After high awards, arbitration avoided

Amy Savakinas was stopped at a Kingston intersection when a car driven by a drunken driver slammed into her driver’s side door in October 2008, causing her serious injuries. The driver, John T. Premo, 24, carried the minimum insurance coverage of $15,000, so Savakinas filed an underinsured motorist claim with her own insurance carrier, Nationwide Mutual Insurance, to compensate her for her injuries.