Philadelphia Injury Attorney Blog

As an experienced Philadelphia personal injury attorney, I am confronted with clients who come into my office after a catastrophic automobile accident and they tell me that they have full automobile insurance coverage. Unfortunately, many times there is a car accident resulting in a fatality and the family is left without funds to pay for a proper funeral and when they look at their insurance policy, they learn that they are not covered for death benefits. Approximately once a week I am visited by clients involved in a Philadelphia car accident who believe that they have full coverage, including but not limited to full tort insurance coverage. Most of the time, these individuals were sold minimal policies by insurance agents that contain anything but full coverage.

Recently, an unfortunate story came across the wires involving the Mullen family in Athens, Pennsylvania who found out the hard way that their insurance did not cover them for death benefits. In that case, Missy Mullen’s daughter, Stephanie Mullen, was killed in a car accident on State Route 4014 in Smithville Township, Pennsylvania approximately one month ago. Missy Mullen learned that Stephanie’s Pennsylvania auto insurance policy did not have death benefits. The $5,000 cost for Stephanie’s funeral was paid by family and friends. Stephanie was cremated and now her ashes lay in a box on her bed at home and her family is in need of an additional $2,500 for the burial. Missy Mullen stated that she wanted more people to be aware of their insurance coverage so they would not have to go through something like this. (news article)

In most states, car insurance policies contain death benefits. However, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania only liability medical is required. We urge all of you to carefully examine your policies and if you have any questions regarding coverage, please do not hesitate to contact us for a free consultation.

If you or a loved one has been catastrophically injured in an accident, please contact us at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.