Mutually Repugnant Policies: A Prime Example of Why You Need to Contact a Personal Injury Lawyer After a Car Accident

We have said it before: insurance companies too often care more about the bottom line than they do about injured negligence victims.  Whether it is a cunning adjuster or a tricky policy provision, these companies do everything that they can to avoid paying out under the policies that they issue.  To see this truth in action, we need only look at what happens in cases involving two or more auto insurance policies with mutually repugnant excess provisions.

An excess provision, or excess clause, states that the insurance coverage provided for a particular risk is only available after all other available insurance coverage has been exhausted.  In other words, an excess provision is an insurance company’s way of saying, “We don’t have to pay you anything if there is another insurance carrier from which you can get your money.”

In some cases, though, there are two or more policies which appear to provide coverage for a victim’s injuries, but both or all policies contain excess provisions.  What happens then?

Unfortunately, insurance adjusters frequently convince negligence victims in these cases that there is nothing that they can do.  The victim is directed back and forth from Insurer A to Insurer B, each time being told that they cannot receive compensation because the other insurer must pay out first before the “excess” coverage kicks in.  In many cases, this ping pong ploy is enough to convince the negligence victim to give up pursuing her claim.  Worst of all, this scenario frequently involves the victim’s own insurance company.

While unrepresented car accident victims may fall prey to this insurance company tactic, a car accident attorney can help you navigate these issues.  An experienced Ohio personal injury lawyer knows that when there are multiple excess policies as described above, the excess provisions are considered mutually repugnant; that is, the provisions preclude each other from being enforced.  Despite what insurance companies would have you believe, in cases with mutually repugnant excess provisions a covered victim is entitled to full compensation to be paid proportionately by the liable insurers.

If you or a loved one have been injured in a motor vehicle crash, do not face insurance companies alone.  Call the Cleveland, Ohio car accident lawyers at Lowe Scott Fisher Co., LPA to discuss your case.