Massachusetts Casualty Study Guide

If there is one line where Massachusetts refuses to behave like anywhere else, this is it. The Commonwealth runs a no-fault auto system with a tort threshold, coordinates PIP with health insurance in a way almost no other state does, bans five rating factors most states permit, and raised its compulsory limits as recently as July 1, 2025. Add a workers’ compensation system with no employee minimum and you have this section’s whole point total.

Compulsory auto limits — check the date on your study material

Massachusetts requires four compulsory coverages, and the numbers changed for policies written or renewed on or after July 1, 2025 (Chapter 275 of the Acts of 2024, amending M.G.L. c. 90 § 34A):

Compulsory Part	Limit from 7/1/2025	Prior limit
Part 1 — Bodily Injury to Others	$25,000 / $50,000	20/40
Part 2 — Personal Injury Protection	$8,000 per person	$8,000
Part 3 — Bodily Injury from an Uninsured Auto	$25,000 / $50,000	20/40
Part 4 — Damage to Someone Else’s Property	$30,000	$5,000

The shorthand is 25/50/30, plus mandatory PIP. Any source still teaching 20/40/5 for Massachusetts predates the change — and note that property damage went up sixfold, which is the single most likely place for stale material to betray you.

Uninsured motorist is compulsory here at 25/50 (c. 175 § 113L). Underinsured motorist must be made available but is optional.

PIP — and the $2,000 rule almost nobody expects

PIP pays the injured person’s own medical expenses, lost wages and replacement services regardless of fault, up to $8,000 per person. It covers the named insured, household members, authorised operators, passengers including guest occupants, and pedestrians struck by the insured’s vehicle. Wage loss is capped at 75% of average weekly wage for the year before the accident.

Now the Massachusetts wrinkle. Section 34A provides that PIP “shall not provide for payment of more than two thousand dollars of expenses … if, and to the extent that, such expenses have been or will be compensated … pursuant to any policy of health, sickness or disability insurance.”

If the injured person has health insurance, PIP pays only the first $2,000 of medical expenses. The health plan takes over from there, leaving the balance of the $8,000 available for wage loss, replacement services, and any medical bills the health plan denies. In an ordinary PIP state, PIP is primary for the whole limit. Not here.

Deductibles come in seven options: $100, $250, $500, $1,000, $2,000, $4,000 and $8,000 (c. 90 § 34M). On notice of disability from a licensed physician, the insurer must commence medical payments within 10 days or give written notice it will not.

The tort threshold and its five exceptions

Because PIP is paid “in lieu of damages otherwise recoverable in tort,” Massachusetts limits when an injured person may sue for pain and suffering. Under c. 231 § 6D the claimant needs reasonable and necessary medical expenses in excess of $2,000 — unless the injury involves one of five things that bypass the dollar test entirely:

1. Death
2. Loss of a body member
3. Permanent and serious disfigurement
4. Loss of sight or hearing as specified in c. 152 § 36
5. A fracture

The fracture is the one candidates forget. A broken wrist clears the threshold regardless of what the bills come to.

On liability generally, Massachusetts uses modified comparative negligence with a 51% bar (c. 231 § 85): a claimant whose negligence is greater than the defendants’ combined negligence recovers nothing; otherwise the award is reduced by the claimant’s share.

MAIP, SDIP, and the Merit Rating Board

The residual market is the Massachusetts Automobile Insurance Plan (MAIP), administered by Commonwealth Automobile Reinsurers (CAR). Every company writing private passenger auto in the Commonwealth must participate, and assignments are allocated in proportion to each company’s voluntary-market volume. Applicants must have sought coverage in the voluntary market first. MAIP is a mechanism, not an insurer.

The Safe Driver Insurance Plan (SDIP) handles surcharges and credits. A surchargeable at-fault accident is one resulting in a claim payment of more than $1,000 with the operator more than 50% at fault. To contest one, you appeal to the Board of Appeal within 30 days of the notice date, with a non-refundable $50 fee (211 CMR 74.00; c. 175 § 113P).

Workers’ compensation

Massachusetts requires coverage from the first employee — there is no employee-count minimum (c. 152 § 25A), one of the broadest thresholds in the country. The system is administered by the Department of Industrial Accidents (DIA).

Temporary total disability under § 34 pays 60% of the worker’s average weekly wage, capped at the state average weekly wage, for up to 156 weeks (three years). Notice must be given as soon as practicable, and the claim filed within 4 years of becoming aware of the injury and its work connection.