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Making a Personal Injury Claim after a Hit and Run
In the state of Ohio and across the nation, there is a growing number of hit-and-run accidents. While it is difficult to determine why individuals flee the scene, it may be that drivers in hit-and-run accidents are intoxicated, under the influence of an illegal substance, have a warrant out for their arrest, or may be driving without a license or proper insurance for their vehicle.
In the unfortunate event that you or someone you care for has been involved in a hit-and-run accident, the immediate consequences from serious personal injuries, damage to property, expensive medical bills, and lost earnings and income are significant. The reverberations may carry forward and have implications throughout your lifetime as you struggle to live with permanent injuries or disabilities and the impaired ability to seek gainful employment. While many victims of hit-and-run accidents make the costly mistake of assuming that nothing can be done to recover for the injuries that they sustained, our Cleveland injury attorneys have worked with countless victims of hit-and-run accidents to recover money damages to compensate them for their injuries.
What to Do After a Hit and Run Car Accident
If you are involved in a hit-and-run accident, contact us immediately. Time is crucial to protecting your rights and interests. The following steps can help to guide you through the critical period right after the accident.
- Call the police immediately.
- If possible, record the vehicle registration number of the other automobile.
- Give the police a detailed description of the vehicle(s) and any information you can remember about accident and the other driver. Make sure it is written down and included in the police report.
- Gather information from any witnesses to the accident, including their name and contact information. Their statements should be included in the police report.
- Take photographs of the accident scene. Many cell phones now have cameras or video recording devices that will allow you to document the scene.
- Seek medical attention as soon as possible after the accident. It will be important to have a record of the injuries you sustained.
- Contact a personal injury attorney who has experience in handling hit-and-run accidents.
- Report the accident to your insurance company. This will be particularly relevant if the other driver is not able to be identified or located.
Your Rights to Recovery
After a hit-and-run car crash, victims often have a variety of expenses and losses as a result of serious personal injury and property damage. Our Cleveland personal injury attorneys work closely with victims of hit-and-run accidents to analyze the evidence and follow-up on any leads to determine fault and identify the driver that fled the scene of the accident. Our Cleveland law firm has experience identifying key pieces of information from a number of sources, including the accident scene, eye witnesses, and security cameras. We also work with professionals in the field who can reconstruct the accident scene to help in identifying the at-fault driver. Once the driver has been named, we work with hit-and-run accident victims to recover compensation from the at-fault party’s insurance carrier.
In the event that the driver of the vehicle that left the scene cannot be identified or if the driver did not have proper insurance, victims may still be able to recover damages under the uninsured or underinsured motorist provision of their own insurance policy. Such a provision in an automobile insurance policy gives the injured party the right to pursue compensation for the injuries sustained in the hit-and-run accident. We work closely with injured parties to file an insurance claim on their behalf, and if the insurance company refuses to pay, or unfairly tries to limit the scope of recovery, we will represent clients in a bad faith insurance suit against the insurance company.
Contact Us
If you have been injured in a hit-and-run accident, please contact the Law Offices of Steven M. Weiss, toll free, at (877) 348-1802 or fill out our contact form to receive a free case evaluation with one of our experienced Cleveland, Ohio personal injury attorneys.
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