Hit By An Uninsured Or Under-Insured Motorist? Check Out These Three Tips For Compensation
Posted on: 29 March 2016
Being in a car accident is never fun, but if you are hit by an uninsured or underinsured motorist, the experience is even more harrowing. If you have recently been in a car accident and the other driver wasn't insured or didn't have enough insurance to cover your expenses, that can be scary and potentially expensive.
Luckily, there are a few different avenues you can take to try to get compensation for your auto repair and medical bills. Here's a look at some of the options:
1. Bring a personal lawsuit against an underinsured motorist.
If an underinsured motorist caused a car accident with you, their insurance company will only pay the amount associated with the driver's insurance policy. Even if that money doesn't cover all of your expenses, the insurance company will not pay more.
However, that doesn't necessarily mean you can't get more compensation. If the driver has personal assets such as a business or property, a judge may rule that the driver is personally liable for your expenses.
2. Do a background and asset check on uninsured motorists.
Underinsured means the motorist doesn't have enough coverage to pay for all of the damage incurred in the accident. Being underinsured is not ideal, but it is typically a lot better for everyone involved than being uninsured. In most cases, if a driver is uninsured, it is impossible to get money from them.
In most cases, when people are driving without insurance, they are doing it because they cannot afford the insurance. As a result, uninsured people tend to be broke. However, there are exceptions to the rule. Don't let the potential opportunity to cover your bills pass you by. Contact a car crash attorney and have them do a background and asset search on the driver. Then, if the driver has anything, you can take them to court.
For example, imagine someone has a job and a home, but they also have a lot of crashes or drunk driving charges on their record. As a result, insuring their car is extremely expensive. They decide they can't afford it and, regardless of the law, they opt drive without insurance. However, unlike the stereotypical driver, they are not broke. It may be relatively rare, but it happens.
3. Explore other culprits.
If the other driver has no assets, it's time to look for other culprits. The first entity to consider is the other driver's employer. If the driver was on the clock or running an errand for their boss, their employer may be liable for the accident. Unfortunately, you won't be able to hold the employer responsible if the other driver was just commuting to work.
If you can't tie the accident to the other driver's employer, start looking for other options. Did anything go wrong with your car? For example, if your brakes failed to engage properly or if the airbag failed to deploy, those issues could make your injury worse, and you may be able to get some compensation through a product liability lawsuit rather than a car accident lawsuit.
Also consider what caused the other driver to crash into you. Was the traffic light malfunctioning? Was there a road works sign in an odd place that caused the other driver to swerve? If you can identify a cause like this, your lawyer may be able to argue that the city was negligent, and that its negligence caused the other driver to hit you.
If you were hit by an uninsured or underinsured motorist, it can be hard to get the compensation you deserve. However, there are options in some cases. Contact a car accident attorney for more options and ideas.
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