Sometimes in dealing with automobile accidents, we have what’s called a hit-and-run accident, where a car can’t be identified at the scene of an accident.
What is very important here is to note and hope that the police responded and a police accident report was prepared. That triggers something in New York that’s called uninsured motorist litigation or uninsured motorist arbitration.
So, if you have a police report and an investigation done, and/or a client receives emergency medical care and has to be seen in a hospital, that police report will confirm that the accident occurred and that the other vehicle left the scene.
Sometimes, you would hope that the vehicle can be identified by somebody. Maybe there is a witness. Maybe my client was able to get a license plate number. If we have information, we can seek that information out. We can obtain the insurance information and set up a claim with that insurance company.
If we cannot identify the other vehicle at all, for example, we just know it was a white van, but there are no identifying markers and there’s no license plate, then you have to make a claim with your own insurance company, which is again what we call uninsured motorist litigation.
That’s something that everybody has in New York in their insurance policy. It’s created just for those situations where you’re involved in an accident with a car that either cannot be identified or does not have insurance, because unfortunately, that happens.
That’s how you handle a hit-and-run type of claim.