Kansas City Hit-and-Run Accident Attorneys

What Happens After a Hit-and-Run Car Accident?

Investigating a Hit and Run

Unfortunately, many of the nation’s hit and runs are left unsolved, which means you may have a slim chance of identifying the at-fault driver. This may seem to present a significant barrier to obtaining compensation, as you cannot sue someone who you do not know the identity of.

Should you hire a lawyer at Peterson & Associates, P.C., we will work to identify the perpetrator and:

• Locate and consult witnesses;
• Analyze surveillance footage and tapes;
• Work with law enforcement officers in their investigation; and
• Look into potential reasons why the perpetrator fled (e.g. drunk, reckless, or distracted driving).

In the event that it is not possible to find the perpetrator, there is an alternative path to compensation that is often effective for many hit-and-run victims: filing a lawsuit against your insurance company.

Suing Your Insurance Company After a Hit and Run

Before legal action is taken, the first step will be to file an insurance claim with your insurance provider. A hit-and-run accident will likely fall under your uninsured motorist (UM) coverage: Because you were not given the chance to obtain the hit-and-run perpetrator’s insurance information, they are considered uninsured for all intents and purposes.

Nevertheless, insurance agents are likely to claim that a hit-and-run victim does not qualify for coverage because the other driver is unknown and, therefore, you cannot truly know whether they were uninsured. This is, however, nothing but faulty reasoning. If you continue to run into trouble with your insurance company, a lawyer can assist you in suing it for damages.

To be eligible to file a hit-and-run lawsuit against your insurance company, you will have to prove the following elements:

• You (the insured) sustained bodily injuries: To prove your injuries, you will likely need to present your medical records and/or any other documentation of your injuries and required medical treatment.
• The bodily injuries resulted from an accident with an uninsured motorist: As mentioned, if the identity of the perpetrator is unknown, they are presumed uninsured.
• You have a legal right to collect from the uninsured: The fact that you were a victim of a hit-and-run accident grants you the right to collect from the at-fault party for which the insurance company is standing in.
• The amount of a payout or settlement will exhaust all limits of the applicable insurance policy: This simply means the amount of damages you incurred as a result of the accident will exhaust your policy limits. For hit and runs, the applicable insurance policy is your UM coverage.

Time Limits on Hit-and-Run Cases

No matter how much an insurance company attempts to go back and forth on a hit-and-run claim, it only has 30 days to investigate it under state law. Insurance agents are skilled in handling claims quickly and with their employer’s best interests at heart, so you can expect some trouble in the form of deductions being piled onto your claim or, in some cases, the full denial of your claim.

If insurance agents continue to ignore your right to compensation, spurring you to take legal action, you only have so long to do so. Under the Missouri statute of limitations, hit-and-run victims only have five years from the date of the accident to file a lawsuit against their insurance company.

How Much Can You Get from a Hit-and-Run Lawsuit?

You can only recover compensation for damages you have suffered as a direct result of the hit-and-run injury, meaning the value of a lawsuit will vary depending on how severe the injury was and what damages accumulated because of it. Therefore, this is a very complicated question to answer, as any given case could range anywhere from a few thousand to a few million dollars.

Work with Knowledgeable Accident Lawyers

In pursuing your case, our legal team at Peterson & Associates, P.C. will conduct a comprehensive investigation into the accident. If we are unable to identify the perpetrator of the hit and run, then we will assist you in negotiating with your insurance company to ensure that you are not stuck with a lowball settlement. We are fully prepared to leverage the advantage you have as the injured party to your benefit and to fight to recover your maximum compensation for any damages accumulated.