If you were hit by a driver without insurance, you may think you are out of luck — unable to collect any settlement at all. But before you give up, you should always call an experienced personal injury lawyer to see if there’s any way that you can recover compensation under your own auto policy.
An experienced personal injury lawyer is sure to look at all possibilities for insurance coverage, including insurance covering the driver, the vehicle’s owner, and any user given permission to use the vehicle, as well as a client’s own insurance coverage, before giving up.
In one case, Davis Law Group was able to help a distraught woman who was hit by an uninsured driver, causing severe injuries that required surgery. This driver was clearly at fault for the accident. In fact, he said at the scene that he knew he was at fault, but had no insurance to pay for the damage. The client had purchased collision coverage only, thinking she was doing the smart thing by saving money. Because neither driver had any insurance that applied to the crash, this woman thought she was out of luck. Still, she called us and we agreed to investigate further.
After investigating the facts, we discovered that the at-fault driver was driving his girlfriend’s mother’s vehicle — with the permission of his girlfriend in order to run an errand. Also, as it turned out, the mother and daughter had an agreement that the daughter could borrow her mother’s car as needed from time to time. These facts were an important discovery. It meant the at-fault driver was a “permissive user” under the policy — someone who has permission to drive the car — which meant that he was covered by the mother’s liability insurance.
This type of scenario is actually quite common. Although laws in every state require all drivers to have liability insurance, many violate the law. An experienced personal injury lawyer may be able to help by searching thoroughly for an applicable insurance policy covering any party involved in the accident. In this case it meant the at-fault driver was a “permissive user” under the policy — the daughter had permission to drive the car — which meant that she was covered by the mother’s liability insurance.
In most states, liability coverage will cover permissive users of an insured automobile. This is true even though the driver of both vehicles involved in the accident were personally uninsured.
