Recovering Damages After a Hit and Run Accident in Massachusetts

Your damages in a car accident case should reflect how the accident affected your life physically, emotionally, and financially. Accidents are notoriously expensive, and your damages might be higher than you think. If the other driver fled the scene, recovering damages might be a challenge. You should hire an experienced lawyer to help you get the fair compensation you deserve.

Drivers typically recover damages through insurance claims or lawsuits. Massachusetts requires all drivers to carry no-fault insurance that covers them regardless of who caused the accident. Drivers file with their own no-fault insurance, so you may recover damages even if the other driver fled. However, suppose your damages exceed your policy limits. In that case, you might need to file a claim with the other driver’s liability coverage, which may be difficult if they cannot be located. Once we find them, you may need to file a lawsuit to recover the full extent of your damages if their insurance is insufficient or they are uninsured. However, Massachusetts only allows driver to sue if they meet specific legal criteria about the severity of their injuries.

For a private, free case assessment to get started, call our Massachusetts personal injury lawyers at the Law Office of John J. Sheehan at (617) 925-6407.

How Drivers May Recover Damages in Hit-and-Run Accidents in Massachusetts

Hit-and-run accidents can be very dangerous and frightening. Not only are victims often badly hurt, but negligent drivers may leave them on the road without anyone to help them. Our Boston car accident lawyers will work with the authorities to try to find the other driver. In many cases, the police find and arrest negligent drivers because a hit-and-run is a serious criminal offense.

Insurance Claims

In any car accident case, including hit-and-runs, injured drivers may recover damages through insurance claims. Massachusetts requires drivers to carry no-fault insurance, known as personal injury protection (PIP) insurance, in addition to standard liability coverage. After an accident, you may file a claim with your own PIP insurance and be covered without having to prove who caused the crash. This can be extremely helpful to drivers injured in hit-and-run accidents since the other driver might be long gone.

While it can be helpful, no-fault insurance only goes so far. The bare minimum requirement for no-fault insurance covers only $8,000 in medical expenses and lost wages if you are too injured to return to work. Some might have their damages completely covered by their no-fault insurance, while others might greatly exceed their policy limit.

If your PIP insurance is not enough to cover all your damages – this is not an uncommon problem in severe accident cases – then you may file a claim with the other driver’s liability coverage. The problem is that in hit-and-run accidents, the other drivers often flee the scene before they can be identified, and filing a claim with their insurance provider might not be possible.

Lawsuits

You might instead recover damage through a lawsuit, although there are certain restrictions in Massachusetts. According to the state’s no-fault insurance laws, lawsuits for car accident claims are only permissible if you meet a specific monetary threshold for damages or you experience a certain kind of serious injury. Otherwise, you may be restricted to insurance claims.

According to Mass. Gen. Laws Ch. 231 § 6D, your medical expenses from the accident must exceed $2,000 for you to be able to sue for damages. The idea is that if your damages do not meet this threshold, they will likely be completely covered by your no-fault insurance, and a lawsuit would not be necessary. This way, courts are less clogged with smaller claims.

Alternatively, you may sue for damages if your injuries include the loss of body parts or limbs, death, permanent and serious disfigurement, fractures, vision loss, or hearing loss. These are considered more severe injuries and may allow you to sue for damages rather than pursue insurance claims.

Again, this might not be possible immediately after a hit-and-run accident. Our Massachusetts car accident lawyers must work with law enforcement officials to locate the other driver, bring them to justice, and file a case against them.

Finding Hit-and-Run Drivers So You Can Recover Damages in Massachusetts

To find the other driver so you can take legal action to recover damages, you must report the accident to the police immediately. Call 911 and have the police sent to your location right away. The police may conduct a criminal investigation to find the driver who hit you and fled the scene. This may take time, and we can help you prepare insurance claims and a civil case against the other driver while we wait for the authorities to find them.

If you are badly injured, get an ambulance. If you do not leave by ambulance, try to drive yourself or have someone else drive you to the hospital to be checked out by a doctor. Even if you do not believe you are badly hurt, you might have internal injuries that require immediate medical care. On top of that, we might need your medical records as evidence of your injuries and damages. The sooner you see a doctor, the more accurate your medical records may be, which can help us when we try to prove your claims for damages.

Generally, the statute of limitations restricts civil injury claims from being filed later than 3 years after an accident. However, the law under Mass. Gen. Laws Ch.260 § 4B makes an exception for hit-and-run accidents. If the other driver fled the scene before they could be identified, you may have 6 months from the date that the other driver’s identity is uncovered to file a civil case for damages.

Contact Our Massachusetts Car Accident Lawyers if You Were the Victim of a Hit-and-Run

For a private, free case assessment to get started, call our Melrose, MA car accident lawyers at the Law Office of John J. Sheehan at (617) 925-6407.