Tennessee Car Accident Lawyer

Generally, a hit and run in Tennessee happens when a driver is involved with either another car or a pedestrian and they leave the scene of the accident without saying who they are, giving any type of information about themselves, or rendering any type of aid or help to someone. They will normally cause an accident and leave the scene.

If you have been injured in a hit and run accident and are looking for legal representation, it is crucial to contact a Nashville, Tennessee car accident lawyer immediately. An experienced attorney will be able to build a case to help recover any damages you may be entitled to.

Fact Patterns of an Accident

In a hit and run accident, a lot of times the reason someone runs is that they are guilty of something. They may not have insurance, so they run because they know under the law of Tennessee, all mobile drivers should carry insurance. Or, they may be intoxicated, which an individual also knows under the laws of Tennessee a person cannot drive while a person is under the influence of alcohol or a drug.

Further, they may have just realized that they have caused a serious accident and they have the urge to flee. These are the types of fact patterns a Tennessee car accident lawyer has seen around hit and run accidents. An individual is leaving because they have a guilty conscience about either causing the accident, not being able to pay for it, or because they are driving under the influence.

Hit and Run vs. General Accident Cases

In hit and run cases, a Nashville, Tennessee car accident attorney is usually dealing with a client who is upset because somebody has hit their car and flees the scene, not knowing if they were injured. There are always a lot of personal feelings involved in such accidents, but from a legal standpoint, an attorney will have to first see if they can identify who that person was, if anyone recorded a license plate, if there a witness to the accident, et cetera.

If the individual cannot be identified, a Nashville, Tennessee car accident lawyer will try to prove an uninsured or under-insured motorist case, to show that the individual was an alleged victim of a hit and run, and therefore should be entitled an uninsured motorist claim.

Recoverable Damages

In a hit-and-run accident case, a person is going to be able to recover economic damages, non-economic damages, and often punitive damages. Economic damages will be anything from the cost of repair to the individual’s car, lost wages, and a person’s pain and suffering. Pain and suffering is a non-economic damage.

Punitive Damages

The last type of damages a Nashville, Tennessee car accident lawyer will recover is punitive damages. This goes back to the hit-and-run driver leaving the client at the scene of the accident. A Tennessee car accident lawyer will ask the jury for damages to punish them for acting that way.

In Tennessee, a person can get punitive damages or exemplary damages from someone who behaves recklessly or criminally. It is a crime to cause an accident and leave the scene, so a person can ask a jury for civil damages or monetary damages to punish that person and to deter other similar actions.

Contacting an Attorney

An experienced Nashville, Tennessee car accident attorney will increase the value of the case where there is a settlement value or the value of the case at trial.

They will want to be able to put the accident claim together efficiently, so they will reconstruct how the accident occurred and why the other person is at fault, preserve evidence such as photographs of the scene and witness statements, advise the client through the process on matters like whether or not they should give a recorded statement, and then put the evidence together about the damages to present it to a jury.

Contact us online immediately, especially in a hit-and-run case. Witnesses leave, people’s memories fade, and a person should hire a Tennessee car accident lawyer quickly so that they can preserve all that evidence. Other steps that a person should complete after being injured in a hit-and-run accident would be to file a police report, get any witness info in the area, take pictures of their car, the scene, and any other vehicles that may have been involved in the accident.

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