Car & Pedestrian Accidents

In Hawaii, all automobile drivers are required to carry motor vehicle insurance if they own a car. Such insurance will always include personal injury protection coverage, which will pay the medical bills and rehabilitative expenses of an insured person up to a certain limit without regard to fault. The motor vehicle insurance will also include liability coverage, which insures a covered party against any claims arising from a motor vehicle accident.

Unfortunately, in Hawaii many automobile drivers do not possess adequate liability insurance–or are uninsured–and in such cases an injured plaintiff may be unable to identify enough insurance owned by a defendant to cover the plaintiff’s injuries. As an automobile driver you can protect against such an occurrence by purchasing underinsured or uninsured motor vehicle coverage. This kind of insurance would cover any claims for damages that are not satisfied by the liability coverage, or absence thereof, of another driver: underinsurance bridges the gap between a defendant’s liability insurance and a plaintiff’s damages in excess of the same, while uninsured coverage provides insurance coverage in place of a defendant driver who has no insurance at all.

In order to file a claim for damages due to a motor vehicle accident, it is necessary to meet certain threshold requirements, which may differ from case to case. These requirements include, among other things, meeting a required level of medical expenditures related to the motor vehicle claim or showing permanent injury. Assuming that you do meet these threshold requirements, you would then be entitled to pursue your claim, although at this point you would still be required to demonstrate that the other party was negligent, as well as prove the nature of your damages. In certain cases, such as a claim for defective highway design resulting in a motor vehicle accident, it would be necessary to demonstrate through the use of expert witness testimony that a defective highway design was a substantial factor in causing the motor vehicle accident.

Determining who will pay for your medical bills and recovering damages for any injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident can be a challenging and frustrating process. If you were injured in a motor vehicle or pedestrian accident and would like to discuss your rights and options, please contact us for a free consultation so that we can determine the best way to help you recover the damages which you are due.