Local Law Blogs

March ruling by the NH Supreme Court on Uninsured benefits and how insurance policies are interpreted.

In this case a person was involved in an accident with another driver who had no insurance, but was delivering pizza at the time.  The pizza delivery guy had no insurance (bad idea)  BUT his employer did.  So, the other driver settled with the pizza company and got an affidavit from the pizza delivery guy which said that he did not have insurance.

Now the idea behind uninsured coverage is that you can get money from your own insurance company if you are injured by someone who did not have insurance. (In New Hampshire where car insurance is not required having your own insurance for when you get hit by some uninsured driver is one of the best reasons to have auto insurance).  In order to get the uninsured coverage you need to tell your insurance company that you are settling your claim.  This case confirmed that even when you are settling your case with the other driver's employer and not the other driver (remember he did not have insurance) that you still have to notify your own company.  If you don't then you might be giving up your uninsured coverage.

Here's the link to the Supreme Court's slip opinion