Insurance pays verdicts. While lawyers are forbidden from uttering the word “insurance” in court and therefore we cannot say this out loud in trial, the law is that insurance for the defendants 100% of the time pays verdicts.
Cyclists out on the roads have insurance protection when other cyclists injure them.
That protection is through homeowners insurance. If a cyclist strikes another cyclist, then the at-fault cyclist will be able to pay for the injured cyclist’s injuries and medical care by using his homeowner’s insurance. Few people realize this, but while car insurance will protect a car driver who causes an accident, homeowner’s insurance will protect a bicycle rider who causes an accident.
Now, insurance companies are loathe to tell their policyholders any of this information, because, after all, insurance companies are FOR-PROFIT entities that are all about profit and protecting that profit. But the truth is that if you are ever involved in an accident after you were hit while riding your bicycle, the striking/offending person will pay you through their car insurance (if they were driving a car) or their homeowners insurance (if they were riding a bicycle like you.)
Here is something else that most people are not aware of: when you have to make a claim in court, you have to file a lawsuit. And when you file the lawsuit, you are not allowed to write “Auto-Owners Insurance” as the defendant or “Progressive Insurance” in the caption of the case or “Allstate Insurance Company” at the top of the page. The law says that you can never, ever, use the words “insurance” at court. Instead, when you want to make a claim, you have to actually name the person who injured you; then you give that person (through a professional process server) the lawsuit; and that person gives the lawsuit to his insurance company. So even though your case/claim is against the insurance company, the papers you file with the court and the evidence you present at trial all identifies the defendant as the individual. To be clear: the person you are suing will not pay you a dime out of his own pocket even though to the outside world it looks like he will. No, that person’s insurance company, whether his auto insurance or homeowner’s insurance, will pay you whatever judgement you win at trial.
If you have any questions about insurance, we welcome you to call us at 404-JUSTICE or contact us using our contact form.