If you were injured in a car accident or other type of accident caused by someone else’s negligence, you may file an insurance claim to seek compensation for your medical expenses, property damage, and other losses. Throughout this process, you may encounter terms that you’ve never heard of, such as subrogation.
Subrogation is a common aspect of many insurance claims. An experienced personal injury lawyer can explain its role in your claim and help you through it.
What Is Subrogation?
Subrogation is the transfer of a legal right from one party to another. In the insurance context, subrogation typically refers to the transfer of a party’s right to sue or recover damages.
If you file an insurance claim with your insurer (such as for property damage following a motorcycle accident), your insurer has the right to sue the at-fault party. Your right to sue the at-fault party is transferred to your insurance company in this example.
Why Does Subrogation Occur?
Subrogation serves many purposes, including:
Holding Negligent Parties Accountable
Subrogation helps hold negligent parties liable for the harm they cause. The insurance company shouldn’t have to suffer losses because of someone else’s wrongdoing.
Premium Protections
Having subrogation allows insurance premiums to stay lower. Insurance companies can avoid getting stuck with losses they are not responsible for, and they don’t have to pass on these losses to their policyholders in the form of higher premiums. Instead, the insurance company can recuperate amounts they paid to the claimant from the responsible party or their insurer.
Prevention of Double Recovery
The subrogation process helps prevent the insured from recovering more than the actual damages they sustained. This prevents them from getting an unfair windfall due to the circumstances that they might otherwise receive by receiving payments from their insurer and the at-fault party.
The terms of subrogation are typically outlined in your insurance policy. An experienced attorney can review your policy and explain your legal rights and options under the circumstances.
Subrogation Process
Here is how an insurance claim involving subrogation would generally follow this process:
- Loss occurs: You are involved in an accident that is covered by your insurance policy.
- Filing an insurance claim: You provide proof of the accident and your losses, complete the necessary insurance forms, and file an insurance claim with your insurer.
- Insurer pays claim: Your insurance company pays the claim to you.
- Insurer assumes rights: The insurer assumes your legal right to sue the at-fault party.
- Insurer recovers costs: Your insurer pursues the responsible party to recover the money it paid for your claim.
- Your deductible is repaid: In some situations, your insurer may refund the deductible that you paid.
Below, we explain how this process works in a common example involving a car accident.
Example of Subrogation
Based on the above information, here’s an example of how subrogation would occur in real life. Let’s say that you are involved in a car accident caused by someone else’s negligence.
After the car accident, here are the steps you would follow:
- You take your vehicle in for inspection and determine that your vehicle needs $6,000 in repairs.
- You file a claim with your insurance company under your collision coverage and pay your deductible of $1,000.
- Your insurance provider pays your claim, which is $5,000 (the amount of damage minus your deductible).
- Your insurance carrier assumes your rights.
- Your insurance company pursues the at-fault party or their insurance provider to recover the money it paid on your claim.
- Your insurance provider pays your $1,000 deductible back to you.
An experienced personal injury attorney can help you through this process.
How a Personal Injury Lawyer Can Help with the Subrogation Process
Even though you are working with your insurer through this process, you will still want legal representation. Your interests are directly opposed to your insurer’s.
Your insurance company wants to minimize the amount of compensation it pays to you while maximizing the amount of compensation it recovers from the at-fault party. You want to keep as much money in your own pocket.
An experienced attorney can provide legal representation during this critical time by:
- Handling communications with the insurance company
- Helping prove how the other party was at fault
- Establishing the full extent of your injuries
- Negotiating for fair compensation
Our office offers free consultations to new clients. You can learn more about your legal rights and options in claims involving subrogation at no cost or obligation to you.
Contact the Galveston Personal Injury Lawyers at The Law Firm of Alton C. Todd Personal Injury Lawyers for Help Today
If you were injured in an accident caused by someone else, you (and your insurance company) shouldn’t have to pay the consequences. An experienced Galveston personal injury attorney from The Law Firm of Alton C. Todd Personal Injury Lawyers can represent you during the subrogation process, ensuring that your legal rights are protected.
Call us at (409) 207-9299 for your free, no-obligation consultation.
