Legal Question in Personal Injury in Pennsylvania

Driving someone to work

Your willingness to help your fellow man is commendable, but your friend is right that you COULD get sued in an accident, either by your passenger, another driver, or (if you are convinced your passenger would never sue, then possibly)your passenger's heirs!The law will vary from state to state, but in any state I would suggest that even if you don't want to make any money from your passenger, you need to keep in mind that $30,000 can go VERY quickly in an auto accident. I would encourage you to have your passenger pay for additional insurance of up to at least $500,000 (a fatality can easily take every penny of that) to avoid the prospect of a judgement being taken out against you that would literally bankrupt you.Since you already have the first policy, the second policy really should not be all that expensive -- after all you could have a $30,000 deductible (since your first policy covers to $30,000). Compare the difference between raising the limits on your present coverage with getting an added policy with the VERY high deductible.

PA Automobile Insurance / Car pooling

There's several issues you need to think about. The mere possibility of an accident or claim should not discourage you from helping someone get to work. It's very good that you think about possible consequences and how to protect yourself and your friend. There's a number of issues:

First, 30,000 is not nearly enough coverage. That might be enough for most claims, and therefore the first 30,000 of liability coverage is the most important. But the bigger claims are very important, and I recommend at least 300,000 limits. This applies regardless of your passengers, etc.

"Full tort" in Pennsyvlania has special meaning. That deals with the protection which YOU have against other motorists; it preserves YOUR right to sue the other guy for all your pain and suffering, even if the injury is not "serious and permanent." I strongly discourage people from trying to save a few bucks with "limited tort" option; truly penny-wise and pound foolish: check the info at http://philatla.org/fulltort.htm for more about this issue.

Next, you should also have the full amount of UM/UIM coverage; this also protects YOU from other, irresponsible drivers so you can collect your own damages if the other driver is at fault, but doesn't have enough insurance.

Finally, be aware that some insurance policies may have EXCLUSIONS for car-pooling arrangements. You should ask your insurance agent about making sure that this passenger would be covered; and it's perfectly fair to ask him to reimburse you for the extra cost of a car-pooling endorsements, as well as gas money.

So, call your insurance agent and get your coverage upgraded; feel free to call me if you have any questions. (Believe me, in my job, there's nothing worse than having to tell a client that there just isn't enough insurance coverage to compensate them fairly).

The above does not constitute legal opinion and is offered for the purposes of discussion only. The law differs in every jurisdiction, andyou should not rely on any opinion except that of an attorney you have retained, who has a professional duty to advise you after being fullyinformed of all the pertinent facts and who is familiar with the applicable law.