Tort Law

Brien Roche

This page within Virginia Tort Case Law is a compilation of cases reported by the Virginia Supreme Court and summarized by Brien Roche dealing with the topic of Uninsured Motorist-Rejection of Coverage.   

2004 Atkinson v. Penske Logistics, LLC, 268 Va. 129, 596 S.E.2d 518. 

Waiver of uninsured motorist coverage higher than the statutory minimum by a single named insured on a business vehicle is binding as to all other named insureds. 

2000 Government Employees Ins. Co. v. Hall, 260 Va. 349, 533 S.E.2d 615. 

Insured signed waiver in 1992 accepting uninsured motorist limits of $30,000 as opposed to potentially available limits of $300,000. For several years thereafter, those policy limits remained in effect. The 1992 waiver was effective in regards to the accident in question which occurred many years later. 

1994 State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Weisman, 247 Va. 199, 441 S.E.2d 16. 

Trial Court correctly held that additional uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage had not been properly rejected because a written rejection of such additional coverage was not obtained from each insured named in the auto policy. 

1994 USAA Cas. Ins. Co. v. Alexander, 248 Va. 185, 445 S.E.2d 145. 

Insured who had waived higher than minimum uninsured motorist coverage in 1984 did not alter that election by failing to return coverage limit selection notice sent to him by insurer in 1990, and as such lower coverage which had existed for several years was applicable on date of accident in 1991. For purposes of determining whether uninsured motorist coverage is available, coverage afforded by all applicable policies is stacked and compared to policy limits of defendant’s vehicle. Injured person who has purchased only minimum limits of uninsured motorist coverage may still recover underinsured benefits. 

For more information on traffic collisions see the pages on Wikipedia.