Auto AccidentsWhy Do I Need to Hire a Hit and Run Accident Attorney?

If you or a loved one have suffered an injury in a hit and run accident, the first thing you must do after seeking medical care is secure legal representation. Due to the fleeing nature of hit and run accidents, these cases are more complex than a traditional motor vehicle accident.

Hiring an experienced Rogers car accident attorney can mean the difference between no compensation and maximum compensation in your hit and run accident claim. Schedule a free consultation with our firm to discuss the specifics of your case and formulate a plan to secure a settlement for your injuries, pain, and suffering.

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Rogers Car Accident Guide

• What Makes a Hit and Run Accident Different From Other Accidents?
• Typical Reasons hit and run Drivers Flee Accident Scenes
• How Can a Hit and Run Driver Be Discovered?
• How Can I Get Compensation After a Hit and Run Accident?
• How Hiring a Hit and Run Accident Attorney Helps With Your Claim
• Why Do I Need to Hire a Hit and Run Accident Attorney for Wrongful Death?
• Affected by A Hit and Run Driver? Call An Attorney Today

What Makes a Hit and Run Accident Different From Other Accidents?

hit and run accidents differ primarily from motor vehicle accidents because they are criminal. In these accidents, the at-fault driver flees the scene without exchanging identification and insurance information.

Drivers are legally required to stop at the scene of an accident, trade information, and seek aid for injured parties. Failure to do so can complicate filing a compensation claim, especially without the help of an educated and experienced hit and run accident attorney.

How Can a Hit and Run Driver Be Discovered?

The methods by which law enforcement works with attorneys to locate hit and run drivers vary by state. For example, some states have programs enabling them to share precise information to capture hit and run drivers quickly. Even without these programs, lawyers can work to identify the at-fault hit and run drive in several ways, such as:

• Eyewitness Statements: Any witness accountings at the scene of the accident the police took will be included in the police report. A skilled hit and run lawyer will obtain the report and may speak to the witnesses to uncover lost details or any other information they can provide about the vehicle or driver. 
• Camera Footage: Cameras are everywhere. An attorney will speak with the police and citizens who may have unwittingly captured the accident on cameras, such as dashcams, home security systems, and video doorbell footage. If the license plate is caught on camera, it will be easier for the police to locate the driver. 
• Vehicle Damages: Vehicle damages can leave clues behind, such as paint chip transfers, that can be analyzed to narrow the search to a specific make and model. Body shops often report damages on vehicles they repair consistent with hit and run reporting. Family members sometimes report hit and run vehicle damages to the police. 
• Phone Records: Police can use phone records to track cell phones using satellite technology. If the police or an attorney determine who the at-fault driver is but don’t know where they reside, their phone may provide their location.

Community outreach is another tactic that often proves helpful. hit and run accident lawyers may speak to residents and businesses in the accident area who may have witnessed something unreported and useful in identifying the at-fault driver.

How Can I Get Compensation After a Hit and Run Accident?

Hiring an attorney is your best chance at recovering compensation for your hit and run damages. If the at-fault driver is identified, your hit and run accident attorney will thoroughly investigate the evidence to build a strong case on your behalf.

If the driver cannot be found, a hit and run lawyer will review your personal insurance policy to determine if you can file a claim with them to receive the compensation you deserve. A hit and run lawyer will approach acquiring compensation for the accident using one of various methods, including:

• Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist: If your car insurance policy includes uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, you’re entitled to receive compensation for your injuries under this coverage. 
• Personal Injury Protection (PIP): If your policy includes personal injury protection (PIP) insurance, you can file a PIP claim through your insurance company to recover compensation for medical bills, lost income, and passenger injuries. 
• Health Insurance: Pedestrian accident victims can use their health insurance to cover medical expenses after being struck in a hit and run accident. Pedestrians include people on foot, bicycles, skateboards, scooters, and skates. 
• At-Fault Driver’s Insurance: If the at-fault driver is known or found, an attorney will file a compensation claim with their insurance company on your behalf.

If the identity of the at-fault driver is known, they may face both civil and criminal lawsuits. Your hit and run lawyer will advise you on filing a civil lawsuit against the at-fault driver regarding additional compensation.

How Hiring a Hit and Run Accident Attorney Helps With Your Claim

The answer to how hiring a hit and run accident attorney helps with your case involves many assistance components: contingent arrangements, handling legal deadlines, proving negligence, case investigation, evidence preservation, valuing your claim, negotiating your settlement, and representing you in court.

Work in Contingent Arrangements

Contingent arrangements allow hit and run attorneys to represent everyone, regardless of their financial situations. They require no upfront or out-of-pocket expenses. Instead, your lawyer will collect their contingency fee when the insurance pays out your settlement.

If your attorney is unable to secure a settlement, you pay them nothing —ever.  There is zero financial risk to retain legal counsel for hit and run accident claims.

Handling Legal Procedures and Deadlines

hit and run accident victims must meet strict legal deadlines. These statutes of limitations dictate the time frame for filing hit and run claims and lawsuits.

Missing legal deadlines may result in losing your right to recover financial compensation for your losses. Your hit and run accident attorney guarantees all mandatory paperwork is filed promptly and accurately.

Case Investigation and Evidence Preservation

A significant need to hire a hit and run accident attorney concerns their abilities to conduct comprehensive investigations and protect crucial evidence. Critical evidence may be lost or destroyed if not collected and preserved quickly. Some examples of evidence your lawyer will gather include:

• The police report
• Witness statements
• Photos of your injuries immediately after your hit and run accident
• Pictures of the accident scene and vehicle damage
• Dashcam footage
• Residential and commercial video surveillance footage
• Medical records

It’s common for security surveillance footage to be overwritten or erased within a few days. Prompt evidence collection is vital for proving negligence in your case.

Proving Negligence

Proving the other driver was at fault after a hit and run accident is vital to recovering financial damages. To successfully prove negligence in a hit and run accident case, your lawyer needs to establish four critical elements of negligence:

• Duty of Care: Establish the at-fault driver owed you a duty of care (drivers are required to stop at the scene of accidents).
• Breach of Duty: Demonstrate the at-fault driver breached the duty by violating traffic laws, such as failure to stop or yield.
• Causation: Show a direct link between the at-fault driver’s breach of duty and your injuries, pain, and suffering.
• Damages: Prove that you suffered actual losses, such as medical bills, vehicle damages, physical pain, and emotional distress.

hit and run attorneys will organize, analyze, and present their evidence and findings to prove negligence to the at-fault driver’s insurance company. If the claim requires going to trial, your lawyer will prove negligence by presenting the evidence to a judge and jury.

Valuing Your Claim

Valuing your claim involves determining all losses and calculating your damages. Damages may be financial and non-monetary, including economic, non-economic, and punitive losses.

Economic Damages

Economic damages are your monetary losses. They are calculable damages attached to a paper trail of proof. Examples of economic damages include:

• Medical Costs: Healthcare expenses, including emergency services, primary care, surgeries, medical devices, home healthcare, and prescription drug costs.

• • Rehabilitation Costs: All rehab expenses, like chiropractic care, massage, physical, occupational, vocational, and speech and language therapy bills.
  • Disability Costs: Disability expenses, such as mobility and transportation modifications, assisted technology, employment training, in-home nursing care, and service or emotional support animals.

• Income Losses: Lost earnings, including salary, commissions, bonuses, promotions, benefits, and income replacement.

• • Property Damages: Property losses include vehicles, bicycles, skateboards, smartphones, portable electronics, helmets, and other safety gear. 
  • Household Services: Home service expenses associated with hiring outside help for things your injuries limit or prohibit your ability to do, like cleaning, cooking, childcare, or senior care assistance for people taking care of older relatives.

• Delivery Services: Delivery services you require due to the severity of your injuries, like prescription, grocery, and meal delivery.

Keep track of all your out-of-pocket costs, such as receipts, repair invoices, billing, and bank statements. Provide copies of any documents you have proving economic losses.

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages are non-monetary losses incurred by the hit and run accident. Examples of non-economic damages your attorney can recover after a hit and run accident include:

• Chronic pain and suffering
• Emotional distress and mental anguish
• Sleep disturbances 
• Psychological trauma (PTSD, depression, anxiety)
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Loss of activities 
• Scarring and disfigurement
• Shortened life expectancy

These damages are more challenging to prove and require help from detailed injury journals and witness testimony from medical, vocational, and other expert witnesses.

Punitive Damages

Due to the criminal and particularly heinous nature of hit and run cases, victims sometimes recover punitive damages. Punitive or exemplary damages are awarded separately from actual damages recovered from insurance companies. Courts award punitive damages only when the defendant’s misconduct was grossly and wantonly negligent.

Negotiation with Insurance Companies

Insurance companies are relentless with their less-than-forthcoming approach to handling insurance claims, especially concerning unrepresented victims. They will do whatever they can to minimize the payment, such as:

• Denying your claim
• Delaying your claim 
• Claiming injuries are pre-existing
• Downplaying the severity of your injuries
• Sending insultingly-low first settlement offers
• Refusing to adjust their settlement offer

Skilled negotiations are a significant need to hire a hit and run accident attorney to represent your claim. They handle insurance companies daily and are not susceptible to those bad-faith tactics.

Court Representation

If negotiations with the insurance company are unsuccessful, your hit and run case will proceed to trial. Your attorney will file a lawsuit and enter the discovery process, where both sides exchange evidence and prepare their cases.

They will present the evidence of your case to a judge and jury, proving the four elements of negligence to secure compensation. If your lawyer is unsuccessful, you will not owe the firm anything. That said, most hit and run accidents do not go to trial and are settled outside of court.

Consult with a hit and run accident attorney immediately for a free consultation concerning the details of your claim. They will advise you on the statutes of limitations and proceed if you have a case.

Why Do I Need to Hire a Hit and Run Accident Attorney for Wrongful Death?

The need for a hit and run accident attorney for wrongful death is relevant for compensation, but also for handling your case with compassion. Wrongful death cases are, unfortunately, something lawyers are familiar with.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports a 26 percent increase in hit and run fatalities in recent years. If you lost a loved one to wrongful death, you may be eligible to recover losses, such as:

• Pain and suffering of decedent before their death
• Funeral and burial or cremation costs
• Mental anguish and emotional distress
• Loss of financial support
• Loss of benefits (health, retirement, pension
• Loss of Social Security disability
• Loss of guidance and support (children of decedent)
• Loss of inheritance
• Loss of society and companionship 

Affected by A Hit and Run Driver? Call An Attorney Today

If you have suffered an injury or lost a loved one in a hit and run accident, you need to hire a Rogers Personal Injury attorney right away. The sooner you consult with one, the better your chances of maximizing your compensation.