PAYOUT WON’T HACK IT

Taxis’ low insurance

New Yorker Edward Shalala got just $132,000 after a yellow cab slammed into him on Third Avenue in 1998, crushing his right leg.

British tourist Sian Green hasn’t seen a dime from the hack who jumped the sidewalk near Rockefeller Center in 2013, severing her leg.

And the driver who ran a red light on East 27th Street in 2014 is on the hook for only $100,000, even though passenger Cristina Spano (pictured) suffered a fractured pelvis and wrist.

Now civil lawyers are calling for reform of a state law that requires cabbies to carry only $100,000 in liability insurance.

“They should not have to abide by getting a very small sum of money when they’re so devastatingly injured,” said Spano’s lawyer, Benedict Morelli, who represented Tracy Morgan in his near-fatal limo accident.

Morelli gave opening statements in Manhattan Supreme Court Monday in Spano’s case against cabdriver Junio Chancey and his employer, Jigger Service Corp.

Spano, 33, was commuting to her sous chef job at the meal-kit delivery company Blue Apron on April 12, 2014, when her taxi collided with another car on East 27th Street and Park Avenue.

Morelli said three witnesses will testify that Chancey ran a red light. The driver’s lawyers did not return calls.

Spano was in the hospital for a month and had to give up her job because of the plates and screws in her body, which make it difficult to stand for long periods of time.

“It’s changed her life forever,” Morelli said.

He added that most attorneys won’t take taxi accident cases because they can only collect $100,000.

That amount won’t even cover Spano’s medical bills, he said.

But he’s bringing this case to trial out of principle — and to stress the need for boosting the minimum insurance requirements.

Daniel Marchese, who represents Green, agreed.

“It’s absolutely ludicrous how you get away with having only $100,000,” he said. “What if there’s a death, what if there’s a dismemberment like with my client?”