Rhode Island Casualty Study Guide

Two bodies of law carry the Rhode Island weight on this paper: motor vehicle coverage under chapters 27-7 and 31-47, and workers’ compensation under title 28. Both reward reading a sentence all the way to its end — Rhode Island writes uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage as a single provision holding several different rules, and in 2022 it changed both the percentage and the base of its wage-replacement benefit.

Uninsured motorist bodily injury — provided, not offered

Start here: this is where Rhode Island departs from the pattern most courses teach. Under R.I. Gen. Laws section 27-7-2.1(a), uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage is provided by default, not merely offered — “in an amount equal to the insured’s bodily injury liability limits.”

The named insured may “select a limit in writing less than” that amount — but the written selection has a floor. It may never go below the compulsory 25/50/25 minimums. And the coverage reaches zero on exactly one narrow condition: only where the named insured “is purchasing only the minimum coverage required by compulsory insurance provisions,” and then only “after signing an advisory notice approved by the director of business regulation.”

So both familiar sentences are wrong. “It is mandatory and cannot be rejected” ignores the written selection of a lower limit; “it may be rejected in writing” ignores the compulsory floor.

The same section, the opposite rule, for property damage

Now invert it. Subsection 27-7-2.1(b) is a different regime inside the same section: uninsured motorist property damage is rejectable in writing outright, and “if the named insured has collision coverage … then no coverage for uninsured motorist property damage shall be required” unless the insured chooses to buy it. Where it is written, 27-7-2.1(e) sets a $200 per-claim deductible unless otherwise agreed. Learn “Rhode Island UM” as one rule and the property damage question gets the bodily injury answer.

Underinsured is folded in, and stacking is expressly permitted

There is no separate underinsured provision. Subsection 27-7-2.1(g) says that “‘uninsured motorist’ shall include an underinsured motorist,” on a damages-based trigger: liability coverage “less than the limits or damages that persons insured pursuant to this section are legally entitled to recover.” Watch the “or damages” clause.

Two subsections finish the picture. Under 27-7-2.1(h) a claimant “shall not be required to make a claim against or bring an action against the uninsured or underinsured tortfeasor as a prerequisite.” And 27-7-2.1(i) permits stacking: where two or more separate premiums were paid, the insured may collect up to the aggregate for all vehicles insured, “regardless of any language in the policy to the contrary.”

The “Motor Vehicle Reparations Act” is not a no-fault statute

Chapter 31-47 is titled the Motor Vehicle Reparations Act, which reads no-fault and is not. Rhode Island is a tort state — the at-fault driver’s liability insurance pays the other party’s damages — with no mandatory personal injury protection and optional medical payments coverage. The chapter is a financial-security statute: registration, deposits, self-insurers, penalties, assigned risk plans.

Compulsory limits are 25/50/25 — $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident, $25,000 property damage — or a $75,000 combined single limit, at section 31-47-2(13)(i)(A). That pin cite runs four levels deep; section 31-47-2 alone is not a citation to the limits. A policy is not the only route: a financial security bond, a $75,000 deposit, or DBR-approved self-insurance also satisfy it. Drivers the voluntary market refuses go to the Rhode Island Automobile Insurance Plan at 230-RICR-20-05-8.

On fault, section 9-20-4 applies pure comparative negligence: recovery is reduced by the claimant’s share and never barred, even at 99 percent. There is no percentage bar.

Workers’ compensation — the base changed with the rate

Under section 28-36-1 a covered employer must insure or qualify to self-insure at one or more employees, with exemptions at section 28-29-5 and elective opt-in at section 28-29-8 — including two specific enough to be testable, certain real estate persons at section 28-29-7.1 and professional hockey personnel at section 28-29-15. Compliance means a private carrier, Beacon Mutual Insurance Company as insurer of last resort, or approved self-insurance.

Now the number that changed twice. Wage replacement under section 28-33-17(a) is 62 percent of average weekly base wages for injuries on or after 1 January 2022; the older 75 percent of average weekly spendable base wages governs injuries on or before 31 December 2021. Rate and basis both moved, and the older figure is still right for an older injury. The weekly maximum is 125 percent of the state average weekly wage.

Section 28-33-4 sets a 3-day waiting period — if incapacity extends beyond it, “compensation shall begin on the fourth day from the date of injury.” A claim runs 2 years from the occurrence or manifestation of the injury or incapacity, or from death, under section 28-35-57. And section 28-29-20 makes compensation “in lieu of all rights and remedies” against the employer “or its directors, officers, agents, or employees” — co-employee suits are barred.