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hello and welcome
my name is Marya Fuller
I'm an attorney at the firm of Fuller & Fuller
at our firm we handle cases that involve automobile accidents
medical malpractice
and personal injury in the state of Washington
in the state of Washington
we have a statute under title 46
that says
any driver in the state of Washington
must have insurance coverage
that sounds good it sounds like
if you're in a wreck in the state of Washington
you're protected
unfortunately that's far from true
there's all kinds of drivers driving around in Washington who have no insurance coverage
at all
in fact
you have about a 1-in-5 chance
any time you are in an accident
by being hit by an uninsured driver
what can you do to protect yourself
how can you protect your family
and you're passengers
you can purchase underinsured and uninsured motorist coverage
uninsured coverage
protects your family
from drivers who have no insurance at all
underinsured
coverage protects you
from drivers who have not enough insurance
I have many cases every year
where both kinds of coverage are very important
the legislature also thinks that this kind of coverage is very important
and they have
passed a statute in 48.22
that says that insurance companies must offer uninsured motorist as a standard
provision
and that if you're going to waive it as a purchaser
you actually have to do so in writing
I had a case recently this year
where that statute was very important to my client
she was in an automobile accident she had to have back surgery
and the at fault party had 100,000 dollars
in insurance coverage
unfortunately that 100,000 dollars
only covered her medical bills
there was nothing left over to compensate her
for what she'd been through
and there was also nothing left over for her lost wages
her own insurance company told me that she did not have
underinsured motorist coverage on her own policy
however I was able to
require her insurance company
to provide her with additional
insurance coverage
they ended up having to provide her with
100,000 dollars in additional coverage
because
they were unable to produce
the signed document in writing showing that she had waived her right to underinsured motorist
coverage
that extra 100,000 dollars
makes a big difference to my client
it means that she is going to be compensated for what she has been through it mean she
is going to be compensated for her lost wages
so again
please protect yourself and your family and your passengers
by making sure that you have this kind of coverage if you're not sure
take a look at your policy or call your agent
thank you so much for listening
my name is Marya Fuller
if you have any questions
please don't hesitate to contact me