What Happens To Injured Passengers In Motorcycle Accidents?

Welcome to another edition of SJ Injury Law Facebook Live. Thank you for joining today. The purpose of our Facebook Live sessions is to educate the Facebook community, these videos are kept on file both on Facebook and other social media sites so that people can view them and get any information they could need to help them when they’re seriously injured in a car accident, truck accident, or today, we are talking about motorcycle accidents. You can reach us at claimyourjustice.com or 847-434-3555.

Last week, we talked about motorcycle accidents. General injuries and mechanics regarding motorcycle accidents. Today we’re going to be talking about when a passenger is seriously injured when riding a motorcycle. In the next session we do, we’re going to be talking about what happens when there are a group of motorcyclists riding and one or more of those motorcyclists are involved in an accident. Remember, loud pipes save lives.

Often motorcyclists have passengers. When the accident happens, and the passenger is seriously injured, what claims can the passenger make?

The passenger on a motorcycle has similar rights to a passenger in a car. They can pursue a claim for personal injuries, generally serious injuries when involved in a motorcycle accident. They can recover their medical bills, and their pain and suffering, which is the biggest component generally.

Disfigurement, which frequently happens in a motorcycle accident, a scar, or G-d forbid a lost limb, are examples of permanent disfigurement. They can make those types of claims. The claims can be made, generally, against whoever’s responsible. We had a case where a young lady was riding on the back of a motorcycle, the motorcyclist lost control of the motorcycle, and the woman skidded along the pavement. As gross as it sounds, she lost her left buttock. The word is avulsed. Those types of accidents happen.

Who can those personal injury claims be asserted against?

Sometimes it goes directly against the motorcyclist who’s operating the motorcycle, sometimes it’s against the car or truck that struck or pulled out in front of the motorcyclist. Oftentimes, you have a combination, where you have maybe the motorcycle driver is partially responsible, and the driver of the car or truck is also partially responsible.

There will sometimes be some tension because it could be the passenger’s boyfriend or girlfriend who’s driving the motorcycle, or it could be some other type of relationship. So sometimes there is a concern about pursuing that person. My advice is always to look to the future. In the future, you’re going look back and say, should I have made that claim? You’re going to want to get the compensation that you deserve for your injuries

Can a claim be made against the passenger’s uninsured motorist carrier?

That’s a great question. The general thinking would be;

“Hey, I’m not in my car. Therefore, I shouldn’t be able to maintain a claim against my own car insurance, uninsured motorist portion of the policy.”

I would encourage you to let go of that negative thinking and let us do our work to show you how we can wrap that uninsured motorist carrier into coverage for the accident, and it would apply when the person responsible doesn’t have insurance. That driver is uninsured, and if you look at the language of most policies, it would provide coverage to the passenger.

You’ve discussed underinsured motorist cases. Can you please explain that again and whether it would apply?

Sure. Let’s talk about the underinsured motorist. An underinsured motorist means that there is a claim for liability. There’s an initial insurance policy limit to attack, which is called third-party coverage, and that policy limit is not sufficient to compensate my client for their injury, pain and suffering, medical bills, disfigurement, wage loss, and things like that.

What happens is that the person who’s injured is now considered underinsured, as the name implies. As we talked about a moment ago with an uninsured motorist, you would be able to attack your underinsured motorist coverage limits for the amount that you’re underinsured in your particular type of injury. Again, we’re talking motorcycles, many of these injuries are very serious.

Contact Our Schaumburg Motorcycle Accident Lawyer

Thank you for listening. Remember, for any serious injuries suffered with an auto accident, truck accident, motorcycle accident, worker’s compensation, or slip & fall, contact us at ClaimYourJustice.com You can reach Jessica, you reach me, and you can reach us at 847-434-3555. Until our next session, have a successful week, and be safe out there. Thank you.