury didn’t want to award the injured person any money for their injuries because they, the jurors, did not want to hurt the at fault person / defendant financially. Yep, it happens more than you might think. The odds are very, very high that the at fault party / defendant, who is sitting at the counsel table in the courtroom, is represented by a lawyer from the insurance company. The insurance company provides the lawyer, pays the lawyer and will pay the verdict, if one is rendered. That’s fine, but jurors aren’t allowed to know that information.

In order to give you some insight into the legal process, an injured person’s attorney does not like to pursue cases where there is no insurance coverage. Taking on an injury claim for a client is very expensive. Both sides require considerable expense (court cost, depositions, private investigators, expert witnesses, etc.). As such, it doesn’t make economic sense to pursue a claim if it is unlikely you will obtain a recovery for your client.

What’s the bottom line? If you find yourself sitting on a jury to hear a car wreck case and you see me (or any other lawyer) representing an injured person, be assured that the person who is sitting on the other side of the case, has insurance and their actions are covered under their liability insurance policy. Any verdict that you render will not come out of the pocket of the at fault person, but rather the insurance company’s pocket.

Well, now you know the dirty little secret.

All my best,

JOEY STEVENS