When you purchase Car Insurance in Pennsylvania, you have several choices to make that impact both your legal rights and the legal rights of the family members who live with you.

One of the most important choices you have to make is whether to choose Full Tort or Limited Tort. The choice impacts your premium payment but also impacts your family’s right to be compensated after someone is injured in a car accident caused by someone else.

Why Choose Full Tort?

Full Tort costs more than Limited Tort (on average about 10 percent more) but it protects your full legal rights to compensation after an accident caused by someone else.

Whoever was injured in the car accident and is covered by Full Tort can make a claim to be fully compensated. Full compensation means money for both Economic and Non-Economic Damages. Economic damages include money for medical bills, lost income and out-of-pocket costs. Non-Economic Damages include compensation for Pain and Suffering, Disability, Scarring and Disfigurement and other harms that are more difficult to quantify but are also real damages.

Why Limited Tort is a Problem?

Limited Tort costs less than Full Tort but it jeopardizes important legal rights.

With Limited Tort, you can recover Economic Damages but Non-Economic Damages cannot be recovered unless the person injured in the accident suffered a “Serious Injury” or a Limited Tort Exception applies.

“Serious Injury” is defined as Death, Serious Permanent Disfigurement or Serious Impairment of Bodily Function.

So, it is very common for someone to sustain significant injuries in a car accident but to be barred from recovering Non-Economic Damages because of a Limited Tort election.

Under certain circumstances, people can be covered by Limited Tort but still be entitled to full compensation based upon a Limited Tort Exception. Common exceptions include being injured as a pedestrian, bus passenger or bike rider, being injured by an out-of-state driver, or being injured by a drunk or uninsured driver.

In the end, Full Tort is more expensive coverage but protects your full legal rights. If you are injured and have Limited Tort it’s important to get legal advice to see if an Exception applies or if you meet the Serious Injury threshold.

Tim Rayne is a Pennsylvania Personal Injury lawyer with the law firm MacElree Harvey. Tim has law offices in Kennett Square and West Chester. For over 25 years, Tim Rayne has been helping Car Accident victims receive fair treatment from insurance companies. Tim can be contacted at 610-840-0124 or trayne@macelree.com or you can check out his website at www.TimRayneLaw.com.

The first Philadelphia Roundup Cancer Trial has resulted in a $175 Million Verdict against Monsanto.

On October 27, 2023, a Philadelphia Jury decided that Monsanto’s weed killer Roundup contained chemicals that caused the plaintiff Ernest Caranci’s cancer and that it was liable for a huge damage award for Compensatory and Punitive Damages.

Caranci’s lawyers argued that Roundup contains a combination of multiple toxic chemicals which caused Caranci to contract non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The verdict was comprised of $25 Million in Compensatory Damages for the harm to Caranci and $150 Million in Punitive Damages to punish and deter Monsanto for what the Jury found to be outrageous conduct.

Other Roundup Trials against Monsanto have had a wide range of results from Verdicts in favor of Monsanto to Plaintiff Verdicts up to $2 Million.

Some Roundup claims are subject to a huge Toxic Tort Settlement while other claims remain pending in various courts, including Philadelphia.

If you or a loved one has used Roundup for a prolonged period and has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, you should reach out to a lawyer to learn about your legal rights. Beware that there are strict time limits for filing claims.

Tim Rayne is a Personal Injury Lawyer with the Pennsylvania and Delaware Law Firm MacElree Harvey and can be reached at 610-840-0124 or trayne@macelree.com or you can check out his website at www.TimRayneLaw.com.

Yes, there is still time.

The deadline for filing a Camp Lejeune Toxic Water Injury Claim is August 10, 2024.

The Camp Lejeune Justice Act was passed on August 10, 2022 and the two year Statute of Limitations is two years.

Consequently, injured victims of the Camp Lejeune Water Contamination or the heirs of deceased victims have until August 10, 2024 to file their legal claims in Court.

What Should Camp Lejeune Toxic Water Victims Who Live in Pennsylvania Do?

If you live in Pennsylvania do you have a right to present a claim on your own behalf or for a relative who has died as a result of the Camp Lejeune Water Contamination? The answer: Yes, if you meet the lawsuit criteria.

Our Pennsylvania Law Firm is helping Camp Lejeune victims and their families who live in Pennsylvania but want to know about their Camp Lejeune Water Contamination rights and want an experienced North Carolina Trial Lawyer to represent them. We are working jointly with North Carolina counsel to ensure that our Camp Lejeune clients have both a local lawyer to hold their hand and walk them through the process from here in PA and North Carolina Trial Lawyers to litigate the claims in the North Carolina Courts.

What are the Criteria to have a Valid Camp Lejeune Water Contamination Claim?

The following are the Criteria for a viable Camp Lejeune Water Contamination Case:

• Lived on the Camp Lejeune Base in North Carolina for at least 30 days between 1953 and 1987
• Subsequently suffered from a serious medical condition including Cancer, Fetal Death/Miscarriage, Birth Defects, Parkinson’s or other serious illness; and
• Link between the contamination and medical condition.

If you or a family member meets the above Criteria, then you should consider investigating your legal rights to compensation from the Camp Lejeune Justice Act. The United States Congress passed this Act and set aside funds to help Camp Lejeune victims and their families.

How Much Will We Charge to Investigate and Pursue Your Camp Lejeune Water Contamination Claim?

There are no up front fees or costs charged to investigate or pursue your claims.

Both our Law Firm and the lawyers we work with in North Carolina handle Camp Lejeune Water Contamination Claims on a Contingent Fee basis. The Fee is contingent on recovery, so if you don’t recover, no fees are owed. Our fees are a percentage of the recovery and are paid out of the recovery, not out of your pocket.

Contact Tim Rayne at 610-840-0124 or trayne@macelree.com to discuss whether you meet the criteria for filing a claim under the Camp Lejeune Justice Act.

Spoliation is a legal term that means the wrongful destruction of or failure to preserve relevant evidence.

If a party has reason to know that litigation is likely to occur, then the party has an obligation to preserve potentially relevant evidence and the failure to do so can result in penalties in the litigation.

In a Slip and Fall case, a common example of Spoliation would be the failure to preserve security video capturing a Slip and Fall incident as well as what occurred before and after the Slip and Fall.

The destruction of or failure to preserve such video could be deemed Spoliation and could result in penalties including an instruction to the Jury that they can assume that, if preserved, the video would have shown events that were unfavorable to the Defendant.

For more information on Personal Injury Topics or to get a Free Evaluation of your Personal Injury Case, Contact Tim Rayne at 610-840-0124 or traynemacelree.com or check out his website at www.TimRayneLaw.com.

If you make a mistake and cause a Car Accident that injures someone, then your Car Insurance Company has two responsibilities: Defense and Indemnity.

Car Insurance Duty to Defend

The first duty that your Car Insurance Company has is to take over defending you from any claims.

Before a Lawsuit is filed in Court, your Car Insurance Company will assign one or more adjusters to investigate your accident and value and negotiate claims.

If a Lawsuit gets filed against you, then your Car Insurance Company must pay to hire a lawyer to defend the Lawsuit.

Car Insurance Duty of Indemnity

In addition to providing you with a defense regarding any claims arising out of the accident, your Car Insurance Company also has a duty to pay fair compensation to the victim to make up for injuries and damages, but only up to the amount of Liability Coverage that you purchased.

In Pennsylvania you pay for two types of Liability Coverage, Property Damage and Bodily Injury. Property Damage pays for damages to other vehicles or things and Bodily Injury pays for injuries to people.

In Pennsylvania, drivers are required to carry at least $5,000 in Property Damage coverage and Bodily Injury coverage of at least $15,000 per person/$30,000 per accident, but you can (and should) choose to purchase much higher amounts.

If you cause a Car Accident, then your Car Insurance Company must negotiate in Good Faith with the injured person and pay fair compensation for Property Damage and Injuries up to the amount of coverage. If the claims are worth in excess of the coverage, then you may face claims against your personal assets.

If you feel that your Car Insurance Company is not negotiating in Good Faith with the victim, you can tell the attorney or adjuster or you can hire your own lawyer to protect your assets.

Ultimately, if your insurance company fails to settle the claims against you within your policy limits and the trial results in a verdict in excess of your coverage, then you may have a Bad Faith claim against your insurance company to force it to pay the excess verdict and other damages.

You can learn more about Car Insurance issues by downloading my Free Book – Protecting Your Family From Accidents or contact me at trayne@macelree.com or 610-840-0124. Check out my website at www.TimRayneLaw.com.