Who Pays for an Auto Accident Injury in Kansas?

Our Wichita attorneys help you know your rights

When you’re injured in an auto accident in Wichita or Kansas, the consequences can be long term. The crash itself was quick. The medical expenses, lost income, and other costs you have to deal with as a result of being injured can take a while.

You need to know your rights so you can get fair and full compensation for a car accident injury in Kansas. The insurance laws are complex, and a mistake can significantly affect your case value and your future. Before you talk to the insurance adjusters, get free advice from a Wichita auto accident injury lawyer who knows how to help maximize your case value.

Is Kansas a “Fault” State for Car Accidents?

The insurance companies will tell you early on that Kansas is a “no fault” state.  Although that is true, it also can be misleading.  Kansas is also an “at-fault” or “tort” state which means that the at-fault driver (and their liability insurance) pays compensation for car accident injury victims. The no fault laws add additional protection to injury victims and these laws provide that your own insurance company (or if you don’t own a vehicle, the insurance for the vehicle you are riding in) provides Personal Injury Protection (PIP) benefits to pay for your initial medical bills and wage loss.  Unlike claims against the negligent party, these PIP benefits are paid up front.  Claims against the negligent driver’s insurance company are normally not paid until time of settlement.  There is a catch on the no fault PIP benefits in that you must have a significant injury to be able to qualify as being able to recover money for your pain and suffering against the other driver’s insurer.  You have to have at least $2000 in medical expenses to be able to bring a claim for pain and suffering against the insurer of the at fault driver.  There are some exceptions and if you have certain fractured bones or your injury has permanency, you are not required to get to $2000 in medical bills.  With the cost of today’s healthcare, it doesn’t take much treatment to get to $2000.

What Happens If You’re Partially at Fault?

Kansas is a “modified comparative fault” state with a 50% bar. That means damages (financial compensation) for a car accident are reduced if you have some fault for contributing to the wreck. For drivers, if you have 49% or less fault, you can recover, but your damages get reduced by your percentage of fault. For passengers, who don’t have fault, if two other motorists were each 60% and 40% responsible for your accident, then you would get 60% of your compensation from the first motorist and 40% from the second motorist.

The modified comparative fault rule means that you can recover as long as you aren’t equally or more at fault than the other party. If you are 10% at fault, you can recover, but your recovery will be reduced by 10%. If you are 50% or more at fault, though, you can’t recover compensation at all.

What Does Car Insurance Cover in Kansas?

Under Kansas law, all vehicles registered in the state are required to carry what’s called 25/50/25 liability insurance. This means every vehicle must have:

• $25,000 in bodily injury liability for injury or death of one person in an accident.  This covers you when you are the negligent driver having to pay others injured in the wreck.
• $50,000 total in bodily injury liability for injuries or death to multiple people in a single accident.  This covers you when you are the negligent driver and the multiple people injured are limited to the $50,000 even when there are a lot of injured people.
• $25,000 for property damage in a single accident.  This covers you when you are the negligent driver and cause damage to someone else’s vehicle.

These limits are very low and if you cause damages to someone else, it easily could turn out their damages are much higher than your coverage limits.  You could be at risk of getting sued where the other party could go after your personal property or your wages.  It is highly recommended that you purchase coverage with higher limits, as much as you can afford.

Liability auto insurance is also required to provide uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage equal to the amount of your liability coverage (unless you sign a written rejection of the higher coverage).  Liability auto insurance is also required to provide Personal Injury Protection benefits under the Kansas no fault laws , but you can optionally add other types of coverage to your policy, including:

• Collision and comprehensive – pays for damage to your car in crashes and non-crash events like fire or vandalism, respectively.
• Increased Personal injury protection (PIP) – pays for higher medical bills and higher lost income if you are injured in an accident, up to coverage you purchase.  The minimum required coverage of $4500 for medical expenses and $900 per month for wage loss up to one year rarely will cover you losses.  You can buy higher coverages and extend the time frame of wage loss coverage.
• Medical payments (MedPay) – similar to PIP but pays for medical bills only.
• Umbrella coverages – these are additional protections that cover you for losses when the damages are higher than your underlying auto policy coverage.  You can get UM/UIM coverage in some of these policies which is highly recommended because it protects you when the other driver is uninsured or has low limits of coverage, and you can collect for more serious injuries with larger damages against your own policy.

What If the At-Fault Driver Doesn’t Have Insurance?

Kansas law provides every vehicle registered or garaged in Kansas has to have auto insurance, but some drivers break the law, and it’s important to make sure you’re protected. If you have uninsured and underinsured motorist insurance on your policy, you can file a claim with your own insurance company to recover damages up to your UM/UIM policy limit. This also applies if you’re injured by a hit-and-run driver or “phantom vehicle” that is never found.

All Kansas auto insurance polices are required to at least have the minimum UM/UIM coverage.  When you collect these coverages, your insurer has a right to go after the uninsured driver to try to get their money back.

Other Possible Options to Get a Settlement

There are quite a large number of collisions where both vehicles involved end up being uninsured.  If you own a vehicle that was not involved in the collision, but you have insurance for that vehicle on the date of the accident, then you will present both PIP and UM claims against your own personal auto insurer.  If you own a vehicle with no insurance on the date of accident (even if that vehicle was not involved in the collision and even if the vehicle is not operable), you normally won’t be eligible to get the PIP benefits.  However, there may be ways to get a settlement for UM coverage.  If you are not the titled owner of a vehicle, and live with a relative who has an active auto insurance policy, you can present both PIP and UM claims against your relative’s insurance policy. 

There are occasions where you be insured in an insurance policy as an insured and you don’t even know it.  This may be the case for young adults who leave home, but their parents forget to take them off the auto insurance policy.  Or when married people go through a divorce, on occasion, the other spouse forgets to remove the prior spouse from the insurance.

If you were in a wreck where neither vehicle was insured, if you don’t have an auto policy, if you are not a titled owner of a vehicle, and if there are no auto policies on a relative that you reside with, the last option is getting PIP benefits through the Kansas Auto Assigned Claims Plan, which protects non-owners in the event there is no other insurance, however, this option only gets you the  minimum of $4500 towards medical bills, and $900/month of wage loss, up to one year, while a doctor has you off work.

The last resort is suing the negligent uninsured driver directly.  The majority of drivers are judgment proof.  This simply means they probably don’t own anything that you can go after.  Getting a judgment against an individual doesn’t mean you are going to collect against the individual.  Most personal belongings are protected from a lawsuit.  You can’t take a person’s car, home, furniture, retirement plan, or even their jewelry (to a certain level).  You can spend a lot of money on legal fees to try and collect, but if you don’t collect, you are even further in the hole.  Most injury lawyers will not go after an individual without being sure the person has non-exempt assets that are worth going after. 

You need an experienced injury lawyer to pursue car accident compensation because we can investigate and identify every possible source of compensation for your losses. Get the Brian and Brian Advantage when trying to figure out how to collect!

What Does Insurance Cover If You’re Not at Fault?

Depending on the extent of your injuries, your car accident could be worth hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. Damages include:

• Medical bills, medication, medical devices, surgery, physical therapy, ongoing care, and future probable medical expenses.
• Lost wages and lost future earnings if can’t work or can’t do your regular job.
• The reasonable cost of replacement services, such as childcare, maintenance, or yard work, that you cannot perform due to your injuries.
• Modifications to your home or vehicle to accommodate a disability.
• Pain and suffering, mental anguish, disability, disfigurement, inconvenience, loss of time, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of consortium for your spouse (noneconomic losses).
• Property damage, including the diminished value of your vehicle.

For example, if you sustained back, neck, shoulder, leg or arm pain after a car accident, your claim should include not only the past medical treatment but also for any medical treatment a doctor confirms is likely in the future due to you injuries. If the auto accident makes it likely that you will need future back or neck surgery, that cost needs to be itemized and claimed.

The Way to Maximize Your Case Value Is to Hire an Experienced Car Accident Injury Lawyer

You only get one opportunity at compensation for pain after a car accident in Kansas. Once your case settles, even with just a verbal agreement to settle, you can’t back out of that settlement later. Your damages need to be fully investigated and explored by an experience injury lawyer to quantify all of your damages, past and future.

Don’t make the mistake of getting a low quick settlement in the days after your wreck.  Seek full compensation for your car accident injury with a knowledgeable, reputable injury lawyer. Contact PISTOTNIK LAW today for a free consultation with an experienced Wichita car accident injury attorney.