Auto Insurance Claims: Hit by Drunk with only 30/60 Liability Coverage, uninsured motorist coverage, compensatory damages

Question
In December 2005, My family was rear ended by a drunk driver (BAC .17) in CA, completely totaled my car; myself, wife & son sustained injuries as follows (taken away via ambulance):

Me: Slipped disc in neck touching spinal cord proved by MRI
   Disc narrowing throughout mid back     
   No previous back injuries whatsoever
   Numerous doctor appts
   36 Physical Therapy sessions,
   Still in pain with little to no improvement
   Medical Bills / Lost Wages = approx. $15-20K

Wife: MRI Ok, Whip lash, 20-30 Chiropractor appts
     Medical Bills = $6-8K

Son (9 Yrs Old - Handicapped): Whip lash, 8-10 Chiro appts
     Medical Bills = $2K

During 2006, we all sought medical care and our attorney submitted a demand to the drunks insurance co. They
never responded, then my attorney filed a lawsuit in October and now we have their attention.

Last week, I was informed that the Drunk only has 30/60K Liability coverage. Also, I carry 100K/300K Underinsured
coverage. However, I have not spoken with my attorney
in detail regarding this but it's my understanding that our opportunity to obtain 'punitive' damages is nil since we cannot go after my own insurance co for these damages.

Lets say that the drunks insurance company pay's $60K...I
owe approx. $30K for the Medical Bills and the attorney gets 1/3 ($20K)....This leaves me with only $10K left....
My assumption is that we will need to go after my insurance company for the rest of the 'compensatory' damages....$10K
from the drunk's insurance carrier is too low for these type of injuries correct?

PS - I am assuming that the drunk has no assets to attach to.

Please advise........Thanks much

Answer
HI George,

Wow! What a mess. You seem to have done your home work very well. I'm not sure there is much I can add. Of course you should be having this detailed conversation with your attorney.  You will be making a claim against your uninsured motorist coverage for the amount of your losses that exceed the 60k in available coverage from the at-fault driver. Although you can not collect punitive damages from your own policy, you can still collect for pain & suffering. Your total claim could be 4 to 10 times the total amount of the medical bills.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh