Personal Injury FAQs

Yes. Your insurer defends and pays up to the limit, and any judgment above it can become your own responsibility, reachable against wages and assets depending on the circumstances. That exposure is the practical argument for carrying more than a market minimum, and an umbrella policy is the usual way people close the gap.

Their carrier can disclose the limits, and in a claim with serious injuries it usually will once treatment records are provided. Where disclosure is refused, the information becomes obtainable in litigation. Knowing the number early changes the whole strategy, because it determines whether the claim needs to reach your own uninsured motorist coverage.

That depends on what you have to protect, and it is a decision worth making with an agent rather than by default. What we can say from the claims side is that state minimum coverage is frequently exhausted by a single hospital stay, and that a driver whose limits fall short of the harm they caused can face personal exposure for the difference.

Yes. Whiplash, disc injuries, and other soft tissue harm are bodily injuries, and they are compensable. They are also the injuries carriers scrutinize hardest, because they rarely show on an X ray. Consistent treatment and clear documentation of how the injury limits you carry more weight here than in any other category.

Usually, though it depends on the policy language and on whether that person is listed, excluded, or had permission. Policies also differ on how they treat resident relatives. It is worth reading your actual declarations page rather than relying on what an agent said at signing.