Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Claims

Domnitz & Skemp - Wisconsin Underinsured Motorist Claim Attorneys

If you were involved in a car accident where the other driver's liability insurance is insufficient to cover the full value of your damages, you may need to invoke the underinsured motorist provisions of your own auto insurance coverage. Contact the experienced Wisconsin uninsured motorist claims lawyers at Domnitz & Skemp for reliable advice and highly effective representation before you accept any settlement, either from the other driver's insurer or from your own.

In Wisconsin, auto insurance policies are mandated by law to contain uninsured motorist coverage. It covers you up to a certain amount for injuries caused by a uninsured motorist or a hit and run driver.

If you were involved in an accident with a driver whose insurance is insufficient to cover your losses, you may then need to use the underinsured motorist provision of your policy, if you had the foresight to purchase that coverage. For example, if you were in a rear-end collision with $100,000 worth of damage and the limit of the other driver's insurance is $50,000, you could seek to use the underinsured motorist coverage of your own policy for the remaining $50,000.

Because of the highly technical nature of UM/UIM insurance, however, accepting what appears to be a fair early offer might turn out to be a big mistake. Before you can reach your own underinsured driver coverage, you need to exhaust the other driver's liability limits. And before you qualify for your own underinsured motorist benefits, you need to notify your own insurance carrier of the other driver's settlement offer, and then assign your rights against the driver and his or her own insurer to your insurance company.

Sometimes procedural errors in this series of transactions result in a forfeiture of your right to collect underinsured motorist benefits from your own insurer. In some instances, auto insurance companies manipulate the process to induce errors, or have even been known to collude with the other driver's insurer to minimize their own exposure on UM/UIM benefits. In cases such as these, we'll consider your carrier's conduct as insurance bad faith and proceed accordingly in court.

To make sure that you're receiving the full benefit of your UM/UIM coverage, you need an experienced Wisconsin auto insurance attorney to review and interpret two insurance policies - your own policy, and the other driver's. This should be done as soon as possible after the accident. Only then can you be sure that you will make the right choices both with respect to the exhaustion of the other driver's liability coverage, and to the proper application of your own underinsured motorist insurance.

For a free consultation about any Wisconsin automobile insurance dispute, contact the Milwaukee UM/UIM claims attorneys at Domnitz & Skemp.

Domnitz & Skemp, S.C.
825 North Jefferson Street, Fifth Floor
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202
Telephone: (414) 289-0909
Fax: (414) 289-9494

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The Wisconsin uninsured motorist claims attorneys of Domnitz & Skemp represent plaintiffs in auto accident claims involving uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, including claims for bad faith insurance practices, in Wisconsin and northern Illinois, including such cities as Milwaukee, Kenosha, Racine, Elkhorn, Lake Geneva, Waukesha, Chicago, and Waukegan.