Underinsured Motorist Motorcycle Claims in New Orleans, LA Limits, Selection Forms and Economic-Only Coverage

The limits the state actually requires

Revised Statute 32:900 sets the minimum motor vehicle liability limits at fifteen thousand dollars for bodily injury to one person, thirty thousand dollars for bodily injury to two or more persons in one accident, and twenty-five thousand dollars for property damage. Those are floors, not typical policies, and they were not written with a rider's trauma bill in mind. When an at-fault driver carries the minimum, the shortfall is not a negotiating problem; it is a coverage problem, and the answer is either another liability layer or the rider's own underinsured motorist coverage.

How the coverage is required, waived or reduced

Revised Statute 22:1295 requires uninsured and underinsured coverage in an amount not less than the bodily injury liability limits of the policy, unless a named insured rejects it, selects lower limits, or selects economic-only coverage. Those choices are valid only on a form prescribed by the commissioner of insurance and signed by the named insured or a legal representative. A form properly completed and signed creates a rebuttable presumption that the insured knowingly rejected or reduced the coverage. Rebuttable is the operative word. A form that is incomplete, unsigned or missing puts the presumption out of reach for the insurer.

The retention duty, and why it matters to a rider

The same statute requires the insurer to verify that the form was completed and to retain it, and it states that the insurer may not delegate the duty to retain the form to the producer of record. In practice that means the document controlling whether coverage exists is in the carrier's file, not the rider's. Requesting a certified copy of the declarations pages and the selection form early is the difference between a coverage assumption and a coverage fact. Selections made years before, sometimes when a different vehicle was insured, still govern.

Economic-only coverage is narrower than most people assume

Where economic-only coverage was selected, the statute excludes noneconomic loss, described as general damages including pain, suffering, inconvenience and mental anguish. For a rider with fractures, a road rash grafting course or a head injury, that exclusion removes the category that usually carries the largest part of a serious claim. The economic side still responds: medical expenses, wage loss and similar measurable items. Discovering the distinction at the end of treatment rather than at the outset changes nothing about the policy but changes a great deal about expectations.

Stacking, layers and the order of payment

More than one policy may respond in a rider's file: the at-fault driver's liability coverage, an employer's policy if the driver was in the course of employment under Civil Code article 2320, a resident relative's policy, and the rider's own coverage. Each has its own limits and its own conditions. Revised Statute 22:1269 permits an action against the insurer in enumerated circumstances that expressly include an uninsured motorist carrier, and it provides that filing against the insured interrupts prescription as to all insurers whose policies cover the claims asserted. Identifying every layer early is what keeps that provision useful.

Consent, releases and the mistake that ends the claim

Settling with a liability carrier and signing a broad release can compromise a later claim against an underinsured motorist carrier, because the release may extinguish rights the second insurer would otherwise pursue. Policies commonly require notice and consent before any such settlement. Reading those conditions before signing is not optional. The corresponding deadline is fixed by Revised Statute 9:5629, which prescribes actions on uninsured motorist coverage two years from the date of the accident, a period measured from the crash rather than from the moment an insurer says no.

What the carrier's own clock requires

Revised Statute 22:1892 sets timing on the insurer's side. A claim due an insured must be paid within thirty days after receipt of satisfactory proofs of loss. Third-party property damage and reasonable medical expense claims are due within thirty days of a written settlement agreement. Loss adjustment on a property damage claim must begin within fourteen days of notification of loss, outside catastrophic loss. Those windows are only provable with dates, so every submission, demand and proof of loss belongs in a written log with delivery confirmation attached.

What this page does not do

This is a general explanation of published Louisiana insurance provisions, not an opinion on whether a particular policy provides coverage or on what any claim is worth. Coverage answers depend on the policy forms, the endorsements and the selection documents actually in the insurer's file. Those documents should be reviewed with the attorney who advertises on this site before a release is signed or a demand is made.