By Marc Robert Steinberg, Esquire
Managing Partner
When your insurance agent asks if you want the Limited Tort Option on your vehicle insurance, respond with a firm "No!"
If you have already selected Limited Tort, change your election, in writing, and advise your agent you want Full Tort coverage. The driving public is hurt by Limited Tort, yet you will not realize it until you or a family member are injured in an accident caused by a negligent driver.
The driving public is unaware of the devastating effect of the Limited Tort Option they are invited to select on their motor vehicle insurance policies to save a few dollars.
In response to the outcry for tort reform, our legislature, along with other state legislatures, passed tort reform legislation, which was supposed to roll back auto insurance premiums in exchange for giving up the right to sue. The theory was that insurance companies were losing money; if they could provide less expensive insurance, the number of lawsuits would decrease.
The number of lawsuits have decreased but not because the driving public understood the rights they were signing away in order to pay a few dollars less for their auto insurance.
Who can remember a decrease in auto insurance rates? It is true you will pay less for Limited Tort, but you also get what you pay for. You cannot bring an action or lawsuit against the driver who crosses the center line of the roadway and hits you head on - unless you die, lose an arm or leg, have terrible scarring, or are disabled as a result of the accident. Rates have increased, not decreased.
Don't let this happen to you. Protect yourself and your loved ones with the proper insurance. Full Tort.
