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Hit and run accidents can vary drastically in the type of accident, severity and what damages were done, but they all have one thing in common which is that one of the parties involved in the accident fled the scene without exchanging information with the other parties or filing an accident report with the police. It is a crime to leave the scene of an accident, so the person who fled the scene may get criminal charges for that, but if there were any parties that were injured due to the auto accident, those parties may be able to sue the hit and run driver for their negligent actions and receive compensation.
Hit and run accidents may not always involve two parties, the driver may have hit a parked car, a building or a light pole, but if they are responsible for causing that accident and caused damages to another person or company’s belongings, then they can be held accountable via a personal injury lawsuit.
If someone gets into an auto accident, it is required by law that each involved party stops and exchanges their information with the other involved parties to ensure everyone can be held accountable for any damages or injuries. However, sometimes people leave the scene of an accident due to fear of getting arrested, having to pay for damages to the other person’s vehicle, expired registration tags, suspended license or many other reasons. No matter their reasoning behind leaving the scene of the accident, here are some of the most common types of hit and run accidents our law firm sees.
The key to being able to have a successful injury claim is having all of the key pieces of a valid personal injury claim present. The main things needed are as follows: duty of care, breach of duty, causation and damages.
Duty of care means that the person responsible for the accident has a duty to act in a safe manner so that the people around them are not in any danger. To clarify, this basically means that there are laws in place such as speed limits or not running red lights that help ensure everyone stays safe.
The second thing is breach of duty which means that the person responsible for the accident broke a law such as running a red light.
The third thing is causation which means that the breaching of their duty of care(breaking a law) was a direct cause of the accident that caused you injury or damages or both. So for example a person driving at twice the speed limit rear ends you and causes an accident which could have been avoided if they were doing the speed limit and paying attention.
Lastly is damages. Since personal injury claims are civil lawsuits, the way to hold the at fault party accountable for their actions is by compensating the party that suffered losses via financial compensation. So if you had lots of medical bills for your injuries, suffered property damages to your vehicle and other expenses, these would be covered by the responsible party or their insurance company.
All four of these factors must be present for you to have a valid claim, so make sure to speak with your attorney about the accident to see if your claim is valid first.
An experienced hit and run accident lawyer will know exactly how to handle your case. They will start by making sure you have all the pieces necessary for a valid claim and then start their initial investigation process. This means visiting the scene of the accident, getting accident reports from police, obtaining any surveillance footage they can and documenting the scene of the accident. The evidence they gather during this portion of the investigation is key to being able to prove what happened and being able to file a solid claim. They will also need to try and figure out who was responsible for the hit and run, which may be done via surveillance videos or other eye witnesses that say the accident took place and took down the offender’s license plate number or any other method they can use to figure out who caused the accident.
Once it has been established who caused the accident, the law firm will start putting together an evidence based case and inform the at fault party that they are representing you for this case. The lawyers will also ensure you make a full recovery from your injuries so that all of your medical bills are completely covered and no unexpected expenses come up after signing the settlement contract.
Your lawyer will also tally up all of the financial losses you incurred such as damages to your vehicle, personal belongings, lost wages from missing work in the past and future, medical bills and any other costs associated with the accident and more. These are called economic damages because they have a specific price tag.
You may also be entitled to non-economic damages which are meant to compensate you for the pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of mobility, loss of quality of life, disfigurement, scarring and any other impairments that you endured because of the accident. Since these do not have a specific price tag associated with them, your lawyer will use their own special formula for calculating how much you deserve in non-economic damages on top of your economic damages. All of this will be totaled together and compensated for in your settlement agreement after negotiations have been made.
Once damages have been calculated, your lawyer will then move on to drafting up a demand letter to send to the at fault party and begin negotiating with them to come to a fair settlement. If both sides cannot agree on the settlement, then a third party mediator may be brought in to help the negotiations along and if that doesn’t do the trick, then the claim may go to trial. If it goes to trial(which is not common), then your lawyer will represent you in court and fight on your behalf to get the settlement approved.
Finally, the contract will be handled by your attorney and settlement payout terms will be decided upon. Then you will get your settlement, usually as a lump sum or structured payment plan. This full amount should cover all of your financial losses and possibly more for your non-economic damages as well.
You wouldn’t try to build a house from the ground up if you didn’t have tons of experience already in doing that as you make many mistakes and it could end up costing you a lot extra in the long run if you do things wrong. The same applies for hit and run accident claims. A qualified attorney will be able to get you a much better settlement because they deal with these types of cases every day and know exactly how to get you maximum compensation, so don’t try to go at this process yourself, call Rector Stuzynski LLC today for a free case consultation to make sure you get the best representation possible.
Proving fault in hit and run accidents is never easy, but an experienced law firm will know what they can do to find the person who hit and ran, prove they were at fault and then be able to get a settlement out of them. If you can’t figure out who hit you in the first place, then your chance at getting a settlement will be handled by your own insurance company and you won’t get anywhere near as much compensation. That being said, always hire a law firm to deal with these types of matters on your behalf, especially since their fees won’t come out of your pocket, instead they will be added to your settlement so the at fault party has to pay for them instead. It’s a win-win situation for you.
Having a lawyer on your side means that they will do all of the communicating for you and advise on what to say and not to say in order to preserve your chances of getting maximum compensation. It is very easy to say the wrong thing when interacting with the opposing party and doing so can end up costing you a lot of money, so always let your lawyer do the talking for you.
Your lawyer will also make sure your case gets filed within the statute of limitations for personal injury lawsuits. This is a time limit, typically up to two years from the date of the accident, or three years if it was a car accident, that will prevent you from filing a claim if you wait too long. An accident attorney will know this date and make sure everything is filed on time so you don’t lose your opportunity to file a claim and get compensated.
Dealing with insurance companies, the intricacies of your insurance policies and all of the other fine details that go into a settlement are not for the faint of heart. Lucky for you, our attorneys are well versed in handling all of these details and know exactly how to hold the at fault party accountable for their actions so they can negotiate a fair settlement that awards you the most amount of money possible.
If settlement details can’t be agreed upon by both parties, then your case may have to go to trial to let a judge or jury decide what is fair compensation for the events that happened. This is rare in personal injury claims, but in some situations that the evidence is not perfectly clear, this may be the result. If it does go to trial, you are much safer having an experienced hit and run attorney representing you in court than trying to do it on your own.
If you’ve been injured in a hit and run accident, make sure to call Rector Stuzynski LLC right away for a free case consultation. Our law firm has been dealing with car accident and hit and run claims for decades and we have a long list of happy clients to prove just how great we are at getting favorable settlements. From a detail oriented investigation all the way through to settlement execution, you can count on us to keep you informed throughout the process and get you exceptional results. Don’t hesitate to call, our consultations are always free and we are available 24/7 via the phone or you can stop by our office to speak with a hit and run lawyer in person.
We serve clients injured in slip & fall accidents anywhere throughout the state of Colorado, but we focus on residents of these areas: Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, Fountain, Briargate, Monument, Black Forest, Pueblo, Canon City, Larkspur, Security-Widefield, Peyton, Falcon, Calhan, Castle Rock, Teller County, El Paso County, Elbert County, Park County, Douglas County and beyond.
We serve clients injured in the following zip codes: 80907, 80909, 80918, 80917, 80931, 80932, 80933, 80934, 80935, 80936, 80937, 80941, 80942, 80946, 80947, 80949, 80950, 80960, 80962, 80977 ,80995 ,80997 80901, 80912, 80904, 80915, 80905, 80910, 80923, 80922, 80919, 80920, 80916, 80939, 80914, 80951, 80924, 80927, 80938, 80906, 80840, 80829, 80902, 80809, 80841, 80911, 80908, 80929, 80819, 80921, 80925, 80132, 80926, 80913, 80863, 80817, 80831, 80133, 80930, 80860, 80814, 80813, 80118, 80106, 80928, 80866, 80816, 80808, 80104, 80116, 81008, 80864, 80135, 81240, 81007, 80109, 81290, 80107, 80108, 80425, 81215, 81221, 80117, 80827, 81212, 80134, 80835, 81003, 80131, 81226, 81001, 80138, 80125, 81002, 81009, 81010, 81011, 81012, 80124, 81244, 80126, 80820, 80130, 80163, 80433, 80129, 80833, 80112, 80832, 81025, 81005, 81223, 81006, 80470, 80127, 80122 and beyond.
Consultations are always free and available 24/7 over the phone.
