Getting hit by a driver with no insurance shouldn’t mean walking away with nothing. But without the right coverage in place, that’s exactly what can happen. Louisiana has one of the highest uninsured driver rates in the United States, and Kenner residents who understand how uninsured motorist coverage works before an accident happens are in a far stronger position than those who discover the gap after the fact.
How Widespread the Uninsured Driver Problem Is
According to the Insurance Research Council, Louisiana consistently ranks among the states with the highest percentages of uninsured motorists on the road. Estimates put the figure at nearly one in five Louisiana drivers operating without the liability coverage the law requires.
This isn’t an abstract statistic for Kenner residents navigating Jefferson Parish roads and Interstate 10. It means that in any significant accident, there’s a real probability the at-fault driver isn’t carrying insurance. Without UM coverage on your own policy, the path to compensation in that scenario becomes significantly harder.
What Louisiana Requires of Insurers Regarding UM Coverage
Louisiana law under Louisiana Revised Statute 22:1295 requires insurance companies offering automobile liability coverage to also offer uninsured motorist coverage to their policyholders. Insurers must offer UM coverage at limits equal to the bodily injury liability limits in the policy.
Policyholders can reject UM coverage or select lower limits, but they must do so in a signed, written rejection that complies with specific statutory requirements. These requirements are strict, and insurers who fail to obtain a properly executed rejection cannot enforce it, meaning UM coverage may still apply even if the insurer claims the policyholder waived it.
This is worth examining carefully if you were in an accident and your insurer is denying a UM claim on the grounds that you waived coverage. Whether the waiver was properly executed under Louisiana law is a specific legal question.
How UM Coverage Works in Practice
When a Kenner resident is injured by an uninsured driver, they make a claim against their own policy’s UM coverage rather than against the at-fault driver’s insurer. The claim process works similarly to a standard liability claim, but it’s made to the injured person’s own insurer.
UM coverage pays for:
- Medical expenses related to the accident
- Lost wages during recovery
- Pain and suffering and other non-economic damages
- Property damage in some policy structures
The limits of what UM pays depend on the policy. A policyholder with $50,000 in UM coverage and $150,000 in actual damages can recover up to $50,000 from their UM policy and pursue the at-fault driver personally for the remainder, though that pursuit is often limited by the driver’s lack of assets.
A Kenner personal injury lawyer reviews both the at-fault driver’s coverage situation and the injured person’s own policy from the beginning of the case to identify every available source of compensation.
When the At-Fault Driver Has Some but Not Enough Coverage
Underinsured motorist coverage applies when the at-fault driver has liability insurance, but those limits are insufficient to cover the injured person’s actual losses. UIM works similarly to UM: the injured person makes a claim against their own policy for the gap between what the at-fault driver’s insurance paid and the full value of the claim, up to the UIM policy limits.
Understanding when and how UM and UIM coverage interact with a liability claim, and how to present that claim effectively to your own insurer, is one of the practical functions an experienced attorney handles throughout the claims process.
Kiefer & Kiefer has represented Kenner and Jefferson Parish injury victims in uninsured and underinsured motorist claims for decades. If you were injured by a driver who had no insurance or insufficient coverage, reach out to a Kenner personal injury lawyer to understand what coverage is available and how to pursue it effectively.
