After a personal injury accident, you may find that the person at fault doesn’t have insurance or enough coverage to cover your damages. You can sue an at-fault driver or any individual who contributed to your injury. However, if at-fault parties can’t afford insurance, they may not have a lot of assets to seize through a lawsuit. Even if you win the suit, you may never get full compensation for your medical bills and other hardships.

Our skilled personal injury lawyers at Maison Law can help you file a claim directly against an uninsured driver or a negligent property owner and win compensation. To protect you further, our attorneys often identify other potential sources of support (e.g., others who were to blame or your own insurance) to help secure compensation to pay your medical bills and other damages.

What to Know If You Must Seek Accident Support Directly from a Negligent Party

After an accident caused by someone else’s carelessness, California empowers you to seek damages to help you pay for recovery. This can cover medical bills, repairs, and even the valuable time you must miss at work.

This might be the case if you’re struck by a reckless driver on the freeway. A dog owner may have to support you while you heal from a dog bite.

If the at-fault party has auto insurance or homeowners insurance, getting support may be a fairly easy process. However, if that party to blame has no insurance and no assets (perhaps no income at all), then the effort to secure economic help with a mountain of doctor bills gets harder.

You may still sue the at-fault person even if they don’t have a lot of personal property.

These are a few steps that may help you get reimbursed for your losses:

• Small Claims Court. For simple car repair costs or other personal property damage, you could take the person to small claims court. It’s cheaper for the at-fault party, who may have an easier time offering support.
• Moving Forward with a Lawsuit. Some at-fault parties may want it to appear that they have no assets. A lawsuit can force them to reveal what they make and their property values, giving you a path to paying off your medical bills.
• Wage Garnishment. In a trial, a judge may order that the at-fault party’s weekly wages be garnished. Money would come out of each paycheck before the person received it. This would continue until you were fully compensated.

If a lawsuit against a driver is the only way you can seek damages, your Maison Law attorney will be at your side. We fight to get victims the maximum in compensation, no matter the circumstances or venue.

How Can a Lawyer Help Me After an Accident Caused by Someone Who Is Broke?

Being hurt by a cash-strapped, careless person may leave you feeling powerless, but there are usually other places to earn accident and injury support.

An experienced California personal injury lawyer will have won compensation for clients through many different avenues.

Here are a few of the steps a lawyer can take to earn you accident support:

• Other Liable Parties. Your lawyer has experience in investigating cases and identifying everyone who may bear blame for what happened. That can include other drivers in a car accident. It can involve the negligent actions of government agencies and corporations.
• Multiple Claims. Your lawyer would file claims against any party that contributed to your accident. This might mean more than one claim or lawsuit. A careless driver may only have basic insurance that doesn’t cover all of your emergency room bills. A claim could also be filed against the driver’s employer. The more claims that are filed, the better chance injured victims receive enough in support to pay every bill.
• A claim against your uninsured motorist coverage (UM) after a car accident. When California drivers without insurance cause accidents, uninsured motorist coverage is meant to protect victims. Most basic auto insurance polices come with UM insurance unless it’s rejected in writing. But your own insurance provider can try to withhold support. Your attorney can fight to get you everything you require to make a full recovery.
• A claim against your homeowners insurance could also be a source of support in some accidents.
• Protecting your claim. An at-fault individual without any insurance or money may resort to trying to pin the accident on you. They may ask you for support. Your lawyer would fully investigate your accident and collect evidence to ensure the blame stayed in the right place.

You may not know if it’s worth the trouble to file a lawsuit, but it’s not something you have to worry about. You can take advantage of a free case consultation with Maison Law. There may be paths to getting support that you don’t know about. It’s always a good idea to check with a legal representative, even if you don’t plan on hiring a lawyer. There’s no obligation.

Do I Need a Lawyer After an Accident?

If you suffer a serious injury in an accident like a car accident, a dog bite incident, or a slip-and-fall, and someone else was to blame, having a California personal injury lawyer may make a huge difference in the outcome of your case.

If you aren’t sure if you need the protection of a lawyer, there’s a no-risk way to find out. Maison Law of California offers a free, no-obligation case consultation with a real lawyer.

If you end up needing our help, you never have to pay anything up front. Our lawyers work under a contingency agreement. It means we don’t get paid unless we win your case for you. Then our fee comes out of the car insurance settlement you are awarded.