Also known as: uninsure · uninsures · uninsuring · uninsured motorist
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A party that lacks the insurance coverage required by statute or contract for the risk at issue. The absence of coverage triggers statutory remedies such as uninsured-motorist benefits or exposes the party to direct liability.
Husband and wife retain the same firm for their personal-injury claims and the uninsured-motorist claim against their own insurer. When the wife later sues the husband for the same accident, the firm is disqualified even though the husband purports to waive the conflict. The court finds the prior joint representation created non-consentable adversity and confidentiality risks.
O'Keeffe discovers several paintings missing from her studio. Because the works were uninsured, she receives no insurance proceeds and must rely solely on a replevin action against a subsequent purchaser to recover them.
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After Hague dies in an accident with an uninsured motorist, his widow sues Allstate under three separate policies. Minnesota permits stacking of the uninsured-motorist limits while Wisconsin does not. The choice-of-law issue turns on whether the decedent was uninsured at the time of the crash.
A lawyer learns that a teenager was injured when her car was struck by an uninsured motorist. The lawyer contacts the family at the hospital and offers to pursue both the tort claim and the uninsured-motorist claim under the family's own policy.
Congress enacts the ACA individual mandate to induce otherwise uninsured citizens to purchase health insurance. The mandate imposes a penalty on those who remain uninsured, thereby shifting costs that the uninsured would otherwise impose on the insured population.
Hobby Lobby, a closely held corporation, objects to providing contraceptive coverage under the ACA because its owners believe such coverage would render them complicit in providing insurance to employees who might otherwise remain uninsured for those services.
A tortfeasor is uninsured if the tortfeasor carries no liability insurance, the policy does not cover the claim, or the insurer is insolvent. The insured must still prove the tortfeasor's legal liability to recover UM benefits.
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Yes. In most states a written rejection by the named insured binds all persons insured under the policy, including family members.
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Yes. When a firm jointly represents family members and their insurer in a personal-injury and uninsured-motorist matter, an actual conflict arising when one client sues another can require disqualification even if some clients purport to waive the conflict.
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The ACA individual mandate was designed to prevent uninsured individuals from shifting uncompensated care costs onto the insured population through higher premiums.
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…the decedent held a policy issued by petitioner Allstate Insurance Co. covering three automobiles owned by him and containing an uninsured motorist clause insuring him against loss incurred from accidents with uninsured motorists. The uninsured motorist coverage was limited to $15,000 for each automobile.[^maj-3] After the accident,…