Springfield Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Claims

Some of the most serious crash cases we handle in Hampden County never involve suing the other driver, because the other driver had no insurance, fled, or carried limits that a single night at Baystate Medical Center would exhaust. Those cases run through your own auto policy instead. We are Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers, a Boston-based injury firm that represents people across Massachusetts, including Springfield and the rest of Hampden County. Uninsured and underinsured motorist claims are coverage you already paid for, pursued against an insurer that evaluates your injuries the way any defendant would. The consultation is free, you pay no attorney's fee unless we recover for you, and case expenses are set out in a written fee agreement before we start. You can also visit our broader Springfield car accident page.

Uninsured motorist coverage, Part 3 of the standard Massachusetts policy, is mandatory. It pays for bodily injury caused by a driver with no insurance, a driver who was never identified, or a driver whose insurer denies the claim or becomes insolvent. For policies written or renewed on or after July 1, 2025, the required minimum is $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident; older policies still in their term may carry the prior $20,000 and $40,000 minimums, and you can buy more than the minimum, usually for a modest premium. Two rules surprise people. First, the standard policy requires a hit-and-run to be reported to the police within 24 hours, and your insurer must be notified promptly as well. Massachusetts courts have held that late notice defeats a claim only when the insurer can show it was actually prejudiced, but nobody should litigate that question voluntarily; report it the same day. Second, physical contact is not required. The Supreme Judicial Court held in Surrey v. Lumbermens Mutual that a phantom driver who runs you off the road without touching your car can still trigger UM coverage. What the policy does demand is corroboration that the unidentified vehicle existed and caused the crash, beyond your own account. Witnesses, camera footage, and a prompt, consistent report are how that gets proven.

Underinsured motorist coverage, Part 12, is optional, and in serious cases it often matters more. It applies when the at-fault driver is identified and insured, but their limits cannot cover your injuries. The trigger is a comparison of limits: UIM is available only when the at-fault driver's bodily injury limits are lower than your own UIM limits. The coverage then fills the gap between those two numbers. If the at-fault driver carried $25,000 and you carry $100,000 in UIM, the coverage makes up to $75,000 more available, and what it actually pays depends on your proven damages and any offsets. If your UIM limits merely equal the other driver's liability limits, UIM adds nothing, which is why we tell everyone we know to check their declarations page before they ever need it.

One more Massachusetts rule: policies do not stack. Since the 1988 reforms, when more than one policy could apply, you cannot add the limits together. Which policy responds depends on your situation. If you occupied a vehicle, the policy on that vehicle is generally first in line, but a passenger who carries their own Massachusetts policy with UM or UIM coverage may be required to look to their own policy first. Household policies covering resident relatives can also come into play, and insurers regularly dispute who counts as a resident, from college students to separated spouses. Sorting the priority correctly, and pulling every household declarations page early, is one of the first things we do in these cases. Two exclusions catch people off guard: a vehicle you own but did not insure, and a motorcycle you own that is not listed on the policy, can each take you outside the coverage you thought you had.

Both coverages pay for bodily injury only. Damage to your car runs through your collision coverage, a separate part of the policy, and we manage both claims so neither gets lost.

If your UIM claim follows a settlement with the at-fault driver, do not sign their release without your own carrier's written consent. The standard policy protects the insurer's right to recover from the at-fault driver, and under Massachusetts case law an unauthorized settlement can defeat the UIM claim if the insurer shows the settlement materially prejudiced that right. Whether the insurer could make that showing in your case is not a question worth testing; the consent request is a letter, and we send it in every UIM case.

Here is what consent does not require: you do not have to squeeze the at-fault driver's policy to the last dollar before turning to UIM. Massachusetts allows you to settle with the at-fault driver for less than their limits, with your carrier's consent, and proceed with the UIM claim. The tradeoff is a credit: your UIM carrier gets to treat the at-fault driver's full limits as paid, whether or not you actually collected all of it. Run correctly, that sequence trades a small credit for months of saved time. Run incorrectly, it invites a coverage fight, which is why the order of operations matters more in these cases than in almost any other claim we handle.

UM and UIM claims arise from your insurance contract, and that has a consequence most people never hear about: the statute of limitations is generally six years, the contract period, rather than the three years that governs a tort claim against the driver. That extra time can rescue a claim, but the underlying tort deadline still controls any claim against the at-fault driver, so we calendar both from day one.

Disputes over fault and damages in UM and UIM claims are decided by arbitration rather than a jury, under the procedure Massachusetts law builds into the policy. Disputes over whether coverage exists at all go to court. Arbitration changes tactics, not substance. We prepare arbitrations the way we prepare trials: liability evidence, treating physician opinions, wage documentation, and a damages presentation that does not depend on sympathy. Your policy also imposes duties on you, including prompt notice, cooperation, authorizations for pertinent medical records, and sometimes an examination under oath, and we prepare clients for each step rather than letting the insurer set the terms.

Your insurer is entitled to scrutinize the claim and to contest issues in good faith. What it may not do is drag out a claim where liability and damages have become reasonably clear. Massachusetts holds insurers to the claim-handling standards of M.G.L. c. 176D, enforceable through a c. 93A demand, and those statutes apply to how a carrier treats its own policyholder. We use them when claim handling crosses the line.

The same benefits and thresholds that govern any Massachusetts crash claim apply here. PIP pays up to $8,000 per person toward medical bills, lost wages at 75 percent, and replacement services, with the usual health insurance coordination. To recover for pain and suffering, your case must clear the tort threshold: reasonable and necessary medical expenses in excess of $2,000, or a qualifying injury such as a fracture. The UM or UIM claim then covers medical care past and future, lost earnings and diminished earning capacity, and pain and suffering, up to the applicable limits. PIP payments and certain other offsets reduce what the coverage pays, and we account for every offset before valuing a demand so there are no surprises at the end. If the crash happened while you were working, workers' compensation pays first, and the coordination rules split: comp holds a lien on any recovery from the at-fault driver, while your UM or UIM benefits are instead reduced by an offset for what comp paid. Sorting that interplay, along with any commercial policy on the work vehicle, comes before anything settles.

Notice deadlines, consent letters, settlement credits, offsets, arbitration: these claims are decided by details most people have no reason to know. Contact Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers today for a free, confidential case review, and let us get the order of operations right from the start.

This page is attorney advertising and general information, not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.