While Indiana establishes a minimum liability coverage that it expects its drivers to purchase before they hit the road, not every driver upholds that financial responsibility. Drivers who operate vehicles while under or uninsured inherently violate the duty of care that they owe to everyone else on the road.
What are you supposed to do, though, if the person at fault for your recent car crash doesn’t have the insurance they need to address your losses? You have legal avenues available to you that can help you secure the compensation you need to recover. You can discuss your next best steps with the car accident lawyers in Indiana.
Vaughan & Vaughan offers free case consultations to car accident survivors trying to pay their bills when an insurance company can’t or won’t offer them support. You can bring your concerns to our team and request that one of our tried and true lawyers supports you as you explore your various routes to recovery.
Reacting to an Accident With an Uninsured Driver
Car accident etiquette recommends getting an at-fault driver’s name, phone number, and insurance information as soon as possible after the initial crash. If you’re contending with severe injuries, you should prioritize your health while having an uninjured passenger or representative gather this information on your behalf.
What do you do, though, if the at-fault driver doesn’t have insurance information and can’t disclose the name of their provider, let alone a policy number? Unfortunately, many uninsured drivers recognize that they’re operating on the road illegally. Those drivers may try to flee the scene of your accident before you can communicate with them.
You should never try to pursue a driver fleeing the scene. Instead, take a picture of their license plate and tend to your injuries. Police officers can pursue the offending party and charge them with a hit-and-run when they’re caught. You, in the meanwhile, should reach out to your insurance provider to begin discussing your right to a car accident claim.
Filing a Claim With Your Insurance Provider
Whether you have Indiana’s minimum required liability coverage or a more substantial plan, you can file a car accident claim with your provider after an accident with an uninsured driver. Unfortunately, your provider may try to short you when offering you coverage or may even deny your claim based on the circumstances that led to your accident.
You don’t have to accept an insufficient coverage offer or a denied claim. Instead, You can work with a car accident lawyer to appeal a denied claim or take your provider to civil court. Legal action against a car insurance provider can secure coverage for losses that the company might have otherwise refused to cover in bad faith.
In the best of cases, though, your insurance provider may offer you the coverage you need to address your immediate post-accident expenses. That coverage may hold you over until you can discuss what other rights to support you have with the driver at fault for your accident. If you have uninsured driver insurance, for example, you may tap into that coverage to pay your bills.
How to Build a Lawsuit Against an Uninsured Driver
You can work with an Indiana personal injury attorney to build a claim against an uninsured driver. Our team can gather evidence of the uninsured party’s negligence, including their lack of appropriate coverage, to outline your right to accident compensation. We can then gather evidence to establish an estimate of your desired compensation.
If you decide to take up a lawsuit against an at-fault driver or, in some cases, an insurance provider, you need to do so within Indiana’s personal injury statute of limitations. Indiana Code section 34-11-2-4 states that people in your position may take no more than two years to initiate a claim against either of these parties.
That means you have two years from the date of your car crash to file a personal injury claim with Indiana’s civil courts. File later, and the court can reject your demand for compensation.
The Pros and Cons of Legal Action in an Uninsured Driver Case
Unfortunately, taking legal action against an uninsured driver doesn’t always work out in your favor. Even if you have the evidence you need to establish liability and the value of your claim, the uninsured driver may have to declare bankruptcy in an effort to pay you the damages you deserve.
In other words, the uninsured party may not have the resources to compensate you for all of your losses. That lack of resources may render your efforts in either private negotiations or a civil trial moot.
That’s why it’s important to discuss the circumstances surrounding your accident with an attorney ahead of time. Our team can weigh the financial pros and cons before recommending a course of action. Based on our advice, you can then choose whether or not to move forward with legal action.
Come Discuss Your Best Course of Action With Vaughan & Vaughan Personal Injury Lawyers
It can prove difficult to secure post-accident compensation from a motorist who takes to the road without comprehensive insurance, or worse, without insurance at all. That lack of coverage doesn’t mean that you’re out of options in the face of a wreck, though. You can work with a car accident attorney in Indiana to discuss your best path toward financial recovery.
The personal injury lawyers with Vaughan & Vaughan can fight to put the money you deserve in your hands, regardless of an at-fault party’s existing insurance policies. During a free case evaluation, you can discuss how our services might best serve you.
Contact us via Vaughan & Vaughan’s online contact form or by calling an Indiana office near you today.
