Has Your Automobile Insurance Company Taken Away Your Constitutional Rights?

The right to trial by jury has been recognized as early as New Jersey’s original Constitution of 1776. The right was reaffirmed in the 1844 Constitution and was carried over to our current Constitution adopted in 1947. N.J.Const. art. 1, ¶ 9. The Constitution guarantees the right to trial by jury as it existed at common law; the right traditionally attaches in legal, but not equitable, actions.

Your right to a Jury Trial may have been sold to your insurance company without your knowledge.

If you have unknowingly elected the Limited Right to Sue Option in your Automobile Policy then you may have lost some of your Constitutional Rights. Have you limited your right to seek compensation for the pain and suffering that was inflicted upon you by an irresponsible party? If you cannot answer this question then the answer is probably “yes.”

Ask your insurance company why you have the Limitation on Lawsuit Option (Verbal Threshold) in your automobile insurance policy and ask them why you don’t know that such a limitation exists in your policy. You will be surprised to learn that you could have avoided this (verbal threshold) trap had your insurance company told you, up front, that for a small increase in your premium you could have elected an unlimited right to pursue compensation for pain, suffering and future medical expenses.

The Limited Right to Sue Option may prevent you or your child from having your case decided by a jury. The insurance companies who defend these cases routinely try to dismiss victims’ claims by arguing that the injuries suffered at the hands of a careless driver do not arise to the level of a serious enough injury to warrant a jury trial. By electing the Limited Right to Sue Option you have agreed to limit your right, and your children’s right, to sue unless one of the following injuries have been sustained: death, dismemberment, significant scarring or disfigurement, displaced fractures, loss of a fetus or a permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability.

Severe pain and resulting disability from an injury that the insurance doctor says is not “permanent” is not compensable, regardless of how long the anguishing pain lasts.

If you are sitting at a traffic light, minding your own business and following the rules of the road and someone carelessly slams into your car because they were too busy with their cell phone and you are caused to suffer for months or years, you may not be entitled to compensation because you have sold your rights.

Call the Attorneys at R.C. Shea & Associates for a free evaluation of your automobile insurance policy.