Personal Injury Settlements are supposed to be, but don’t always feel like, “fair compensation” for your injuries.

Why Consider Settlement?

Personal Injury cases can only resolve one of two ways, though a settlement or a verdict after a Trial in front of a Judge or Jury.

There are several advantages to Settlement including certainty of the result, cost savings and time savings. Settlement allows you to control the result rather than risk what a jury would do after a Trial. It also saves the expense of further litigation which reduces your net recovery. A Settlement also saves your time and emotional energy that would be expended preparing for and attending Trial.

A Settlement is meant to be “fair compensation” for your injuries, but really fairness could only be achieved by turning the clock back, forcing the defendant to be more careful and responsible and preventing the accident and your injuries.

Why Go To Trial?

Your only alternative to Settlement is Trial. If you feel that the insurance company’s final offer is not fair and you are willing to expend the time and energy and risk getting less, then it is your right to take your case to a Trial.

Tim Rayne is a Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyer with the Chester County Pennsylvania law firm MacElree Harvey. Tim has law offices in Kennett Square and West Chester Pennsylvania and also meets with clients at their homes or remotely via FaceTime or Zoom. You can Contact Tim at 610-840-0124 or trayne@macelree.com or check out his Website at www.TimRayneLaw.com.

In 25 years as a practicing Personal Injury and Car Accident Lawyer, the most important advice I’ve ever given is for Pennsylvania residents to purchase ample Uninsured and Underinsured Coverage on their Pennsylvania Car Insurance Policies.

Uninsured/Underinsured Coverage (UM/UIM) is optional, meaning you can waive and don’t have to buy it.

Nevertheless, it’s critical to have UM/UIM Coverage because it protects you and your family members who live with you if you happen to be injured in a vehicle related accident caused by someone else who has no insurance or not enough insurance to fully compensate you for all of your injuries and damages.

UM/UIM coverage is relatively inexpensive too.

Please check your Car Insurance Policy to make sure that you have at least $100,000 or, preferably $500,000 or $1 Million, to fully protect yourself and your family.

Tim Rayne is a Pennsylvania Car Accident Lawyer who helps accident victims understand their legal rights and receive fair treatment from insurance companies. Contact Tim if you have questions about your rights after being seriously injured in a Car Accident at 610-840-0124 or trayne@macelree.com.

In 2022, for the 8th consecutive year, Tim Rayne has been named to the Top 100 List for Pennsylvania by Super Lawyers.

The Super Lawyers Selection Process

Each year, the research team at Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters rating service and publication, selects outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas through a rigorous, multi‐phase process that includes:

• a statewide survey of lawyers
• an independent evaluation of candidates by the attorney-led research staff
• a peer review of candidates by practice area
• a good-standing and disciplinary check

Candidates are evaluated on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement, including verdicts and settlements; honors and awards; special licenses and certifications; pro bono and community service efforts; and scholarly lectures and writings.

The ultimate objective of Super Lawyers is to create a credible, comprehensive and diverse list of outstanding attorneys that can be used as a resource for other practitioners and consumers searching for legal counsel.

Approximately 5% of the Pennsylvania Bar received the Super Lawyers distinction.

In addition to Tim Rayne, 17 other MacElree Harvey Pennsylvania lawyers were named as either Super Lawyers or Rising Stars.

Super Lawyers Top 100 in Pennsylvania

Once all of the Super Lawyers are named for a particular year, there is a further review process that leads to the selection of the Top 100 Super Lawyers in Pennsylvania.

Although Tim is honored to receive recognition like the 2022 Super Lawyers Top 100 in Pennsylvania designation from his peers, what he is really passionate about is telling his clients’ stories to insurance adjusters and juries to make sure that they are fairly compensated after being injured in accidents.

Tim Rayne is a Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyer who helps Pennsylvania Accident Victims understand their legal rights and receive fair compensation from insurance companies. For over 25 years, Tim has been negotiating settlements with insurance companies and trying Jury Trials inside and outside of Pennsylvania. Tim has law offices in Kennett Square and West Chester, PA and meets with clients in their homes or remotely via FaceTime or Zoom. You can contact Tim at 610-840-0124 or trayne@macelree.com.

When you buy Car Insurance in Pennsylvania Uninsured/Underinsured Coverage is Optional as is “stacking” of Uninsured/Underinsured Benefits. It’s critical to do both; buy substantial amounts of UM/UIM Coverage and Stack those Benefits.

Why?

Uninsured/Underinsured Coverage is critical to have because it protects you, the people who ride in your car and your family members who live with you if any of you sustain an injury in a car accident caused by someone else who doesn’t have any car insurance (Uninsured) or doesn’t have enough car insurance (Underinsured) to pay for the injuries and damages they cause (medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering etc.).

Having Uninsured/Underinsured Coverage allows you to make a compensation claim against your own insurance company to be compensated above what the responsible driver has to pay from his insurance. And, the Uninsured/Underinsured Claim won’t increase your insurance rates because you paid for the coverage.

What is “Stacking?

“Stacking” does two things, it allows you to combine UM/UIM Benefits in multiple car insurance policies (Inter-Policy Stacking) and it allows you to multiply UM/UIM Benefits in a multi-car policy (Intra-Policy Stacking).

Inter-Policy Stacking

Sometimes more than one Car Insurance Policy will apply to an accident. If that is the case and you choose Stacking on your Policy, then you can get extra UM/UIM Benefits.

Here’s an example. Assume that you are riding in a friend’s car and are seriously injured by another driver who has no insurance. Your first source of Uninsured Benefits (UM) would be the vehicle you are riding in. Assume that your injuries are worth $500,000 and your friend only has $100,000 of UM coverage on the car you were riding in. Then assume that you have $300,000 of UM coverage on your Car Insurance. If you chose Stacking, then you can also make a claim for $300,000 on your own UM Coverage. Stacking allows you to make claims on both policies.

Intra-Policy Stacking

Stacking also multiplies the amount of UM/UIM Coverage by the number of vehicles insured on a multi-vehicle policy. If you have 4 vehicles on your Car Insurance Policy and $300,000 of UM/UIM Coverage, then Stacking multiplies the coverage by 4 resulting in $1.2 million of UM/UIM Coverage.

Then, if you or a family member is injured by an Uninsured or Underinsured driver, you can make a claim for compensation up to the stacked coverage amount.

Benefits of Stacking

As you can see, Stacking offer essential benefits in both single vehicle and multi-vehicle policies. For these reason, I strongly encourage you to Stack UM/UIM Benefits. There is increased cost to do it by it’s well worth it!

Tim Rayne helps Car Accident Victims understand their legal rights and receive fair compensation from insurance companies. Contact Tim at 610-840-0124 or trayne@macelree.com or check out his website at www.TimRayneLaw.com.

Property owners have a responsibility to maintain their properties so as not to allow dangerous conditions to exist which can cause injuries to people on the property or adjacent to the property.

One of those duties for property owners who own trees is to conduct a reasonable inspection of the trees and to trim or remove dead trees to avoid the risk of the tree or limbs falling and injuring someone.

In my legal career, I’ve had two case where falling trees caused injuries and led to legal liability.

In the first one, my client was a young lady who was visiting a farm and on a haunted hay ride when a large tree limb fell and landed on her leg, causing a serious fracture. The tree had been dead for a long time such that the property owner should have taken it down and the failure to do so made it legally liable for my client’s injuries.

The other case involved a residential property owner who allowed dead trees to remain in the woods which were immediately adjacent to a public road. My client suffered injuries when as he was driving by the property one of the trees fell and struck his car. Again, the property owner was legally liable for failing to inspect and trim or remove the dead trees.

Property Owners Must Maintain Their Properties to Avoid Liability

The bottom line is whether it’s your trees, your house, your pool, your driveway or any other part of your property, you have a responsibility to inspect and maintain your property to avoid legal liability.

At the same time, it is important to maintain adequate Liability Insurance on your property so that if something unexpected occurs and you get sued for injuries, an insurance company will have to pay to defend you and pay compensation to the injured person.

In both of the cases I mentioned above, the property owners had insurance and the insurance company defended the property owner and paid compensation to the injured people.

For more information on your legal rights after an accident, contact Tim Rayne at 610-840-0124 or trayne@macelree.com or check out his website www.TimRayneLaw.com.

If you ride a motorcycle in Pennsylvania it’s critical for you to carry Underinsurance Coverage to make sure that you are fully compensated if you are seriously injured in a Pennsylvania motorcycle accident.

Injuries from motorcycle accidents are usually serious and often the car or truck driver responsible for causing the crash will not have enough insurance coverage to pay for your injuries and damages. Serious injuries lead to high medical bills, lost income, lots of pain and suffering and often long term disability.

Fair compensation can be hundreds of thousands of dollars or more.

If the responsible driver doesn’t have enough liability coverage, then you need to rely on your own Underinsurance Coverage on your motorcycle in order to be fairly compensated.

I recommend that you purchase at least $500,000 of Underinsurance Coverage to make sure that you are fully compensated.

Tim Rayne is a Personal Injury and Motorcycle Accident Lawyer who can assist you with understanding your legal rights and receiving fair treatment from insurance companies. Tim can be reached at 610-840-0124 or trayne@macelree.com or you can check out his website at www.TimRayneLaw.com.