New York City Uninsured & Underinsured Motorist Lawyer

An uninsured driver does not necessarily leave you without a claim. An underinsured driver—someone whose available insurance may be insufficient—can also leave you with options beyond that driver’s policy. Those options depend on the insurance in effect when the accident happened.

Two terms are particularly important:

• Uninsured Motorist coverage (UM) provides bodily injury protection for qualifying accidents involving an uninsured vehicle or an unidentified hit-and-run vehicle.
• Supplementary Uninsured/Underinsured Motorists coverage (SUM) includes uninsured protection and can provide additional protection when the responsible vehicle’s liability insurance meets New York’s underinsurance requirements.

You may also see “UIM,” an abbreviation for underinsured motorist coverage. In New York, SUM is the term you will commonly encounter in the policy.

We begin by checking the other vehicle’s insurance and the policies that may protect you. A driver’s statement that there is “no insurance,” or an insurer’s initial refusal to pay, is something to investigate.

Our work concerns compensation for personal injuries. Pazer Epstein Jaffe Fein & Gozenput, P.C. does not handle claims involving only vehicle damage or other property damage.

Many New Yorkers get around without owning a vehicle. That does not automatically mean they lack uninsured or underinsured motorist protection.

We ask about the vehicle involved, your household, and any automobile policies that were in effect on the accident date. A policy issued to a resident relative may be relevant even when that relative’s car was nowhere near the collision. A passenger may have protection under the occupied vehicle’s policy as well as another potentially applicable policy.

The policy’s definition of an insured—a person entitled to its protection—matters. Household residency, family relationships, vehicle ownership, and policy exclusions can affect eligibility. Simply sharing an address with someone who owns a car does not establish coverage.

Bring any insurance documents you can find. The declarations page is the policy summary listing vehicles, coverages, and limits. An endorsement is a policy provision that adds to or changes the coverage. We review both because the summary alone does not explain every condition or exclusion.

If more than one policy applies, we also determine their order of payment. Multiple policies do not necessarily mean their limits can be added together.

Liability insurance pays covered claims for injuries a person is legally responsible for causing. A policy limit is the maximum the policy will pay for a covered claim, subject to its terms.

For an underinsured motorist claim, New York generally compares the responsible vehicle’s bodily injury liability limits with the bodily injury liability limits of the policy under which SUM protection is sought. We then examine the SUM limit and the other requirements governing payment.

That distinction matters. Having substantial medical expenses does not, by itself, establish that the other vehicle qualifies as underinsured under your policy.

We also review whether payments to other injured people have reduced the coverage available after the collision. A crash involving several injured passengers may require a different analysis from a claim involving one injured person.

Your SUM Limit Is Not Necessarily an Additional Full Payment

SUM coverage ordinarily accounts for applicable payments received from the responsible parties’ automobile liability insurers. This reduction is called an offset. We calculate it before explaining how much SUM coverage may remain available.

We also check whether other responsible parties or additional liability policies exist. The goal is to establish the available recovery accurately, including the effect of policy limits, prior payments, and rules against combining coverage.

Personal Injury Protection (PIP), commonly called no-fault insurance in New York, helps pay qualifying medical expenses, part of lost earnings, and certain other necessary expenses. Basic coverage provides up to $50,000 per person, subject to eligibility rules and individual benefit limits. It does not pay for pain and suffering.

The absence of insurance on the other vehicle does not necessarily eliminate access to no-fault benefits. We identify the appropriate insurer or other available benefits route separately from the claim for injury compensation.

A UM or SUM claim requires evidence that another driver was legally responsible for your injuries. We investigate the collision and document how the injuries have affected your treatment, work, and daily activities.

For pain-and-suffering recovery under the applicable New York automobile rules, you generally must establish a legally defined serious injury. A fracture is one qualifying category. Certain significant or permanent limitations can also qualify, but the medical evidence must support the legal requirements.

We review treatment records, diagnostic findings, physicians’ assessments, and evidence of lost income and future needs. The claim must connect those losses to the accident and account for benefits that cannot be recovered twice.

Our New York City car accident lawyer page explains the broader injury-claim process. Here, our focus is finding and protecting recovery when the responsible driver’s coverage is missing or inadequate.

When an insurer offers its policy limit, it may ask you to sign a release: a document giving up claims against the people or businesses it identifies. That decision can affect a separate SUM claim.

The SUM insurer may have a right to pursue the responsible party after paying you. This is called subrogation. A release that eliminates those rights can create a coverage problem.

New York’s prescribed SUM endorsement contains a procedure for certain settlements involving the available liability policy limit. It requires written notice to the SUM insurer and gives that insurer 30 calendar days after receipt to take the action specified in the endorsement, including advancing the proposed settlement amount to preserve its recovery rights.

That is a specific settlement procedure, not a general rule that any offer can be accepted after waiting 30 days.

We review the proposed payment, applicable policies, notice, and release together. We also address exhaustion requirements—the rules governing when liability insurance must be paid out before SUM benefits become payable.

If you already signed something, send us the document and related correspondence promptly. The wording, timing, insurer’s conduct, and surrounding circumstances need individual review.

You do not need to know every policy limit before seeking help. Waiting for the other insurer to finish its investigation can leave important notices or evidence unaddressed.

Written notice of a no-fault claim is generally due within 30 days of the accident, unless there is a qualifying written justification for delay. The prescribed SUM endorsement requires written notice of the claim as soon as practicable. That phrase calls for prompt action under the circumstances; it is not an invitation to wait until settlement negotiations end.

Unidentified-vehicle claims have additional reporting requirements. Report a hit-and-run to police immediately. The standard SUM endorsement calls for reporting within 24 hours or as soon as reasonably possible and requires additional information for the insurer.

The steps that help us protect a claim include:

• Obtaining the collision report, photographs, witness information, and available video.
• Identifying potential policies and giving appropriate written notice.
• Keeping denial letters, claim numbers, adjuster communications, and settlement documents.
• Documenting treatment, work restrictions, and lost earnings.
• Responding appropriately to requests for records, statements, or examinations.

Keep copies and proof of submission. A conversation with an adjuster does not establish that every required notice has been completed.

If a deadline may have passed, contact us promptly. We need to review the actual requirement, the reason for delay, and any available exception before reaching a conclusion.

MVAIC is the Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corporation, an organization created under New York law to provide a potential recovery route for certain injured people who lack applicable automobile insurance protection.

It is not a general fund for every unpaid accident loss. We first investigate available insurance and then examine eligibility, including residency, the location of the accident, vehicle ownership, and the circumstances of the injury.

MVAIC’s published requirements include prompt police reporting and a Notice of Intention, a filing advising MVAIC that you intend to make a claim. Its general filing periods are:

• 90 days for an accident involving a hit-and-run or unidentified vehicle.
• 180 days for an accident involving an identified uninsured vehicle.

These filings do not replace separate no-fault requirements. Coverage disclaimers, delayed identification, and other circumstances can also affect the analysis. We review the applicable rules rather than treating those general periods as the answer to every case.

You can review MVAIC’s eligibility guidance, but you do not have to resolve eligibility on your own before contacting us.

For accidents involving a fleeing driver, our New York City hit-and-run accident page explains the investigation and evidence that may help identify the vehicle.

Making a claim under a policy that protects you does not mean the insurer will agree with every part of the claim. It may question household residency, the other vehicle’s insurance status, notice, the cause of an injury, or the amount of damages.

We begin with the policy language and the insurer’s stated reason. A coverage denial means the insurer says the policy does not provide protection for the claim. A disagreement over fault or injury value raises different issues.

Some UM and SUM disputes proceed through arbitration, a process in which an arbitrator considers the evidence and decides the issues submitted. Questions about whether coverage exists may require a court’s determination. We explain which process applies and what evidence is needed.

Reasonable policy requests may include relevant medical records, an examination by a physician selected by the insurer, or an examination under oath—formal questioning answered under oath. We help clients understand and respond to those obligations while addressing requests or coverage positions that warrant challenge.

At Pazer Epstein Jaffe Fein & Gozenput, P.C., our review brings the coverage investigation and injury evidence together. We explain what is available, what remains disputed, and what the next step is intended to accomplish.