Truckers On The Offensive #021 - How Plaintiff Attorneys Can Exploit Your Policies Uninsured Motorist Coverage

What happened?

A third-party vehicle side-swiped a client’s truck. It was a low-speed incident that did not result in any injuries. As you would expect, the third party did not have any insurance. My client’s driver did not report any injuries. Several months later, a demand letter came from an attorney representing my client’s driver. To make things more interesting, this driver is currently employed and actively running a load when my client receives this letter. Crazy times we live in.

What most likely happened is a plaintiff’s attorney found the accident report, saw it was an accident with an uninsured motorist, and reached out to my client’s driver saying “I can get you paid and it won’t even come out of your boss’s pocket”.

Thankfully, as my client’s agent, I have been down this road before, and we had uninsured motorists and PIP (personal injury protection) excluded from the policy. We sent the demand to the insurance company, the insurance sent a denial letter, and we never heard from the attorney again.

This is a simple game of plaintiff attorneys scraping accident report data, prospecting the company drivers, and seeking out easy money. Unfortunately, if you have the coverage, insurance will most likely pay without a fight, even if the driver is covered on worker’s compensation.

A lot of companies are vulnerable

Many insurance agents do not know of this issue and will include $1,000,000 of uninsured motorist coverage on your policy. This is a sitting duck waiting to be exploited.

If you have questions or would like me to review your policy, reply to this email or call (501) 581-7226