Medical Malpractice Statute of Limitations Tolled by Insurance Code Section 11583

  Determining when the statute of limitations expires is not always easy. This is particularly true in medical malpractice cases which are governed by two Code of Civil Procedure sections: 340.5 and 364. Additionally, other statutes may act to toll the applicable statute of limitations. One such statute is Insurance Code section 11583. It provides that the applicable statute of limitations is tolled when advance or partial payment is made to an injured and unrepresented person without notifying him of the applicable limitations period. Continue reading

Underinsured Motorist Coverage: Pedestrian Not an Insured

  Underinsured motorist insurance covers the insured who is injured by an automobile even if the insured is a pedestrian. However, the statutorily required underinsured motorist coverage is specifically limited to the “insured.” If a person is not the insured, there is no statutorily required underinsured motorist coverage.

  In Berendes v. State Farm a pedestrian was struck and killed by an automobile. She was a rated and listed driver on an insurance policy which named her father as the insured and which covered an automobile owned by her father. She was not an insured under the statutory definition and therefore the statutorily mandated underinsured motorist coverage was unavailable to her heirs. Continue reading