Automobile liability insurance is mandatory in the State of South Dakota. According to South Dakota law any owner of a vehicle must have a policy of insurance which covers bodily injury in the amount of $25,000 per person / $50,000 per accident.
Today the minimum amount of liability insurance of $25,000 is often grossly insufficient to cover the medical bills and injuries incurred from an accident. Medical bills arising from injuries from a motor vehicle accident often exceed the amount of liability insurance. If you are involved in an accident caused by someone else and suffer serious injuries and the party that caused your injuries has only a minimum liability policy of $25,000, you may be limited in recovering only the amount of the policy. This becomes a significant problem if your medical bills and injuries exceed the amount of the insurance.
As such it is very important to protect yourself by purchasing a policy that will protect you in case of a serious accident. For example if you are injured in an accident and your medical bills are $50,000 but the person who injured you only has a liability policy of $25,000, unless you have a policy of coverage exceeding that amount, you may be limited to a maximum recovery from the person who injured in the amount of $25,000. However, if you are covered with a policy of insurance greater than the minimums in the amount of $100,000 you will be able to recover up to $100,000 for your medical bills and injuries. Thus, by carrying a policy of insurance greater than the minimum’s the state requires you are protecting yourself from being unable to recover lost wages, medical bills and compensation for pain and suffering and permanent injury in the event of a serious accident.
We recommend you carry a policy of insurance that will sufficiently protect you in the event of a serious accident. If you are injured in an accident let us help you recover the maximum amount for your injury! Here at Alvine Weidenaar, LLP we are always passionately “Fighting For the Injured”.