Our client was broadsided by an uninsured teenage driver at a Pasadena, TX intersection. What kept the case from becoming a dead end was a decision he had made long before the crash: carrying a $1 million uninsured and underinsured motorist policy on his own vehicle.
What Caused The Crash
The client was driving his truck straight through a green light when the other driver, a 17-year-old with no insurance, turned left directly into his path. He tried to brake, but there wasn’t enough time or distance to avoid the impact. The other driver’s car took the hit across its entire passenger side.
The client was not alone in the vehicle. Several family members riding with him were hurt as well, and the crash was serious enough that all of them needed treatment. The client suffered pain in his upper back and both shoulder blades. Handling crashes like this aren’t unusual for a Pasadena car accident lawyer, where commuter traffic regularly mixes with industrial and commercial routes.
Why This Case Came Down to Coverage, Not Fault
The other driver was clearly at fault, but being at fault doesn’t help an injured person if the at-fault driver has no insurance to pay for it. A 17-year-old with no policy behind him left little to pursue directly.
This is where uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, often called UM or UIM coverage, becomes the difference between a claim that goes somewhere and one that doesn’t. It’s coverage a driver carries on their own policy specifically for situations where the other driver has no insurance or not enough of it. The client had secured a $1 million UM/UIM policy, which meant his own insurer, not the teenage driver, was the party responsible for paying his claim.
How Joe I. Zaid & Associates Pursued the Claim
Once our firm confirmed the other driver had no coverage and UIM coverage existed, the case shifted to a direct claim against the client’s own UM/UIM policy. The firm documented his back and shoulder injuries and the treatment they required, then pursued the claim against his insurer with the same intensity it would use against any other company trying to minimize a payout. Working through a coverage dispute like this is something our Houston car accident lawyers handle often, especially when the other driver has no insurance to pursue.
The $435,000 Result
The claim settled for $435,000, funded entirely through the client’s own uninsured motorist coverage. Without that policy in place, a serious accident caused by an uninsured driver could have left him with medical bills and no practical way to recover them. This result is one of several case outcomes the firm has secured for injured clients across the Houston area. Past results, including this settlement, do not guarantee a similar outcome in a future case, since every claim depends on its own facts, insurance coverage, and injuries.
Uninsured drivers are a real risk on Texas roads, and the coverage a person carries on their own policy can matter as much as anything the other driver has. Anyone unsure what their own UM/UIM coverage looks like, or who was hit by a driver with no insurance, can reach out to our firm to go over what options may be available.
