Colorado Auto Accident & Motorcycle Laws

How Motorcycle Insurance Coverage Effects a Passenger | Denver Car Accidents

Jeff Kelley

 

Motorcycle Passenger Safety and Litigation

This is prime motorcycle riding season and we hope you’re paying close attention to all those riders on two wheels. If you’re a rider, there are some things you can do to make sure that you’re really safe when you ride. Jeff Kelly, an attorney with Harding and Associates is here the first Friday of every month. He’s an avid motorcyclist who’s been riding for 30 years. Yes. 30 years. Wow. You have a lot of experience. And you’ve been practicing law for 25. Okay. We are talking to female passengers today. So all females out there who ever get on the back of a motorcycle, you want to listen up today because this is really interesting. You get a lot of phone calls come Monday morning. Yes. Why? Tell me why. Well, because people have been out riding motorcycles, and oftentimes it’s the passenger that’s calling me. They’re home, they’re unfortunately recovering from some kind of a collision. And they’re saying, “What do I do? What insurance do I go? Who do I contact?” Yeah. What do I– because I think, as females, we say, “Oh, motorcycle ride. Let’s get on.” It’s very last minute.

You’re not really thinking a lot about what could happen, and so a lot of these accidents do happen and you don’t have coverage. That’s right. What happens is someone’s invited, say, “Hey, I’m going to go to the store. I’m going to go somewhere. Would you like to go with me on my bike?” And the passenger, oftentimes a female, says, “Sure. I’ll go.” But they don’t know really what they’re getting into when they’re throwing their leg over that back seat and what may lie ahead there for them if there’s a collision. Okay.

You brought your helmet today. How can you miss this? It’s very neon. I remember saying no to the helmet when I was a young 20-year-old because I didn’t want to ruin my hair [laughter]. A lot of women do that. That is so common with– it’s hot. It might be 95 degrees out. I brought this several times because I want to really establish through repetition that this is the type of thing that could really save you from an accident.

Clothing, last time I brought a jacket that was the same color and that’s what I wear. This is what I wear. I want to make sure that I can be seen. You can’t miss it. Absolutely. Okay. We’re going to talk about protecting yourself if you’re a passenger, specifically. Most passengers are females. Why don’t we get into that. Right. Let’s get right down to that. Obviously, you might have health insurance. That’s great. That could be there as sometimes almost a last resort. But primarily, what you’re not going to know as a passenger, you’re not going to know what kind of insurance that motorcycle has. So if it’s a friend or even someone that you just met, and you’re getting on the motorcycle, that person only has to have $25,000 of liability protection. So if the driver of that motorcycle commits an error, drives recklessly, too fast, crashes the bike, the passenger is going to have only $25,000, the minimum limit, if they have that. Perhaps they have no insurance. So you brought a printout today. Obviously, we’re not going to be able to see this one. But you say– there’s your printout. You say that women should actually ask the person who’s driving to bring this out, really? Any passenger needs to know this. This is the bare essentials. Right on the top. Motorcycle Liability Insurance – $500,000. That’s like carrying– They need to have that. Well, it’d be good to know because your injuries could well exceed $500,000. And this is bodily injury coverage. This is what the driver of the motorcycle has to cover the passenger if they driver of the motorcycle’s at fault.

Now, dropping down there to Motorcycle Medical Payments, that’s $10,000 in MedPay. That is the most that I could actually get under this particular policy. That would set off any insurance coverage that one might have with health insurance. You have to pay health insurance back from a recovery from a third party. Medical payment coverage would reduce the amount that you have to pay back.

So you need to make sure there’s MedPay? Yes. In addition– Ideally. –to that top one? Okay. And then, as I’ve talked about on prior shows, the uninsured motorist protection down below, you see $500,000. That applies when the driver of the motorcycle would not have maybe done anything incorrectly, or not at fault for the accident and another vehicle caused the accident, or perhaps either another vehicle or a vehicle that didn’t stop. So it would be uninsured or under-insured. A vehicle that didn’t stop to say what insurance they had, or the one that did cause the accident had again maybe that minimum $25,000.

So you have to have those three? Yeah. I have to say, when I used to ride around with my boyfriend, this wasn’t even on my mind. And if it would’ve been, I would’ve been a little embarrassed to ask, Can I check your insurance? But you say you have to be smart about it, right? Well, it is a trap for the unweary. And we, as attorneys at Harding and Associates, we have to go back in time and try to assemble what’s available and look for the coverage.

As a passenger, the passenger has a unique set of challenges when there’s an injury because the driver of the other vehicle, possibly a car, may blame the driver of the motorcycle. Going too fast, too fast for conditions, sliding out on sand, around a curve. The passenger’s basically going to be the victim. As a last resort, the passenger hopefully will have some uninsured or under-insured coverage on their vehicle sitting in the driveway at their house. That’s the only thing a passenger can do is verify what coverage they have on their own vehicles. And some of that insurance coverage that you have on your, let’s say, four-wheel vehicle may exclude an accident that happened on a vehicle with less than four wheels.

So the moral of the story is, females, as passengers, we need to be smart about it. And we want people to know that you and Phil Harding are available to look over people’s coverage and let them know if they have enough, right? Absolutely. They could send it in anytime. We’ll talk to them, go over that coverage. Great. All right. If you have any legal questions for Jeff or his colleague, Phil Harding, as we mentioned, they would love to hear from you. Just log on to coloradosbest.tv, look for Phil’s photo, and click right there. They take the time to answer each question personally. And to contact Harding and Associates directly, their number is 303-762-9500 or online at hlaw.org.

By: Jeff Kelley

Motorcycle Passenger Safety and Litigation

This is prime motorcycle riding season and we hope you’re paying close attention to all those riders on two wheels. If you’re a rider, there are some things you can do to make sure that you’re really safe when you ride. Jeff Kelly, an attorney with Harding and Associates is here the first Friday of every month. He’s an avid motorcyclist who’s been riding for 30 years. Yes. 30 years. Wow. You have a lot of experience. And you’ve been practicing law for 25. Okay. We are talking to female passengers today. So all females out there who ever get on the back of a motorcycle, you want to listen up today because this is really interesting. You get a lot of phone calls come Monday morning. Yes. Why? Tell me why. Well, because people have been out riding motorcycles, and oftentimes it’s the passenger that’s calling me. They’re home, they’re unfortunately recovering from some kind of a collision. And they’re saying, “What do I do? What insurance do I go? Who do I contact?” Yeah. What do I– because I think, as females, we say, “Oh, motorcycle ride. Let’s get on.” It’s very last minute.

You’re not really thinking a lot about what could happen, and so a lot of these accidents do happen and you don’t have coverage. That’s right. What happens is someone’s invited, say, “Hey, I’m going to go to the store. I’m going to go somewhere. Would you like to go with me on my bike?” And the passenger, oftentimes a female, says, “Sure. I’ll go.” But they don’t know really what they’re getting into when they’re throwing their leg over that back seat and what may lie ahead there for them if there’s a collision. Okay.

You brought your helmet today. How can you miss this? It’s very neon. I remember saying no to the helmet when I was a young 20-year-old because I didn’t want to ruin my hair [laughter]. A lot of women do that. That is so common with– it’s hot. It might be 95 degrees out. I brought this several times because I want to really establish through repetition that this is the type of thing that could really save you from an accident.

Clothing, last time I brought a jacket that was the same color and that’s what I wear. This is what I wear. I want to make sure that I can be seen. You can’t miss it. Absolutely. Okay. We’re going to talk about protecting yourself if you’re a passenger, specifically. Most passengers are females. Why don’t we get into that. Right. Let’s get right down to that. Obviously, you might have health insurance. That’s great. That could be there as sometimes almost a last resort. But primarily, what you’re not going to know as a passenger, you’re not going to know what kind of insurance that motorcycle has. So if it’s a friend or even someone that you just met, and you’re getting on the motorcycle, that person only has to have $25,000 of liability protection. So if the driver of that motorcycle commits an error, drives recklessly, too fast, crashes the bike, the passenger is going to have only $25,000, the minimum limit, if they have that. Perhaps they have no insurance. So you brought a printout today. Obviously, we’re not going to be able to see this one. But you say– there’s your printout. You say that women should actually ask the person who’s driving to bring this out, really? Any passenger needs to know this. This is the bare essentials. Right on the top. Motorcycle Liability Insurance – $500,000. That’s like carrying– They need to have that. Well, it’d be good to know because your injuries could well exceed $500,000. And this is bodily injury coverage. This is what the driver of the motorcycle has to cover the passenger if they driver of the motorcycle’s at fault.

Now, dropping down there to Motorcycle Medical Payments, that’s $10,000 in MedPay. That is the most that I could actually get under this particular policy. That would set off any insurance coverage that one might have with health insurance. You have to pay health insurance back from a recovery from a third party. Medical payment coverage would reduce the amount that you have to pay back.

So you need to make sure there’s MedPay? Yes. In addition– Ideally. –to that top one? Okay. And then, as I’ve talked about on prior shows, the uninsured motorist protection down below, you see $500,000. That applies when the driver of the motorcycle would not have maybe done anything incorrectly, or not at fault for the accident and another vehicle caused the accident, or perhaps either another vehicle or a vehicle that didn’t stop. So it would be uninsured or under-insured. A vehicle that didn’t stop to say what insurance they had, or the one that did cause the accident had again maybe that minimum $25,000.

So you have to have those three? Yeah. I have to say, when I used to ride around with my boyfriend, this wasn’t even on my mind. And if it would’ve been, I would’ve been a little embarrassed to ask, Can I check your insurance? But you say you have to be smart about it, right? Well, it is a trap for the unweary. And we, as attorneys at Harding and Associates, we have to go back in time and try to assemble what’s available and look for the coverage.

As a passenger, the passenger has a unique set of challenges when there’s an injury because the driver of the other vehicle, possibly a car, may blame the driver of the motorcycle. Going too fast, too fast for conditions, sliding out on sand, around a curve. The passenger’s basically going to be the victim. As a last resort, the passenger hopefully will have some uninsured or under-insured coverage on their vehicle sitting in the driveway at their house. That’s the only thing a passenger can do is verify what coverage they have on their own vehicles. And some of that insurance coverage that you have on your, let’s say, four-wheel vehicle may exclude an accident that happened on a vehicle with less than four wheels.

So the moral of the story is, females, as passengers, we need to be smart about it. And we want people to know that you and Phil Harding are available to look over people’s coverage and let them know if they have enough, right? Absolutely. They could send it in anytime. We’ll talk to them, go over that coverage. Great. All right. If you have any legal questions for Jeff or his colleague, Phil Harding, as we mentioned, they would love to hear from you. Just log on to coloradosbest.tv, look for Phil’s photo, and click right there. They take the time to answer each question personally. And to contact Harding and Associates directly, their number is 303-762-9500 or online at hlaw.org.

By: Jeff Kelley

Tips & Recommendations After Experiencing an Auto Accident | Colorado

Phil Harding

 

You know Colorado’s best attorney? He’s right here standing next to me.  Hello.  Phil Harding. Well hello. Happy Friday. Every week you teach us interesting things about the law that impacts our lives. I have learned really truly a lot from you.  Good.  And we always encourage you to send him your questions. So today, we thought we would actually see what kinds of questions you’re sending in, and hopefully he has the answer, right? You have all the answers?  I sure hope I do.  All right. What are we starting with?  Well, I’m excited about this, and we’re going to go see how many questions we can go over. And let me tell you what we’re starting with.  Okay. What are we starting with? What was the question?  Well, the question was, if I make a statement after my injury, can they use that against me? Like in an auto accident. I’m going to tell you, if the insurance adjuster on the other side takes your statement within 15 days of the injury, totally inadmissible.  I did not know that. Didn’t know that. When I got in an accident a couple years back, the first thing I did that day was I gave my statement. You’re not supposed to do that.  Never. And that’s why there’s a Colorado law. There’s Colorado law that says, if someone on the other side takes your statement within 15 days, totally inadmissible. The other thing that it says is, if you settled your injury claim, now not the property claim but your injury claim within 30 days, totally voidable. And while we’re talking about personal injuries, I want to go over some quick dos and don’ts–  I love these.  –after an injury.  Because it’s telling us exactly what not to do. So, what should you not do?  Absolutely. Let’s start with the don’t. Don’t sign the medical release for the other side, and we’re going to show this here in just a second. Don’t give a statement. Number one, you saw that there was a law. But number two, it’s not going to help you anyway. So don’t make a statement without an attorney on line. Don’t show your medical bills with reductions it it.  What does that mean.  You’re going to see this here in just a moment because I’m going to show you a Swedish Medical bill on this. And don’t settle your case until you’re done treating. Now let’s talk about some dos. All right?  Okay.  Here are some dos. Do, if you’re able to after the accident, take pictures of the scene, including skid marks, damage to the car, all of that stuff. Also, another do is take pictures of your injuries, bruising and the like. Do kind of keep a log as to what’s going on. And most importantly, do follow your doctor’s orders. Because if you don’t, the other side’s going to say you failed to mediate your damages. Now let’s move on. Remember how I said don’t sign the medical release?  Yeah. Why is that?  The other side, yeah, they want to see your medical records, but they want to see your medical bills more than anything. Here’s one graphic I want to talk about. Now this, I got to tell you, in this situation, this is one bill from Swedish. Swedish billed $29,352 for the hospital alone. Not for the surgeon, but just for the hospital. Your insurance company reduced this amount by $20,803. They said, “We have a contracted rate with you.” So they knocked down that bill. And so they ended up only paying $6000. Now when you settle your case, you may have to pay back that $6000 to you health insurance. Colorado law says that you’re entitled to that full $29,000 to be paid from the other side. It’s called the Collateral Source doctrine. Now if you had signed a release for the other side, they would have seen this entire bill, and they’d only pay you $6000 when under Colorado law you’re entitled to full $29,000.  So that’s why earlier you said do not show the reductions on your medical bills.  Right. Right. You reduct that section. This one mistake alone, you would have lost $23,000.  Really.  One mistake.  Wow.  All right?  That’s why you need an attorney.  And that’s only one bill on this.  Okay. So now we’re going to talk about the recovery. A recovery depends on the other side having insurance, so what if the other side does not have insurance?  Yeah, that a great question. That’s a big question as a matter of fact that I get all the time too. And you know this, one out of six people driving in Colorado has no insurance at all.  Yes. I know that. That’s crazy.  So I’ve got to tell you, here’s the thing that you need to do. You need to take control of– you have health insurance. Make sure on your auto insurance you have something known as UM/UIM, stands for uninsured/underinsured motors coverage, and this is what I want you to know. Unless you signed a waiver, you have that on your car. What we’re talking about right now is insurance coverages. And here’s the thing, unless you signed a waiver, you have Med-Pay. So you have $5000 of medical payments that you don’t have to pay back. You have UM/UIM, uninsured/underinsured motors coverage. When you get UM/UIM, I want you to make sure that you have at least $100,000 on that. That one bill that we just saw from Swedish, $30,000. So make sure you have at least $100,000 on that.  $100,000. Okay.  And then with your car, if you have your car and either your renter’s or your homeowner’s insurance with the same company, add an umbrella for $300 or $400 more, you can get a $1 million more of coverage. Now, we’re going to jump real quick. I know we don’t have much time.  We have one minute.  Okay. Statute of limitation.  The countdown is on. We’re talking about statute–  Statute of limitation. Remember, statute of limitations is, you have to either settle this case or file a lawsuit within this time frame. If you’re on an auto accident, it’s three years.  Three years.  PLA, Premise Liability Act, that’s if you’re injured on the property of another. That’s two years. But if for example you’re injured on the state capital, you have to give notice, GIA, Governmental Immunity Act, within 180 days to even get the statute of limitations. Now if you’re fired or if you quit and your employer doesn’t pay you, you have to give them notice within 60 days. And if you do that, you get additional attorney’s fees and cost. Call me. I can answer these questions, but here is kind of the rocket docket going over, just a grab bag of questions.  Well Phil, it just shows me everything that I don’t know and why I would need a lawyer like you. Is that what you wanted everyone to deduce from all of this?  Absolutely or go to Coloradosbest.tv, and you can look at my previous segments.  That’s good. You will learn a lot. I promise. So now you know. Phil really does answer your questions. So if you have a question for Phil, go to Coloradosbest.tv and send those questions in. He really will answer them, and he answers them personally by email as well. If you would like to contact Phil at his office, Harding & Associates, call 303-762-9500 and you can get a free consultation anytime. You can also find him online at hlaw.org.

By: Phil Harding

You know Colorado’s best attorney? He’s right here standing next to me.  Hello.  Phil Harding. Well hello. Happy Friday. Every week you teach us interesting things about the law that impacts our lives. I have learned really truly a lot from you.  Good.  And we always encourage you to send him your questions. So today, we thought we would actually see what kinds of questions you’re sending in, and hopefully he has the answer, right? You have all the answers?  I sure hope I do.  All right. What are we starting with?  Well, I’m excited about this, and we’re going to go see how many questions we can go over. And let me tell you what we’re starting with.  Okay. What are we starting with? What was the question?  Well, the question was, if I make a statement after my injury, can they use that against me? Like in an auto accident. I’m going to tell you, if the insurance adjuster on the other side takes your statement within 15 days of the injury, totally inadmissible.  I did not know that. Didn’t know that. When I got in an accident a couple years back, the first thing I did that day was I gave my statement. You’re not supposed to do that.  Never. And that’s why there’s a Colorado law. There’s Colorado law that says, if someone on the other side takes your statement within 15 days, totally inadmissible. The other thing that it says is, if you settled your injury claim, now not the property claim but your injury claim within 30 days, totally voidable. And while we’re talking about personal injuries, I want to go over some quick dos and don’ts–  I love these.  –after an injury.  Because it’s telling us exactly what not to do. So, what should you not do?  Absolutely. Let’s start with the don’t. Don’t sign the medical release for the other side, and we’re going to show this here in just a second. Don’t give a statement. Number one, you saw that there was a law. But number two, it’s not going to help you anyway. So don’t make a statement without an attorney on line. Don’t show your medical bills with reductions it it.  What does that mean.  You’re going to see this here in just a moment because I’m going to show you a Swedish Medical bill on this. And don’t settle your case until you’re done treating. Now let’s talk about some dos. All right?  Okay.  Here are some dos. Do, if you’re able to after the accident, take pictures of the scene, including skid marks, damage to the car, all of that stuff. Also, another do is take pictures of your injuries, bruising and the like. Do kind of keep a log as to what’s going on. And most importantly, do follow your doctor’s orders. Because if you don’t, the other side’s going to say you failed to mediate your damages. Now let’s move on. Remember how I said don’t sign the medical release?  Yeah. Why is that?  The other side, yeah, they want to see your medical records, but they want to see your medical bills more than anything. Here’s one graphic I want to talk about. Now this, I got to tell you, in this situation, this is one bill from Swedish. Swedish billed $29,352 for the hospital alone. Not for the surgeon, but just for the hospital. Your insurance company reduced this amount by $20,803. They said, “We have a contracted rate with you.” So they knocked down that bill. And so they ended up only paying $6000. Now when you settle your case, you may have to pay back that $6000 to you health insurance. Colorado law says that you’re entitled to that full $29,000 to be paid from the other side. It’s called the Collateral Source doctrine. Now if you had signed a release for the other side, they would have seen this entire bill, and they’d only pay you $6000 when under Colorado law you’re entitled to full $29,000.  So that’s why earlier you said do not show the reductions on your medical bills.  Right. Right. You reduct that section. This one mistake alone, you would have lost $23,000.  Really.  One mistake.  Wow.  All right?  That’s why you need an attorney.  And that’s only one bill on this.  Okay. So now we’re going to talk about the recovery. A recovery depends on the other side having insurance, so what if the other side does not have insurance?  Yeah, that a great question. That’s a big question as a matter of fact that I get all the time too. And you know this, one out of six people driving in Colorado has no insurance at all.  Yes. I know that. That’s crazy.  So I’ve got to tell you, here’s the thing that you need to do. You need to take control of– you have health insurance. Make sure on your auto insurance you have something known as UM/UIM, stands for uninsured/underinsured motors coverage, and this is what I want you to know. Unless you signed a waiver, you have that on your car. What we’re talking about right now is insurance coverages. And here’s the thing, unless you signed a waiver, you have Med-Pay. So you have $5000 of medical payments that you don’t have to pay back. You have UM/UIM, uninsured/underinsured motors coverage. When you get UM/UIM, I want you to make sure that you have at least $100,000 on that. That one bill that we just saw from Swedish, $30,000. So make sure you have at least $100,000 on that.  $100,000. Okay.  And then with your car, if you have your car and either your renter’s or your homeowner’s insurance with the same company, add an umbrella for $300 or $400 more, you can get a $1 million more of coverage. Now, we’re going to jump real quick. I know we don’t have much time.  We have one minute.  Okay. Statute of limitation.  The countdown is on. We’re talking about statute–  Statute of limitation. Remember, statute of limitations is, you have to either settle this case or file a lawsuit within this time frame. If you’re on an auto accident, it’s three years.  Three years.  PLA, Premise Liability Act, that’s if you’re injured on the property of another. That’s two years. But if for example you’re injured on the state capital, you have to give notice, GIA, Governmental Immunity Act, within 180 days to even get the statute of limitations. Now if you’re fired or if you quit and your employer doesn’t pay you, you have to give them notice within 60 days. And if you do that, you get additional attorney’s fees and cost. Call me. I can answer these questions, but here is kind of the rocket docket going over, just a grab bag of questions.  Well Phil, it just shows me everything that I don’t know and why I would need a lawyer like you. Is that what you wanted everyone to deduce from all of this?  Absolutely or go to Coloradosbest.tv, and you can look at my previous segments.  That’s good. You will learn a lot. I promise. So now you know. Phil really does answer your questions. So if you have a question for Phil, go to Coloradosbest.tv and send those questions in. He really will answer them, and he answers them personally by email as well. If you would like to contact Phil at his office, Harding & Associates, call 303-762-9500 and you can get a free consultation anytime. You can also find him online at hlaw.org.

By: Phil Harding

Car Accident Injury | Denver Personal Injury

Jeremy Rosenthal

 

 Car Accident Litigation

Car accidents are probably the most common type of personal injury case. Anytime that you are injured as the result of someone else’s negligence, you need to contact an attorney. I often give folks advice on how to handle property damage-only claims. However, I don’t get involved in those because it’s not worth it for someone to pay attorney fees if the incident only caused property damage.

Personal Injury Claim

But if you’re injured, it’s a complicated process. Insurance companies are designed by their corporate structure to maximize shareholder profits. They’re not designed to well compensate injured people. I used to work for them. I know their playbook of undervaluing and delaying claims. Call me today for a free consultation. I always offer contingency payments on personal injury cases. This means no attorney fees are owed unless you win.

By: Jeremy Rosenthal

 

 Car Accident Litigation

Car accidents are probably the most common type of personal injury case. Anytime that you are injured as the result of someone else’s negligence, you need to contact an attorney. I often give folks advice on how to handle property damage-only claims. However, I don’t get involved in those because it’s not worth it for someone to pay attorney fees if the incident only caused property damage.

Personal Injury Claim

But if you’re injured, it’s a complicated process. Insurance companies are designed by their corporate structure to maximize shareholder profits. They’re not designed to well compensate injured people. I used to work for them. I know their playbook of undervaluing and delaying claims. Call me today for a free consultation. I always offer contingency payments on personal injury cases. This means no attorney fees are owed unless you win.

By: Jeremy Rosenthal

 

12
Personal Injury lawyers listing in CO.