As a Palm Desert personal injury Lawyer I speak to innocent accident victims on a daily basis. One of the most difficult conversations I must have with potential clients is when I have to inform them that the person who caused the accident and changed their lives didn't have automobile accident liability insurance. Last week I had to break the bad news to a very nice lady who was hit by a car as she was crossing the street in a cross walk with the green light permitting her crossing. I have represented many pedestrian accident victims who have been seriously injured through no fault of their own. These cases are very sad because the injuries are usually very serious and disabling. This particular lady suffered two broken legs and a broken hip. The person responsible for the accident is unemployed and was an uninsured motorist. The negligent driver will probably lose her license for six months because she was driving without insurance. California is much too lenient about automobile liability insurance requirements. In fact the minimum insurance requirement is only that a driver have a minimum of fifteen thousand dollars liability coverage for the injury or death of a person who was injured or killed by the insured negligent driver. They must have at least a thirty thousand dollar limit for the injury or death of all persons injured by the insured negligent driver in the same accident. An emergency room visit after an accident can cost fifteen thousand dollars for the examination and cat scanning procedures. The ambulance bill can be fifteen hundred dollars. One can easily understand that fifteen thousand dollars of insurance payments made on behalf of the negligent driver doesn't begin to compensate an innocent accident victim with two broken legs even if the negligent driver had the minimum insurance coverage. There is something wrong with the system as it exists.
