Third-party versus first-party claims THIRD-PARTYAT-FAULT DRIVER’S LIABILITY POLICYPAYS AFTER FAULT + DAMAGESARE ESTABLISHEDFIRST-PARTYYOUR OWN POLICY · MED PAY · UM/UIMSTEPS IN WHILE FAULT ISDISPUTED OR COVERAGE IS THIN

Fig. 1 — Two claims, two contracts: third-party against the at-fault driver's policy; first-party on your own.

Two claims, two contracts

  • Third-party claim — against the at-fault driver's liability policy. It pays only after fault and damages are established, and it pays what is owed up to the policy limits.
  • First-party claim — on your own policy: medical payments coverage where carried, and uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage, which steps in when the at-fault driver has no or insufficient coverage. UM coverage is required on California policies unless waived in writing (Insurance Code §11580.2).

How insurance reads a soft-tissue claim

Soft-tissue claims are read through three lenses, and the record answers each:

  1. Causation — does the timeline tie the injury to the collision? The first evaluation, the dated symptom log, and the absence of a long gap between collision and complaint.
  2. Consistency — do the exam findings, the grade, the imaging, and the progress notes tell one story? The grading and imaging files explain the pieces.
  3. Course — does the recovery follow the expected arc for the grade, and is the record continuous through it? The timeline file states the ranges the course is measured against.

The statutory frame

  • Coverage minimums — Insurance Code §11580.1b requires every policy to provide minimum liability coverage; Vehicle Code §16056, as amended by SB 1107, raised those minimums to $30,000 bodily injury per person, $60,000 per accident, and $15,000 property damage for policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025.
  • Reporting — Vehicle Code §20008 requires the SR-1 report to the DMV within 10 days for qualifying collisions.
  • Filing deadline — Code of Civil Procedure §335.1 gives two years from the date of injury to file a personal-injury lawsuit. Exceptions exist; applying them to a specific case is a lawyer's job.

What this desk does not do

No settlement figures, no valuation calculators, no averages. The value of any claim is established the slow way — liability, documented damages, negotiation — and any number quoted without that record is a guess wearing a decimal point. What the record does, this desk explains; what the claim is worth, it does not.

Early offers are early. An offer made before the course of the injury is documented prices an incomplete record. Whether to accept any offer is legal advice — this desk gives none.