It would seem that anyone who has been hit by a motor vehicle would have strong grounds for submitting a personal injury claim. Still, Alberta has listed certain requirements that such a victim needs to meet, in order to proceed with claiming the consequences of a personal injury.
What are those requirements?
• Evidence of a bodily injury, one that resulted from the claimant’s involvement in an incident involving a motor vehicle.
• Proof that the victim of the hit-and-run incident resides in Alberta.
• The responsibility for the accident was assigned to an unknown driver.
• Proof that the victim has tried to find that same driver.
• The Motor Vehicle Claims Fund was informed of the hit-and-run incident within 90 days of the date when the victim got hit.
• The victim has served a lawsuit on all defendants, including the unknown defendant.
Victims that meet all those requirements can seek compensation from the Motor Vehicle Claims Fund. Still, that is not the only means by which the victim of a hit-and-run incident might get compensated for any injuries and any economic losses. The legal system has provided that same victim with another option.
The alternative option
That option involves utilization of the Family Protective Endorsement. That Endorsement is an addition that can be made to a car insurance policy, if the policy holder has paid for it. The inclusion of such an Endorsement allows the policy holder to obtain an added amount of coverage.
If the victim of a hit-and-run incident lives in the same home as someone that has a car insurance policy with a Family Protective Endorsement, then that same victim can seek the added coverage that has been promised by the policy. This alternative option does not free the victim of the need to seek the unknown driver.
Yet, if that driver can be found, then the victim can work with a personal injury lawyer in St. Albert, in order to seek compensation. If the driver cannot be found, then the company that sold the policy with the added Endorsement must provide the promised coverage. Sometimes, it gets money for that added coverage by looking for someone that could be held partly responsible for the hit-and-run incident.
It could even claim that the victim was partly responsible. Maybe the victim’s clothes were not as bright and colorful as they might have been. It is now possible to go online and to buy a fluorescent vest, which can be worn while walking on the streets and crossing the roads that are full of traffic. The absence of such a vest would not remove a victim’s right to seek compensation. Still, it could cause the court to call for a reduction in the size of that compensation.