Lawsuit Report
HOW TO PREPARE AND PROTECT YOURSELF IF YOU GET SUED!
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Michael
G Campbell Insurance Agency, LUTCF 4216 N. Brown Ave Scottsdale, AZ 85251 staff@michaelgcampbell.com Office: (480) 831-6103 FAX: (480) 945-0999 Toll Free: (800) 467-9006 |
What you will discover
in this report:
*How easy and common it is to be the target of a lawsuit!
*How to get massive protection for just pennies a day
*What you should know about what's not covered with Umbrella Insurance
*Tips on how to SAVE MONEY
Homeowner’s insurance is for a rainy day; umbrella insurance is for a storm!
When someone hits you with a lawsuit for hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars, it can be a rainy day. Think it can’t happen to you? You can’t pick up a newspaper these days without reading about somebody suing someone else. Do you really need coverage for these crazy lawsuits? Maybe not, but remember that a lot of lawsuits aren’t crazy at all. Some get settled. Actually, most get settled. Often, the person being sued winds up paying something to the person who filed the lawsuit and that doesn’t even include the fees the defendant in the lawsuit has to pay his or her attorney.
How Far Will Your Current Protection Really Go to Protect
You?
*Example. Say you’re at fault in an auto accident that causes serious
injuries to the driver and/or passenger(s) in the car you hit. Your auto insurance
has liability limits of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident. (Which
are pretty common limits, by the way, even for people with a lot of assets.)
How far do you think $100,000 will go, particularly if those involved suffer
injuries that keep them from working for months, even years? The accident
victim(s) could sue you for medical bills, lost income, even pain and suffering.
In this scenario, $100,000 is not nearly enough coverage. Guess what happens
if you are hit with a judgment of $250,000 for one person involved in the
accident? Your auto liability insurance will cover the first $100,000 -- and
you’re stuck with the rest. And that doesn’t even include the legal fees you
have to pay your attorney. In addition, in some cases, you might have to pay
all or part of the legal fees the other party or parties incur. Ouch!
Umbrella insurance is for these very rainy days. While it may seem unnecessary, it really isn’t, particularly for people with homes and other significant assets to protect. Do you really want to hand over your house and/or gains in the stock market to someone you injure in an auto accident? It could happen. But it doesn’t have to.
Umbrella Insurance: Massive Protection for Pennies a
Day
Because it is designed for those really rare rainy days, umbrella insurance
is inexpensive. It is also versatile. Umbrella insurance provides additional
coverage not only for your auto policy, but also your homeowners or renters
policy. Further, umbrella insurance covers things that are not covered by
auto, homeowners and renters policies. In the insurance world, there’s something
called “personal injury.” This is not damage to someone’s body, but to his
or her career or reputation.
*Example. Imagine you say in public that a certain person is a lying,
no-good so-and-so. Maybe you really believe this to be true, but the person
is very offended. He or she can sue you for slander (if you say it) or libel
(if you write it). If this happens, your umbrella policy will provide coverage,
including legal fees, up to the limits of the policy.
Umbrella insurance also covers personal injuries such as
invasion of privacy, wrongful entry, wrongful eviction, false arrest, false
imprisonment and malicious prosecution. Some umbrella policies will provide
coverage if you are sued because of your service on the board of a civic,
charitable or religious organization.
*Note Umbrella insurance doesn’t cover everything. For example, if
you are sued and the court assesses punitive damages against you, those damages
won’t be paid by your umbrella insurance. What are punitive damages? They
are damages awarded to someone in order to punish the person being sued. Punitive
damages are awarded for outrageous, totally reckless conduct- at least what
a judge or jury perceives to be outrageous, totally reckless conduct. You
can usually buy umbrella policies with $1 million limits for $300 to $400
a year. If you need more than one million dollar limit, you can usually buy
each extra one million dollars worth of coverage for $100 to $200. Think about
this. For only a few hundred dollars, you can increase your per-person liability
limits 10 times, 20 times, and even 30 times -- and it applies to both your
auto and homeowners or renters policies as well.
Umbrella Coverage: How It Works...
Umbrella insurance actually “sits” on top of your auto and homeowners or renters
liability coverage. Say you have a per-person liability limit of $250,000
on your auto policy. Say also that you cause an accident in which a driver
or passenger in the other car is ultimately awarded $500,000. Your auto policy
will pay the first $250,000 and your umbrella will kick in the remainder.
Well, almost the remainder. Like auto policies, umbrellas have deductibles,
usually anywhere from $250 to $2,500, but a deductible of even $2,500 is a
small price to pay if you’re hit with a $1,000,000 judgment.
Because umbrellas are over the top of the auto, homeowners
or renters liability limits, some insurers offering umbrella policies require
you to have your auto and homeowners policies with these companies as well.
That’s not really a problem because most insurers are positively tickled to
be able to provide someone’s auto, homeowners or renters, and
umbrella insurance. In addition, most insurers offering umbrella coverage
require you to have liability limits of a certain amount on your auto and
homeowners policies. Typically, this minimum is $300,000 for homeowners and
$250,000 per-person for auto. Yes, you could chose to increase your auto and
homeowners liability limits to, say, $1 million for each policy. But not every
insurer offers such high limits.
*Tip Your umbrella policy is usually a cheaper option than increasing
the limits on your auto and homeowners insurance. Plus, you get the additional
“personal injury” coverage that is not available in your auto and homeowners
or renters policies.
Be a smart consumer...but don’t try to be your “own agent.” Protection for you and your family requires constant vigilance.... and a partnership between you and a professional agent like Mike Campbell