Personal Injury Law

Insurance We Truly Need: Proposed Law Would Make Changes to Protect New York?s Motorists

By Jim Reed

I recently met with Assemblywoman Donna A. Lupardo (D-Endwell) on behalf of the New York State Trial Lawyers. It was wonderful to meet with Assemblywoman Lupardo, in part because we got to discuss briefly an issue that is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to all New York State drivers.

What SUM means for drivers

Many New York residents are unaware of the imperative to purchase Supplemental Underinsured/Uninsured Motorist (SUM) coverage.

What SUM provides is coverage from your insurance company to protect you and your passengers if the other driver is driving illegally without insurance, or driving with policy limits that are not high enough to cover your damages.

New York state requires insurance companies to offer this coverage, up to the amount of liability coverage on your vehicle. However, the insurance company does not have to automatically increase a motorist’s SUM limits to equal their liability limits. (Things are different in Pennsylvania, where I also practice. There, SUM limits increase automatically with liability limits.)

Now, legislation has been introduced by Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow (D-Westchester) that would make insurance companies do the same in New York State.

On Assemblywoman Lupardo’s request, I’ve sent her a copy of my book, “Learn the Five Deadly Mistakes that Can Kill Your Accident Case.” I’ve let her know of my support for this new legislation. I think it’s vital coverage that many of my clients over the past 23 years could have benefited from.

As I wrote to Assemblywoman Lupardo, it only makes sense that if you are going to purchase additional liability coverage to protect others, you certainly would want to make sure that you and your own family have the same coverage in the event of being injured by an uninsured or underinsured driver.

I urge my readers to let your state assembly representatives know that this consumer protection legislation is important to you. If you would like to know more about this issue, visit the Ziff Law Firm website to request a free copy of my book for yourself, or e-mail me directly. Don’t hesitate - I know from experience that very few people know about or have SUM coverage. The premiums are low, but the consequences are high if you don’t have SUM insurance.

Thanks for reading,
Jim
_________________________________________
James B. Reed, Esq.
Personal Injury & Malpractice Attorney
Ziff Law Firm, LLP
303 William St., Elmira, NY 14902
Tel. (607) 733-8866 Fax. (607) 732-6062
Toll Free 1-800-943-3529
mailto:jreed@zifflaw.com http://www.zifflaw.com

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Full post as published by New York Injury Law Blog on May 19, 2009 (boomark / email).