Hit-and-Run Accidents
It’s against Missouri law to leave the scene of an accident that resulted in injury or property damage. Negligent drivers who engage in this behavior may be both liable to the people they harm and criminally responsible for their actions. The motor vehicle collision team at the Law Office of Matt Uhrig can help victims of hit-and-run accidents seek compensation from those who hurt them.
Protect Your Rights After a Hit-and-Run Accident
Victims of hit-and-run drivers may have the right to file suit in Missouri state court if they were hurt because of this conduct. To file a successful lawsuit, the injured person needs to show:
The defendant, usually the other driver, owed a duty of care.
The defendant failed to meet the required standard of care.
The defendant’s careless actions caused the victim’s harm.
Actual damages were incurred because of the injuries.
Every driver in Missouri must avoid unreasonable behavior that might foreseeably harm the people around them. This is because we owe each other a duty of care, and unreasonable behavior breaches that duty. If a person fails to live up to this standard, he or she is considered to have violated this legal duty. Some behavior that might constitute a breach includes driving drunk or distracted or failing to obey traffic rules.
If the breach was the factual and legal cause of the accident, the driver will likely be liable for damages. The driver is considered to be a factual cause of a victim’s injuries if those injuries wouldn’t have happened if the driver had acted carefully. For the driver to be deemed a legal cause, the harm must have been a natural and probable consequence of his or her behavior.
In most circumstances, a hit-and-run driver must have acted negligently in some way for a victim to hold him or her liable. Leaving the scene of an accident, while unreasonable, often does not meet the causation requirement necessary to prove a case. There may be some exceptions, such as if the driver’s leaving the accident scene caused the victim some injury that he or she would not have otherwise suffered. However, most people would not behave in this reprehensible way unless a preceding careless action at least contributed to the crash. There is usually some type of negligent conduct that preceded the hit-and-run, and this can be the basis for the breach and causation requirements.
If a victim successfully proves a negligence case, he or she may collect damages from the defendant to compensate for financial, emotional, and physical harm. These may include medical expenses, lost wages, property damage, emotional distress, and pain and suffering. In some cases, the defendant could be subject to further damages if the behavior that caused the accident was especially horrific.
Discuss Your Case with a Car Accident Lawyer
If you or someone you love was injured by a hit-and-run driver, an experienced attorney can help. Even if you didn’t get identifying information at the scene of the accident, a knowledgeable lawyer may be able to help you trace the individual or pursue compensation from your insurance company. Numerous people throughout Missouri have trusted the Law Office of Matt Uhrig to handle their hit-and-run accidents, and Matt Uhrig and his team can help you, too.