Minnesota no-fault insurance coverage is governed by Minnesota Statutes, Sections 65B.41 to 65B.71 (referred to as the Minnesota No-Fault Automobile Insurance Act). Under Minnesota’s no-fault auto insurance law, a driver involved in a car accident has a right to payments from his or her insurance company for basic economic loss, whether or not the driver was at fault for the accident.
According to the Minnesota No-Fault Automobile Insurance Act, insurance companies covering automobile accidents in Minnesota must “provide for a minimum of $40,000 for loss arising out of the injury of any one person, consisting of: (1) $20,000 for medical expense loss arising out of injury to any one person; and (2) a total of $20,000 for income loss, replacement services loss, funeral expense loss [$2,000 limit], survivor’s economic loss, and survivor’s replacement services loss arising out of the injury to any one person” (Minn. Stat. Sec. 65B.44(a)). This is minimum coverage. You may have paid for additional coverage. Also, if your losses are over these amounts, and you were less than 50% at fault for the accident, you may seek compensation from the at-fault driver and his or her insurance company.
Medical Expenses under Minnesota no-Fault Insurance Coverage Law
Minnesota no-fault auto accident law outlines covered medical expenses, which include the following “reasonable” expenses:
- Medical, surgical, x-ray, optical, dental, chiropractic, and rehabilitative services,
including prosthetic devices; - Prescription drugs;
- Ambulance and all other transportation expenses incurred in traveling to receive other covered medical expense benefits;
- Sign interpreting and language translation services, other than such services provided by a family member of the patient, related to the receipt of medical, surgical, x-ray, optical, dental, chiropractic, hospital, extended care, nursing, and rehabilitative services;
- Hospital, extended care, and nursing services. (Minn. Stat. Sec. 65B.44); and
- Rehabilitative services, subject to certain provisions of the law.
Income Loss under Minnesota No-Fault Insurance Coverage Law
Under Minnesota no-fault law, disability and income loss benefits shall provide compensation for 85 percent of the injured person’s loss of present and future gross income from inability to work proximately caused by the nonfatal injury subject to a maximum of $250 per week.
The law specifically addresses situations where the injured person is self employed, unemployed, and able to do substitute work but chooses not to work.
Replacement Service Loss Benefits under Minnesota No-Fault Insurance Coverage Law
According to Minnesota no-fault law, “replacement service loss benefits shall reimburse all expenses reasonably incurred by or on behalf of the nonfatally injured person in obtaining usual and necessary substitute services in lieu of those that, had the injured person not been injured, the injured person would have performed not for income but for direct personal benefit or for the benefit of the injured person’s household” (Minn. Stat. Sec. 65B.44).
Special provision has been made for full-time homemakers. The no-fault law defines such a person as person who, “normally, as a full time responsibility, provides care and maintenance of a home with or without children” (Minn. Stat. Sec. 65B.44). The benefit to be provided under the law shall be the reasonable value (not more than $200/week) of such care and maintenance or the reasonable expenses incurred in obtaining usual and necessary substitute care and maintenance of the home, whichever is greater. Additional restrictions apply.
Car Accident Death Cases and Minnesota No-Fault Insurance Coverage Law
Minnesota no-fault law provides for benefits for families in the event of death occurring within one year of the date of a Minnesota car accident. The benefits include economic loss benefits (Minn. Stat. Sec. 65B.44, subdivision 6) and replacement services loss (Minn. Stat. Sec. 65B.44, subdivision 7).
Survivors Economic Loss Benefits
Minnesota no-fault survivors economic loss benefits are subject to a maximum of $200 per week and “shall cover loss accruing after decedent’s death of contributions of money or tangible things of economic value, not including services, that surviving dependents would have received from the decedent for their support during their dependency had the decedent not suffered the injury causing death.” A “surviving dependent” may be a spouse or child, depending on the facts of the case. Contact an auto accident attorney at Pritzker | Olsen, P.A. for a free consultation.Survivors Replacement Services Loss
Minnesota no-fault survivors replacement services loss benefits are also subject to a maximum of $200 per week and include “expenses reasonably incurred by surviving dependents after the date of the decedent’s death in obtaining ordinary and necessary services in lieu of those the deceased would have performed for their benefit had the decedent not suffered the injury causing death, minus expenses of the survivors avoided by reason of the decedent’s death.”
