Limited Tort vs. Full Tort in Pennsylvania: What Your Choice Means After a Crash

Limited tort vs. full tort: the short answer

In Pennsylvania, full tort keeps your unrestricted right to sue an at-fault driver for pain and suffering, while limited tort bars pain-and-suffering damages unless your injury is a serious injury or a statutory exception applies. Under either option, you can still recover economic losses such as medical bills and lost wages from the driver who caused the crash (75 Pa.C.S. § 1705).

Limited tort costs less. The trade is a smaller premium now for fewer rights later. This guide covers what the statute says, who is bound by the choice, what counts as a serious injury, every exception written into the law, and how to check and change your election.

What the statute says

Section 1705 of the Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law gives every Pennsylvania driver who buys a private passenger auto policy two choices. Under full tort, a person "remains eligible to seek compensation for noneconomic loss claimed and economic loss sustained in a motor vehicle accident as the consequence of the fault of another person pursuant to applicable tort law" (§ 1705(c)).

Under limited tort, a person remains eligible to seek compensation for economic loss, but "unless the injury sustained is a serious injury, each person who is bound by the limited tort election shall be precluded from maintaining an action for any noneconomic loss," subject to the exceptions listed in the statute (§ 1705(d)).

Pennsylvania defines noneconomic loss as "pain and suffering and other nonmonetary detriment" (§ 1702). In plain terms, that is the physical pain, emotional distress, lost enjoyment of life and inconvenience an injury causes. Economic loss is the measurable money side: medical bills, lost income and similar out-of-pocket costs.

What counts as a serious injury

The statute defines a serious injury as "a personal injury resulting in death, serious impairment of body function or permanent serious disfigurement" (75 Pa.C.S. § 1702). If your injury meets that definition, limited tort does not bar a pain-and-suffering claim.

Death and permanent serious disfigurement are fairly clear categories. Serious impairment of body function is where the disputes happen. Whether an injury qualifies is decided case by case, based on which body function was affected, how much it was impaired, and for how long. The insurer will usually argue the injury is not serious, and in many cases the question ends up in front of a judge or jury.

The evidence that matters is medical: diagnostic imaging, surgery or injections, how long you were out of work, restrictions your doctors placed on you, and how the injury changed your daily life. Consistent treatment records carry far more weight than a description written months later.

The exceptions: when limited tort does not bar pain and suffering

Section 1705(d) lists situations in which a person bound by limited tort keeps full tort rights even without a serious injury. Paragraph (1) says a person otherwise bound by limited tort who is injured by another person's fault "may recover damages as if the individual damaged had elected the full tort alternative whenever the person at fault" meets one of four conditions. The exceptions below quote the statute's language.

One practical point: these exceptions look at the at-fault driver and the vehicle you were in, not at your own conduct. A crash report, a criminal docket or a registration record can change your claim entirely, which is why we pull them early.

• (d)(1)(i): the person at fault "is convicted or accepts Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) for driving under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance in that accident"
• (d)(1)(ii): the person at fault "is operating a motor vehicle registered in another state"
• (d)(1)(iii): the person at fault "intends to injure himself or another person," with the statute adding that a person does not intentionally injure someone "merely because his act or failure to act is intentional or done with his realization that it creates a grave risk of causing injury or the act or omission causing the injury is for the purpose of averting bodily harm to himself or another person"
• (d)(1)(iv): the person at fault "has not maintained financial responsibility as required by this chapter, provided that nothing in this paragraph shall affect the limitation of section 1731(d)(2) (relating to availability, scope and amount of coverage)"
• (d)(2): the injured person "shall retain full tort rights with respect to claims against a person in the business of designing, manufacturing, repairing, servicing or otherwise maintaining motor vehicles arising out of a defect in such motor vehicle which is caused by or not corrected by an act or omission in the course of such business, other than a defect in a motor vehicle which is operated by such business"
• (d)(3): the injured person "shall retain full tort rights if injured while an occupant of a motor vehicle other than a private passenger motor vehicle"

What the exceptions look like in real crashes

DUI: If the driver who hit you is charged with DUI for that crash, the outcome of the criminal case matters to your civil claim. A conviction or acceptance into ARD for DUI in that accident restores full tort rights. A DUI charge alone, without a conviction or ARD, does not trigger the exception.

Out-of-state vehicles: Drivers from New Jersey, Delaware and other states use I-95, I-476 and US-1 every day. If the at-fault vehicle was registered in another state, your limited-tort election does not limit your claim against that driver.

Uninsured drivers: If the at-fault driver had no insurance as Pennsylvania requires, the exception in (d)(1)(iv) applies to your claim against that driver. The reference to § 1731(d)(2) concerns how the exception interacts with uninsured motorist coverage, which is one reason to have a lawyer review an uninsured-driver claim.

Buses and commercial vehicles: The statute defines a private passenger motor vehicle as a four-wheel vehicle insured by a natural person that is either a passenger car not used as a public or livery conveyance nor rented to others, or a vehicle up to 9,000 pounds not principally used for commercial purposes other than farming (§ 1702). If you were riding in a vehicle outside that definition, such as a SEPTA bus, the (d)(3) exception can apply. Riders hurt on SEPTA should also know that a separate six-month notice rule applies to claims against government agencies (42 Pa.C.S. § 5522).

Who is bound by your tort election

The election you make as a named insured applies to every private passenger policy you have with the same insurer, and it carries through renewals and replacement policies until the insurer receives a signed form choosing the other option (§ 1705(b)(1)).

It also applies to other insureds on your policy, such as a spouse, relatives living in your household, and minors in your or a relative's custody, as long as they are not named insureds on a policy of their own (§ 1705(b)(2), (f)). When more than one policy applies and they carry different tort options, the injured person is bound by the option on the policy for the vehicle they were riding in, if they are an insured on that policy, and bound by full tort otherwise.

If you do not own a registered private passenger vehicle and are not a named insured or insured under any private passenger policy, the limited-tort bar does not apply to you (§ 1705(b)(3)). On the other hand, the owner of a currently registered private passenger vehicle who does not carry insurance is deemed to have chosen limited tort (§ 1705(a)(5)).

What limited tort does not take away

Limited tort does not affect your first-party benefits. Your own policy still pays at least $5,000 in medical benefits regardless of fault (75 Pa.C.S. § 1711), plus any optional benefits you bought.

It also does not bar your claim for economic loss against the at-fault driver. Medical bills beyond your first-party benefits, lost wages and other out-of-pocket losses remain recoverable. Benefits your own insurer already paid cannot be recovered twice from the other driver (§ 1722), so the claim focuses on losses those benefits did not cover.

Finally, limited tort does not change who was at fault. Pennsylvania's comparative negligence rule (42 Pa.C.S. § 7102) still reduces any recovery by your share of fault, and bars recovery if your share is greater than the combined fault of the defendants.

How to check your election and change it

Your declarations page lists your tort option, often next to your liability limits. If it is unclear, ask your agent or insurer for a copy of the signed tort election form.

Insurers must give you a standardized written notice explaining both options and their premiums. If you were sent that notice and never returned a choice, the statute presumes you chose full tort (§ 1705(a)(1), (a)(3)). To change your option, sign and return the insurer's form choosing the other option. The change applies going forward. It does not change the option in effect on the date of a crash that already happened.

Should you choose limited tort or full tort?

Only you can weigh the premium difference against the risk, and your insurer can quote both options. What we can tell you from the injured person's side is this: the savings show up on every bill, while the cost of limited tort shows up in a single moment, after a crash, when a soft tissue injury or a concussion that does not meet the serious-injury threshold leaves you with medical bills paid but no claim for months of pain.

If you drive every day on I-476, the Schuylkill Expressway or Roosevelt Boulevard, or you have a teen driver in the house, think carefully about that trade. Whatever you choose, read your declarations page so you know which option you have.

Talk to a lawyer before you assume you cannot sue

People with limited tort often decide on their own that they have no case. Sometimes that is right. Often, a DUI plea, an out-of-state plate, an uninsured driver, a bus ride or a well-documented injury changes the answer. A car accident lawyer can check those facts before the two-year deadline for filing suit runs out (42 Pa.C.S. § 5524).

Warren I. Siegel has practiced in Pennsylvania since 1992, with automobile accidents at the core of his practice. Our fee is 100% contingency: no attorney fee unless we recover, the firm advances all case costs, and those costs are repaid only from a recovery. Call (267) 412-4601 or send the free case review form, and we will tell you which tort option applies and whether an exception helps you.