Car insurance claims in Wyoming

Wyoming is an at-fault state whose compulsory package is the leanest on any US row in this dataset. «No owner of a motor vehicle currently required to be registered … shall operate or permit the operation of his motor vehicle without having in full force and effect a motor vehicle liability policy in amounts provided by W.S. 31-9-405(b), a bond in amounts provided by W.S. 31-9-102(a)(xi) or, when applicable, in amounts as required by W.S. 31-20-107(b) and (c)», the offence being «a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than six (6) months, a fine of not less than five hundred dollars ($500.00) nor more than one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500.00), or both» — with the statutory defence that «excusable neglect or mistake by another is a defense for any violation of this subsection» and an exemption for a nonresident’s vehicle registered in a state not requiring insurance (§ 31-4-103(a)). A driver who cannot show proof at a stop has seven days to produce it under subsection (b). The amounts are twenty-five thousand dollars for bodily injury to or death of one person, fifty thousand for two or more subject to the one-person limit, and TWENTY thousand — not twenty-five — for injury to or destruction of the property of others in any one accident. NOTHING READ COMPELS FIRST-PARTY MEDICAL OR INCOME BENEFITS, and Wyoming does not even require that such cover be OFFERED, which is where it differs from South Dakota’s mandatory offer under § 58-23-7.

Shared fault is governed by § 1-1-109, and three features of it matter more than the headline percentage. Contributory fault does not bar recovery where the claimant’s fault «is not more than fifty percent (50%) of the total fault of all actors», so a crash apportioned fifty-fifty still recovers half, with damages «diminished in proportion to the amount of fault attributed to the claimant». The denominator is the total fault of all ACTORS, and an actor is anyone «whose fault is determined to be a proximate cause … whether or not the actor is a party to the litigation», so an absent or unidentified driver’s share counts. And «each defendant is liable only to the extent of that defendant’s proportion of the total fault», which means Wyoming apportions severally: a defendant found thirty per cent at fault pays thirty per cent, and the claimant carries the shortfall if a co-defendant cannot pay. The court must inform the jury of the consequences of its apportionment — the opposite of South Dakota, where disclosing the plaintiff’s percentage by special interrogatory is forbidden. The limitation periods are simple by comparison: four years from accrual for BOTH injury and vehicle damage, in the same subdivision of § 1-3-105(a)(iv), with one year carved out for assault, battery, libel and slander. NO PERIOD IS PUBLISHED FOR A SUIT ON YOUR OWN POLICY: § 1-3-105(a)(i)’s ten years for «an action upon a specialty or any contract, agreement or promise in writing» is the longest first-party period this dataset has read, but whether a Wyoming court applies it to a motor policy or a UM claim rather than treating the claim as statutory under (a)(ii)(B)’s eight years has not yet been verified against a primary text and is not stated here.

The claim clock is a single forty-five days and it is unusually demanding. «Claims for benefits under a property or casualty insurance policy shall be rejected or accepted AND PAID by the insurer or its agent designated to receive those claims within forty-five (45) days after receipt of the claim and supporting bills» (§ 26-15-124(b)). One sentence covers the decision and the payment, the days are unqualified and so calendar days on the face of the statute, and the trigger is the claim and the BILLS rather than a formal proof of loss. If the insurer «refuses to pay the full amount of a loss covered by the policy» and «the refusal is unreasonable or without cause», a court giving judgment for the claimant «may also award a reasonable sum as an attorney’s fee and interest at ten percent (10%) per year» (§ 26-15-124(c)) — a fixed statutory rate, printable where New Mexico’s «one and one-half times the prime lending rate» is not.

NO ACKNOWLEDGEMENT DEADLINE IS PUBLISHED FOR WYOMING, AND THAT IS A FINDING RATHER THAN A GAP. The unfair claims settlement practices section was read end to end, all seventeen subdivisions, and NOT ONE CONTAINS A NUMBER OF DAYS: the duties are «failing to acknowledge and act reasonably promptly upon communications with respect to claims», «failing to adopt and implement reasonable standards for the prompt investigation of claims», «failing to affirm or deny coverage of claims within a reasonable time after proof of loss statements have been completed», «not attempting in good faith to effectuate prompt, fair and equitable settlements of claims in which liability has become reasonably clear» and «failing to promptly provide a reasonable explanation of the basis in the insurance policy … for denial of a claim» — reasonableness standards throughout, and all of it limited to conduct done «with such frequency as to indicate a general business practice», so a single delay is not itself a violation (§ 26-13-124). The forty-five days of § 26-15-124 attach to acceptance, rejection and payment, NOT to acknowledgement, and the fifteen-working-day figure Nebraska, Arkansas and West Virginia share is expressly not borrowed. The Department’s own rules at rules.wyo.gov were not opened, so this row does not claim no administrative timetable exists — only that none was read. Two subdivisions of § 26-13-124 are checkable against your own file: an insurer may not delay by requiring a preliminary claim report and THEN a formal proof of loss containing substantially the same information, and it may not make known a policy of appealing arbitration awards to pressure claimants into taking less.

Uninsured-motorist cover must be in every Wyoming policy «unless coverage is provided therein or supplemental thereto, in limits for bodily injury or death as provided by W.S. 31-9-102(a)(xi)», for «the protection of persons insured thereunder or legally entitled to recover damages from owners or operators of uninsured motor vehicles» — and TWO DETAILS ARE EASY TO GET WRONG. The limits are FIXED at 25/50/20 by the cross-reference to § 31-9-102(a)(xi), not set at your own policy’s bodily-injury limits as in South Dakota and Hawaii. And «the named insured may reject the coverage» with NO WRITING REQUIREMENT ON THE REJECTION ITSELF: the writing attaches to a later request to put the cover back, since «unless the named insured requests the coverage in writing, the coverage need not be provided in or supplemental to a renewal policy where the named insured had rejected the coverage in connection with the policy previously issued to him by the same insurer» (§ 31-10-101). That is the same shape as Arizona’s § 20-259.01, and WYOMING UM MUST NOT BE DESCRIBED AS «REJECTED IN WRITING»; the field is «optional» in this dataset’s Florida sense. The cover reaches an insured vehicle «where the liability insurer thereof is unable to make payment with respect to the legal liability of its insured within the limits specified therein because of insolvency» (§ 31-10-102), but that insolvency protection «is applicable only to accidents occurring during the policy period in which the uninsured motor vehicle coverage is in effect» (§ 31-10-103), and on subrogation the paying insurer takes the proceeds of any settlement or judgment «including the proceeds recoverable from the assets of the insolvent insurer» while its right of recovery «shall not include any rights against the insured of the insolvent insurer» (§ 31-10-104) — so a claimant paid on UM after the other driver’s insurer fails does not expose that driver personally.

WHAT CHAPTER 31-10 DOES NOT DO IS MANDATE UNDERINSURED-MOTORIST COVER AT ALL. The chapter consists of four sections only — §§ 31-10-101, 31-10-102, 31-10-103 and 31-10-104 — read end to end, the chapter ending immediately before «CHAPTER 11 – IDENTIFICATION OF VEHICLES», and no section mandates, defines or mentions underinsured-motorist coverage; § 31-10-102 extends «uninsured» only to the INSOLVENCY case. So the gap above a minimally insured driver’s 25/50 limits is not filled by the statutory scheme, and a reader who assumes Wyoming UM covers it is wrong on these sections. Whether any insurance-code section requires an OFFER of underinsured cover was not established. After a crash THERE IS NO DOLLAR REPORTING THRESHOLD IN WYOMING AT ALL — the trigger is disability of the vehicle. Notice must be given «immediately by the quickest means of communication» to the local police within a municipality, otherwise «to the nearest office of the state highway patrol or to the office of the county sheriff», but only where the accident results in «injury to or death of any person» or «property damage to the extent the vehicle, excluding bicycles or any other vehicle moved solely by human power, is so disabled as to prevent its normal and safe operation» (§ 31-5-1105(a)–(b)). ANY DOLLAR AMOUNT ATTACHED TO WYOMING REPORTING IS AN IMPORT: none appears in §§ 31-5-1101 to 31-5-1107, and the shape is Quebec’s, Manitoba’s and Saskatchewan’s rather than any US state’s in earlier rounds. AND THE DRIVER’S WRITTEN REPORT NO LONGER EXISTS: § 31-5-1106(a) and (b) both read «Repealed By Laws 2013, Ch. 102, § 3», and what survives is the officer’s duty — «every police officer who investigates a motor vehicle accident shall forward a written report of the accident to the highway department within ten (10) days after his investigation» on the same injury-or-disabled-vehicle trigger, expressly including the case where the disability only becomes apparent «after the motor vehicle has been moved from the scene» (§ 31-5-1106(c)). So a Wyoming driver owes immediate notice and NO WRITTEN REPORT.

The scene duties are graded by outcome. Where there is injury or death the driver «shall immediately stop the vehicle at the scene … but shall then forthwith return to and in every event shall remain at the scene … until he has fulfilled the requirements of W.S. 31-5-1103», and failing to do so brings «imprison[ment] not more than one (1) year, fined not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000.00), or both»; where the collision results «only in damage to a vehicle or other property which is driven or attended by any person» the same stop-and-remain duty applies as a plain misdemeanour (§§ 31-5-1101, 31-5-1102). The content of the duty is in § 31-5-1103: give name, address and registration number, «upon request and if available exhibit his driver’s license» to the other party «and to any police officer at the scene of or who is investigating the accident», and «render to any person injured in the accident reasonable assistance, including the carrying, or the making of arrangements for the carrying, of the person to a physician, surgeon or hospital» where treatment is apparently necessary or is requested — with NO dollar threshold. For an unattended vehicle, «locate and notify the operator or owner» or «attach securely in a conspicuous place in or on the vehicle or other property a written notice» discharges the duty entirely: note what is ABSENT by comparison with South Dakota’s § 32-34-4, since Wyoming imposes no obligation to notify police in that case (§ 31-5-1104). One provision is worth knowing before you settle a collision claim: where your own insurer subrogates, «the deductible amount shall be included in the subrogated loss claim and the insurance carrier shall pay the deductible amount to its insured, without any deduction for expenses of collection, out of any recovery on the subrogated claim, before any part of the recovery is applied to any other use», and an inter-insurer offset arrangement cannot cut that down — «the right of any insured to the return of his full deductible amount shall not be abridged» (§ 26-13-113). Complaints go to the Wyoming Department of Insurance, which says in its own words that it will «make sure the insurance company conducts a reasonable investigation on a claim» and «make sure the insurance company bases the value of damaged vehicle or property on an appraisal», and that it investigates «the improper denial of a claim or an offer of an amount less than indicated by the policy» and «delays in claim handling». NO WYOMING STATUTE ADDRESSES DIMINISHED VALUE, and that is established by search rather than by a failure to find: a case-insensitive search of the whole of title 26 for «diminish» returns exactly one hit, inside the fraternal-benefit-society provisions and nothing about vehicle value, and the same search over the whole of title 31 returns ZERO, with neither title containing «diminution» in a valuation sense. But the question is a common-law one, www.courts.state.wy.us answers HTTP 202 with an empty body and no Wyoming opinion was read, so whether inherent diminished value is recoverable has not yet been verified against a primary text and is not stated here — the statutory silence is NOT evidence that the claim fails.