Michael Becker (Atlanta, GA) (UM/UIM) obtained Summary Judgment on behalf of an uninsured/underinsured motorist carrier in the State Court of Gwinnett County, Georgia.
Plaintiff alleged general damages and over $100,000.00 in medical special damages, including shoulder surgery, from a motorcycle crash. According to the Plaintiff, the defendant made a U-turn in front of her and she could not stop her motorcycle in time, rear-ending the defendant. The defendant denied liability. Plaintiff sought benefits from her uninsured/underinsured motorist carrier.
At Summary Judgment, the uninsured motorist carrier argued that the Plaintiff failed to give prompt notice of the accident as required by the terms of her policy because her first notice was service of the suit almost two years later. Plaintiff countered that 1. she notified the uninsured motorist carrier five months after the accident, introducing a letter she purportedly sent but the carrier never received; 2. that the uninsured motorist carrier waived its right to contest coverage by not reserving its rights before answering; 3. that the uninsured motorist carrier was not prejudiced by the late notice; and 4. She was not aware of her underinsured status until over two years after the accident.
The uninsured motorist carrier argued in response that because the uninsured motorist carrier never received the letter, it never received notice, but that regardless five months was not prompt; that uninsured motorist carriers are not required to reserve rights before defending themselves in a suit; that the dissipation of evidence and fading of witnesses’ memories prejudiced it; and that the plaintiff knew she was underinsured within days of the accident, as evidenced by her notice to a separate uninsured motorist carrier three days after the accident.
The Court agreed and granted Summary Judgment to the uninsured motorist carrier.