The start of the New Year is the most common renewal time for Pennsylvania Car Insurance. As a Car Accident Lawyer, I see clients make crucial mistakes in choosing Car Insurance Coverages that limit their legal rights.

Here are the Top Three Car Insurance Coverages you need to protect the legal rights of you and your family members who live with you.

Liability Coverage

Liability Coverage protects you if you cause a Car Accident and hurt someone or damage property. Pennsylvania only requires minimal Liability Limits of $15,000 per person and $30,000 per accident for Bodily Injury and $5,000 for Property Damage. However, the minimal limits will not adequately cover you for a serious accident and will put your personal assets in jeopardy.

So, I recommend that you have Liability Limits of at least $250,000 per person and $500,000 per accident for Bodily Injury and $100,000 for Property Damage. You should also consider purchasing an Umbrella Liability Policy of $1 Million or more which can provide additional protection at low cost.

Full Tort Not Limited Tort

In Pennsylvania, you need to choose Full Tort or Limited Tort on your Car Insurance. Full Tort costs extra, but protects your full legal rights to compensation after a Car Accident.

With Limited Tort, you get a discount on the cost of your coverage, but you sacrifice important legal rights to compensation after being injured in a Car Accident caused by someone else. Unless you suffer a “Serious Injury,” you cannot recover non-economic damages like “pain and suffering.”

Because Limited Tort drastically limits your legal rights, I always recommend you choose Full Tort.

Uninsured and Underinsured Coverage

One of the biggest risks you and your family members face is being seriously injured or killed in a Car Accident involving a driver who is Uninsured or drastically Underinsured. The good news is that you can protect yourself and your family by purchasing High Uninsured and Underinsured Coverage which allows you to make a claim for compensation against your own coverage and be fully compensated without having your rates increase.

I recommend High Uninsured and Underinsured Limits of at least $250,000 per person and $500,000 per accident or more. Also, if you have a multi-vehicle policy, I recommend that you “stack” your Uninsured and Underinsured Coverage which multiplies the coverage by the number of vehicles.

If it’s renewal time (and even if it’s not) check your Car Insurance Policy and make sure that you have these important coverages. In addition, if you’d like a Free Review of your Coverages email me a copy of your Insurance Declarations to trayne@macelree.com.

The Subsequent Remedial Measures Evidence Rule provides that, under most circumstances, a Defendant’s act of fixing a dangerous condition cannot be used as Evidence.

Rule 407 titled “Subsequent Remedial Measures” states:

When measures are taken by a party that would have made an earlier injury or harm less likely to occur, evidence of the subsequent measures is not admissible against that party to prove: Negligence; culpable conduct; a Defect in a product or its design; or a need for warning or instruction. But the court may admit this evidence for another purpose such as impeachment or – if disputed – proving ownership, control or feasibility of precautionary measures.

So in a trip and fall case if a property defect causes an injury and then after the Owner is sued the Owner corrects that condition, usually evidence of the correction cannot be used against the Owner in the lawsuit.

The rationale behind the Subsequent Remedial Measures Evidence Rule is that the Law wants to encourage, not discourage safety. If safety measures such as after the fact corrections can be used against a Defendant in Court, then Defendants could be discouraged from making corrections.

Tim Rayne is a Pennsylvania Personal Injury Lawyer with offices in Kennett Square and West Chester. For over 30 years, Tim has been helping accident victims understand their legal rights and receive fair treatment from Insurance Companies, Judges and Juries. Contact Tim at 610-840-0124 or trayne@macelree.com or check out his website at www.TimRayneLaw.com.

Pennsylvania has long required drivers and passengers to buckle up their Seat Belts and for good reason. It’s been proven that Seat Belts save lives.

However, there is a little known and you might say Crazy part of Pennsylvania’s Seat Belt Law which prohibits the failure to wear a Seat Belt as evidence in any Civil Personal Injury lawsuit.

Here’s what the law says:

Limitation on evidence.

Evidence of failure to wear a seat belt system or child passenger restraint system shall not be admissible in a civil action or proceeding, nor shall failure to wear a seat belt system or child passenger restraint system be considered as contributory negligence nor admissible as evidence in the trial of any civil action.

At first glance that part of the law might seem illogical and contradictory. But, in reality, it makes sense.

Why Does the Seat Belt Law Contain this Provision Which Prohibits the Evidence of No Seat Belt Use?

If someone violates a law, then it can be argued that their violation is Negligence and can be held against them in a Civil Lawsuit.

So, when the Seat Belt law is violated and someone gets hurt, absent a law prohibiting the introduction of the evidence, the failure to wear a Seat Belt could be used against the injured person.

This would have multiple consequences. First, it would help the person who caused the car collision by giving them a potential defense (“the Seat Belt Defense”) that injuries could have been avoided or lessened by the victim wearing a Seat Belt.

Second, it would hurt the victim by weakening the injury claim against the responsible party.

Third, it would complicate the car accident case by making the testimony of Biomechanical Engineers and Doctors necessary to prove or rebut the Seat Belt Defense.

The Pennsylvania Legislators recognized these issues and decided that they would require Seat Belt use, but, at the same time, would not allow people who cause vehicle accidents to use a Seat Belt Defense.

So, although it seems contradictory, there is some logic behind the law.

Tim Rayne is a Pennsylvania Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyer. For more than 30 years, Tim has been helping accident victims understand their legal rights and receive fair treatment from insurance companies. Tim has law offices in Kennett Square and West Chester Pennsylvania. If you are injured in an accident, contact Tim for more information on your legal rights to fair treatment and compensation at 610-840-0124 or trayne@macelree.com or check out his website at www.TimRayneLaw.com.

Effective on June 5, 2025, “The Paul Miller Law” bans almost all hand-held cell phone and electronic use while driving in Pennsylvania – including when you might think it’s safe, like stopped at a red light or stuck in traffic.

Designed to combat Distracted Driving and passed in memory of 21 year old Paul Miller who died when a tractor trailer driver was distracted on a cell phone, the new law drastically limits cell phone use while driving.

What Cell Phone and Electronic Use is Banned?

The law prohibits “driving” while “using an interactive mobile device” with the following definitions:

• Defines driving as operating a motor vehicle on a highway, including anytime the motor vehicle is temporarily stationary because of traffic, a traffic control device (e.g., a traffic light or stop sign), or other momentary delay.
• Defines the use of an interactive mobile device as using at least one hand to hold, or supporting with another part of the body, an interactive mobile device, dialing or answering an interactive mobile device by pressing more than a single button, or reaching for an interactive mobile device that requires a driver to maneuver so that the driver is no longer in a seated driving position, restrained by a seat belt.

What are the Penalties?

Written warnings rather than tickets and fines will be issued for one year. Starting on June 5, 2026, violators will face a $50 fine, court costs and fees. If a Distracted Driver is convicted of Homicide by Vehicle, a violation of The Paul Miller Law may face an additional 5 years in Prison.

What Conduct is Not Banned?

A driver may use an interactive mobile device if the driver moves the vehicle to the side of or off a highway and halts in a location where the vehicle can safely remain stationary. The hands-free law allows for an emergency use exception if it is necessary to communicate with a law enforcement official or other emergency service to prevent injury to persons or property.

The texting ban does NOT include the use of a GPS device, a system or device that is physically or electronically integrated into the vehicle, or a communications device that is affixed to a mass transit vehicle, bus or school bus. The law does not authorize the seizure of an interactive wireless device.

Tim Rayne is a Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyer with MacElree Harvey, Ltd For over 30 years, Tim has been helping accident victims and their families understand their legal rights and receive fair treatment from Insurance Companies. Tim has law offices in Kennett Square and West Chester, Pennsylvania and can be reached at 610-840-0124 or trayne@macelree.com or you can check out his website at www.TimRayneLaw.com.

Just one foot left and she would have died when a rotten tree fell and landed on her car.

This would have been a tragedy – and a preventable one that would have likely resulted in a Multi-Million Dollar Lawsuit.

And the crazy part is that it happened right here in Kennett Square, Chester County Pennsylvania.

Property Owners’ Tree Maintenance Responsibilities

Property owners have a legal responsibility to maintain their properties so that they do not have any dangerous conditions that could cause foreseeable injuries to people on the property and also to motorists on adjacent roadways.

What that means regarding trees is that property owners have an obligation to inspect their trees and if they are dead, they present a risk of falling and injuring people on the property or motorists driving on roadways near the property. Those dead trees must be pruned or removed or else an injury can occur and the property owner can face legal liability.

Two Tips for Property Owners – Maintain Trees and Buy Liability Insurance Including an Umbrella Policy

To avoid liability for falling trees, property owners should inspect their trees every Spring. If, by the end of May, leaves are not growing on a tree or a limb, that tree should be removed or the limb should be pruned. Leaving that tree standing presents a risk of causing serious injury or death and facing a multimillion dollar lawsuit.

In addition, every property owner should make sure that they have adequate Liability Insurance to cover accidents on or adjacent to the property, including injuries or death caused by falling trees. Most property insurance Liability coverage is limited to $100,000 or $300,000. So, you should also consider buying an Umbrella Policy to cover claims that exceed that initial Liability coverage. I recommend that you consider purchasing a $1 Million or $2 Million Umbrella Policy which will likely cost between $500 and $1,000.

Two Falling Tree Cases

In my career, I have handled two falling tree cases.

In the first one, my client was attending a haunted hayride at a Chester County farm when a huge tree limb fell on her leg, causing a serious fracture that required surgery. We hired a tree expert who determined that the tree was long dead so the insurance for the farm owner paid my client fair compensation.

The second case involved a tree that fell on my client’s car as he was driving down Chester County roadway. He suffered a significant shoulder injury from the impact when the tree landed on his car. Just like the first case, we hired a Arborist who determined that the tree had been dead for many years. Again, the insurance for the property owner eventually paid my client a fair settlement.

If you have any other questions about your potential liability as a property owner or the insurance that you should purchase to protect your assets, or if you have the misfortune of being injured by falling tree, please contact Tim Rayne for more information at 610-840-0124 or trayne@macelree.com or check out his website www.TimRayneLaw.com.