{"id":2453,"date":"2016-02-05T19:57:17","date_gmt":"2016-02-06T01:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.usagencies.com\/?p=2453"},"modified":"2024-06-11T10:54:01","modified_gmt":"2024-06-11T17:54:01","slug":"what-does-alabamas-auto-accident-shield-law-mean-to-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.usagencies.com\/blog\/auto-insurance\/what-does-alabamas-auto-accident-shield-law-mean-to-you\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does Alabama\u2019s Auto Accident Shield Law Mean to You?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unless you\u2019ve been on trial for the serious injuries you caused another driver, you may not know about Alabama\u2019s Auto Accident Shield Law<\/a>. As a defendant before a jury, the law can work in your favor, although it\u2019s not always that clear-cut.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re being sued by another driver for an accident you caused, which resulted in serious or debilitating injuries, you\u2019re normally facing an uphill battle. However, under Alabama law, your auto liability insurance limits are inadmissible.<\/p>\n

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In other words, the jury will never hear your coverage amount mentioned, insinuated or implied by the plaintiff\u2019s attorney, because entering the information as evidence is prohibited.\u00a0 And, to do so would probably force the presiding judge to declare a mistrial.<\/p>\n

The reason for keeping your liability insurance limits from the jury at trial is simple \u2013 knowing how much they can award could result in a favorable verdict for the plaintiff. It could directly or indirectly influence the jury members to over-compensate the plaintiff,<\/p>\n

regardless of fairness. Therefore, all information about your auto liability insurance is excluded.<\/p>\n

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Conversely, it is perfectly legal for your attorney to introduce the fact that the plaintiff\u2019s health insurance paid a portion of their medical expenses. At trial, this is an often-used tactic by a defendant\u2019s attorney to minimize or argue the lack of actual damage to the plaintiff, requiring no further compensation.<\/p>\n

Although some believe not presenting a defendant\u2019s liability insurance to a jury doesn\u2019t influence the verdicts, studies have proven otherwise. When the evidence is kept from the jurors, they are more likely to return a verdict in favor of the defendant or be more conservative in the amount awarded to the plaintiff.<\/p>\n

While not wanting to cause undue financial distress for the defendant, many jurors seem unaware that a negative verdict against the defendant doesn\u2019t automatically mean they\u2019ll be compensating the plaintiff with money out of their own pocket. That\u2019s why you pay for auto insurance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On the other hand, if you only carry the state liability minimum, you could find yourself in more dire financial straits, since the lower requirements are likely to fall way short of damages a plaintiff is suing you for.<\/p>\n

This is why the growing trend among Alabama auto accident lawyers is to request bench trials rather than jury trials. Nothing changes in regards to the evidentiary standards set by the shield law. However, a judge with many years on the bench is less likely to be blinded by a defendant\u2019s ability or lack of ability to cover the damages, and base his decision on the defendant\u2019s insurance policy for remedy.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t want to find yourself in the unenviable position of having to defend yourself at trial. Should that occur, you want to be sure your auto insurance liability can cover what you need to pay the plaintiff \u2013 up to your policy limits. Don\u2019t assume it will never happen to you.<\/p>\n

Check your policy so you know that your liability limits won\u2019t cause you financial hardship in case you have a crash that is deemed your fault. It is possible to make sure that you are paying the best auto insurance rates in Alabama while still being well protected. Call USAgencies today at (800) 420-3712<\/strong> to get a free auto insurance quote to learn more. You can also request your free car insurance quote<\/a> online.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unless you\u2019ve been on trial for the serious injuries you caused another driver, you may not know about Alabama\u2019s Auto Accident Shield Law. As a defendant before a jury, the law can work in your favor, although it\u2019s not always that clear-cut. If you\u2019re being sued by another driver for an accident you caused, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2457,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,14,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-auto-accidents","category-auto-insurance","category-auto-insurance-alabama"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usagencies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usagencies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usagencies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usagencies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usagencies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2453"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.usagencies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3999,"href":"https:\/\/www.usagencies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453\/revisions\/3999"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usagencies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usagencies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usagencies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usagencies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}