quote:

Originally posted by Scooter123:
I have a very short fuse when it comes to Hit and Run. If I were in your position I would get the most aggressive personal injury lawyer in the area and my instructions would be to bankrupt that person to the point where I can keep his fillings on my desk just for the peace of mind they bring me.

You're not going to bankrupt anybody over road rash and a dented bike . He'll be lucky to find an Attorney that will take the case without upfront money .

Unless the law has been changed a person /driver in the state of Louisiana can be arrested for and charged with Hit and Run even if their vehicle had not made phyisical contact with another vehicle.. As long as the other driver was the inital cause of the accident and left the scene without rendering aid and or leaving proper information then the are committing Hit and Run.... .......................... drill sgt.

It would be interesting to know if the driver was charged or ticketed .

You have eye witnesses so: 1. Take photos of the damage to the bike, get it repaired and send the bill to his insurance company. Hit and run with physical injury is a felony in my state. 2. get a complete checkup to make sure any injury is documented. When you have completely healed send the bills to his insurance company and demand additional money for "pain, suffering, inconvenience." If you lost any wages include that as well. You shouldn't need an attorney in this case. The insurance company will want you to sign a release meaning o future $. So make sure you are 100% healed before you settle the claim.

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
You're not going to bankrupt anybody over road rash and a dented bike . He'll be lucky to find an Attorney that will take the case without upfront money .

There area plenty of PI attorneys that will take on BI/PD cases for the BI part and sue for damages. Buddy of mine got serious five figure settlement when he was hit by a young gal for both medical and physical damages.

Google Motorcycle attorney North Carolina and you'll get pages of firms that work in that arena. All on contingent fees.

This firm Morgan and Morgan is the leading PI firm in FL and probably the southeast US.

https://www.forthepeople.com/o...ions/north-carolina/

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
You're not going to bankrupt anybody over road rash and a dented bike . He'll be lucky to find an Attorney that will take the case without upfront money .

There area plenty of PI attorneys that will take on BI/PD cases for the BI part and sue for damages. Buddy of mine got serious five figure settlement when he was hit by a young gal for both medical and physical damages.

Google Motorcycle attorney North Carolina and you'll get pages of firms that work in that arena. All on contingent fees.

This firm Morgan and Morgan is the leading PI firm in FL and probably the southeast US.

https://www.forthepeople.com/o...ions/north-carolina/

I get that , but he rode the bike home and had road rash . Where's the big payday for a contingency case ? I wish him well but he shouldn't start planning his retirement yet .

I loved riding for 40 years ,after two hit and runs in 14 months , I said screw it.

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
I get that , but he rode the bike home and had road rash . Where's the big payday for a contingency case ? I wish him well but he shouldn't start planning his retirement yet .

Who said anything about a payday, the issue at hand is that it's him against the insurance company, they are very good at limiting damage payouts, and he can say something that can be used against him in recovery of damages for future medical care. Legal representation is a must, it's not some ghetto lotto action.

My other neighbor was hit by a guy with no coverage, ran right into him while he was stopped, very similar, and my neighbor wears the gear, helmet, gloves etc.

He rode home with us that night, a little Shakey and by the morning was in full concussion protocol, in fact he probably should not have ridden home however he did, does that somehow preclude that he was in fact hurt by the other parties actions. Sometimes the problems medically with being the victim of a hit and run on a motorcycle take a bit of time to show up.

Neighbors bike ended up with $14,000 worth of damage, it is a full on HD dresser and lots of body damage to the bike so that's part of the money.

Hiring competent representation is paramount and not about getting retirement money, it's about getting claims established for what probably will be coming down the road for a rider.

Unfortunately if you are not careful you can shut yourself out of renumeration for care that is the result of the accident by simply making a statement early in the process on a recorded line to an adjuster.

quote:

Originally posted by Scooter123:
I have a very short fuse when it comes to Hit and Run. If I were in your position I would get the most aggressive personal injury lawyer in the area and my instructions would be to bankrupt that person to the point where I can keep his fillings on my desk just for the peace of mind they bring me.

^^^^ This.

Oh, also, when I was a crime victim about 3 years ago, I called the DA's office frequently to let them know that I would share any evidence that they needed and I promised to show as a witness if need be.

I also kept in e-mail contact with the arresting cop, and eventually gave more evidence to him, which he gave to the DA.

Doing so went a LONG WAY since they knew they could count on me and were not wasting their time.

My 2 cents. My daughter was involved in a mvc in which a driver pulled out in front of her and the other driver, was cited for the accident. My dau. went to the hospital, as she took a good hit and the hosp. did not want the car insurance info., they only wanted her medical insurance card. They billed her insurance and are wanting her to pay the balance of what was left after her medical insurance paid what they did. They, the hospital, will not go through the car insurance carrier for payment and say we are responsible for the unpaid medical assessment. We are still trying to get this taken care of from State Farm from over 7 months ago and our claims handler for S.F., has never contacted us once and I have to be on them constantly speaking with other claims handlers because apparently this guy is too busy.

Take this for what it is worth but going through this still is like pulling teeth for something that was not her fault at all.

I'm sorry this happened to you. As for the driver of the car, what an incredible dumb move to run. This driver just self created a huge problem where there probably was none. You mentioned you were for the most part ok. I'm guessing if the driver would have stopped, he/she would have gotten a ticket and possibly paid an insurance deductible. Now, what are we looking at, a felony?

As a fellow rider, I'm sorry you had to experience this.

Keep in mind a few things:

You may find you have latent injuries, including stress reactions which could impact your sleep etc.

Do not provide a $ figure up front that you want. You may find that the bike has more damage than you thought, or you end up with more medical bills, etc.

As previously mentioned, every single contact you have with the other insurance company will be recorded and used against you. Your state may be different than mine, but here we deal with our own insurance since they insure ME against losses. Then if it is the other person's fault, my insurance will go to their insurance for repayment. So, I would not be inclined to have any contact with the driver's insurance company until getting good legal advice.

Your bike will now be worth less than before being damaged, even after repairs. You should get some compensation for lost value in addition to getting all the repairs done.

You should be compensated for the associated costs of getting the bike repaired, such as needing a rental car, or rideshare to/from the repair shop, etc.

Insurance companies will stall and stiff-arm you, hoping you go away or settle for less. I've needed to pester my insurance company to keep the ball moving.

Good luck!

I’m glad you are ok. Car verses motorcycle can go bad very easily. It really sucks to have to go through this but thank goodness someone followed the loser. It’s very good to read when people care enough to hold assholes accountable for their terrible decisions.

Now they will have to face consequences. A good friend of mine in high school lost her father in a motorcycle crash at a stop light. (He was rear ended and crushed). I saw first hand how a motorcycle vs car crash can destroy a family and change lives forever. It’s a terrible thing to see happen.

quote:

Originally posted by creslin:
I have two separate trains of thought on this whole thing.

1) I want recompense for getting repairs/replacements done for everything injured during this.
Example being some of my riding gear is messed up now.
I've always heard that your helmet is good for 1 incident and should then be replaced.
So if they just try to get my bike fixed up... what about the rest of the stuff? Does that fall on me?



2) This dude just drove away after hitting someone.
That's massive levels of "asshole" in my book.
For all he knew I could have been laying there bleeding out and dying - and he was trying to get away with murder (or I guess manslaughter).
If he had stopped like any decent person... we would have exchanged insurance info and then gone on with life.
He did not.
That needs to bite him in the ass in a big way IMO.

Agree with your thoughts in both points. Because of the second I'd find a pit bull of a lawyer and handle it through them.

quote:

Originally posted by creslin:

quote:

Originally posted by bigwagon:
Hope they throw the book at him.

That's one of my questions.
Do I need to be involved in that?
Like do I need to actively press charges or something?

I’d give the police a call and find out who’s handling the case. Ask the status to see how seriously they are taking it then go from there.
Be sure to get contact information from any witnesses just to case. Until you know more, you don’t kn how things will go with the insurance.
I had a guy hit me years ago and he had the insurance documents to fool the cop but it turned out he hadn’t made any recent payments so it wasn’t valid and turned into a real pain. The threat of prosecution was my be friend. So keep your options open.
Glad to hear you’re mostly OK.

Sorry you’re going through this, and hope you make a full recovery.

I spent almost 40 years working in insurance claims. My advice is to get the best lawyer you can get, not just the first slick advertiser that comes along. Ask around and get a referral. You want someone who specializes in auto bodily injury cases, and has a real track record. Someone who makes the other insurance company’s rep piss themselves

Good luck!

Oh yea, take lots of pictures or your road rash, and the damage to your bike. That’s important evidence.

quote:

They were very straightforward with "You need to go begin talks with his insurance company. Then if there's issues you can involve us.

That being said I’d be calling up the chain in GEICO and possibly contacting your state’s insurance commission or whatever agency regulates insurance companies in your state. That is an unacceptable answer when you are paying GEICO for coverage.

Personally I’d lawyer up. The at fault driver needs to be held accountable for his poor judgement. His insurance company definitely should be held accountable to pay for damages. BUT your insurance company also bears responsibility to represent you whether or not they have to financially participate in this fiasco.


That shoulder injury bears looking into. My left shoulder was injured in a M/C crash in 1974 and still bothers me today. I’d still be concerned about a subdural hematoma aka internal bleeding on the brain. At minimum contact your primary care physician and ask for a referral.

Don’t sell yourself out, you may regret it years down the road.

He only says he panicked because he got caught. That dude was outta there.

Talk with a lawyer.

Glad you're ok

And as a P.S., if it was me I’d be on the search for a new insurance carrier if that lame response was the best that they would do.

Michigan is a No-Fault state. My wife and daughter were involved in a collision with a DUI driver (second time offender) and as with No-Fault our insurer was responsible for our repairs. Fifteen month old vehicle at the time.

Had several “go arounds” with the adjuster, one involved the right side wheel, point of impact. Scrapes in the middle of the wheel by the lugs, adjuster tried the “curb damage” line and I told him “helluva curb height wouldn’t you say? Won that one.

Second one, spilled Pepsi in the shifter area, adjuster said “I don’t pay for negligence” to my reply “The Burger King receipt is still on the floor along with French fries that were scattered in the crash and air bags going off”, won that one too.

Next, battery was found to have a cracked case. I was charged a betterment, around twenty five or so dollars, I saw it on the repair order. Three calls, left messages and no call back. Well I finally caught him in his office. He was still a little prick. I could see if the car was out of warranty to charge me a betterment as it had 3/36 coverage. We went back and forth, at this point it was principle, not a money issue.

He said “That’t the way it is”. I said “You haven’t heard the last of this” to which he replied “Take us to court, policy states we can change a betterment.”

I told him “No problem, not going to court. Just check your screen in about an hour. You are about to lose three cars, two motorcycles and two houses (one was for sale at the time) over this.”

His reply was “You would cancel over twenty five dollars?” I said “Watch me now!” My next call was to my agent “You have one hour to change my insurance carrier or I change agencies”