Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

Car accident - stacking insurance policies
2 months ago I was in a car accident with three friends. We were hit by uninsured illegal immigrants and my friend's car was totaled. She suffered a broken wrist and I had a laceration which needed stitches and left a scar. My insurance covers me for $30,000/Person, $60,000/Accident. Her insurance covers her for $15,000/Person, $30,000/accident. Her husband's insurance (he was the driver and it was her car) has the same limits and they are both with allstate. I have a different insurance carrier. My insurance adjuster told me that I am only covered for a total of $30,000 because that's what my limits are. I can't collect an additional $15,000 from the Allstate policy. I have to first collect $15,000 from allstate and then the remaining $15,000 from my insurance. However, my friend contacted an attorney and was told that you CAN stack the policies. She can collect $15,000 from her Allstate policy and $15,000 from her husband's. They are not on each other's policies, so how can they do this and I can't stack my policy with the allstate policy?

Asked on 5/28/04, 1:54 am

2 Answers from Attorneys

Lyle Johnson Bedi and Johnson Attorneys at Law

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Re: Car accident - stacking insurance policies

You cannot stack policies. In your case you can collect $15000 from the policy of either the driver or the owner's policy. That amount is deducted from the amount of your damages. Thus if your damages are $20000 you could collect the additional $5000 from your policy. However if your damages are $90000, the $15000 you collected it deducted from the Policy limit of your insurance and then you get the remainder upto either the policy limit or to the full amount of your damages, which ever is less.

Answered on 6/08/04, 9:34 pm

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