Hi, I’m Roger Ghai, and I wanted to talk today a little bit about what happens if you are involved in an accident, and either you or the other driver does not have insurance.
Sometimes what happens is, the other person who caused the accident may not have insurance. At that point you have an option. You can go ahead and file a claim, that is a lawsuit against the other driver for the damages that you sustained. Most lawyers shy away from that because if there’s no insurance there’s probably a good likelihood that if the defendant is served they’re just going to file a bankruptcy and be absolved of all the debts. The debt they owe you for your medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering. So most lawyers won’t handle that type of a case.
But let’s say if the other driver did not have insurance, but you have full coverage. In the event that you did have full coverage, and let’s say you had a $50,000 on uninsured motorist, then you would be able to present the claim against your insurance company and they would have to pay out, just like they were the other insurance company. But you’re paying them an extra premium every month, so you shouldn’t feel bad about the fact that you file a claim with your insurance company and they pay you money, even though it was the other driver’s fault. What your insurance company would do in that instance is, they would go ahead and file a lawsuit against the other driver to collect whatever money they could.
Hopefully, you’re not involved in a situation where you’re unsure of whether the other driver doesn’t have insurance or it could be an instance where the other driver left the scene of the accident, you were not able to get identifying information. That makes it all the more important to get a police report because at least there can be a formal record of it and then you can take that to your insurance company and recover, if you are injured, for any injuries that you have, lost wages, pain and suffering, so long as you had uninsured motorist coverage.
My name is Roger Ghai, again, I’m at (770) 792-1000. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.