The Left Turn, the Speeding Driver, and Split Limits
You are adjusting a two-vehicle collision. Your insured turned left across traffic and struck an oncoming car; the crash report cites him for failure to yield. The other driver, Alicia, was 20 mph over the posted limit, and the evidence would likely persuade a jury to assign her 20% of the responsibility. Her special damages are $42,000 in medical bills and $6,000 in lost wages; her car's actual cash value was $14,000 and she carried no collision coverage. Her 17-year-old son, Marcus, was a passenger with $15,000 in medical bills and no fault of his own. Your insured carries 30/60/25 split limits, $2,500 PIP, and 30/60/25 UM/UIM. Both claimants demand policy limits.
1. Calculate what the liability limits pay each claimant for bodily injury and property damage, showing how Texas proportionate responsibility affects each figure.
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Texas uses modified comparative responsibility: recovery is reduced by the claimant's percentage of fault, and a claimant more than 50% at fault recovers nothing.
Alicia - bodily injury. $42,000 + $6,000 = $48,000; reduced 20% = $38,400. The per-person limit is $30,000, so she receives $30,000. The $8,400 gap is a UIM claim under her own policy after the liability limits are exhausted; her own $2,500 PIP also applies.
Alicia - property damage. $14,000 × 0.80 = $11,200, paid in full from the separate $25,000 PD limit.
Marcus - bodily injury. $15,000 with no reduction; a driver's negligence is not imputed to a passenger. Paid in full, under the $30,000 per-person limit.
Limits check. BI paid = $30,000 + $15,000 = $45,000, inside the $60,000 per-accident limit, so no proration between claimants is needed. Do not pay Alicia $38,400 just because the per-accident limit has room - the cap is per person.
2. What changes if the evidence instead supports assigning Alicia 55% of the responsibility, and what must you document?
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At 55%, Alicia is more than 50% responsible and is barred from recovering from your insured. Her injury and property damage claims drop to zero on this record; Marcus is unaffected because none of his own fault is at issue.
But the percentage is a fact question, not a clerical entry. Before denying on that basis, document the evidence: independent witness statements, the crash report and any supplement, speed evidence (EDR/SDM data or reconstruction), sight lines, and the citation against your own insured. Do not derive a percentage from a single report and declare it final - state the basis, date it, and route it for review.
Also notify your insured in writing that demands exceeding his limits exist. That preserves the excess exposure on the record and protects both him and the carrier if a plaintiff later alleges a failure to settle within limits.
3. What special handling does Marcus's claim require, and what happens if his demand pushes the aggregate over the per-accident limit?
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Marcus is 17 - a minor. A release signed by a parent alone may not bind him, and settlement of a minor's claim in Texas generally requires court approval with a guardian ad litem or next friend and evidence that the settlement serves the child's best interest. Paying the parent and closing the file invites the claim to reappear when he turns 18.
Practical steps: obtain the full medical records and bills, confirm the treating physician's prognosis, structure the settlement for court approval, and confirm the limits position.
If Alicia's and Marcus's aggregate demands exceed $60,000, you cannot simply prefer whichever claimant files first. Evaluate the competing claims, consider an interpleader or court-approved allocation, and keep the insured advised of excess exposure in writing. A good-faith settlement within limits is also the insured's best protection against a later excess claim against him.