Legal options for someone hit by an uninsured driver

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get this. If it's pointless to sue an uninsured driver what is the point of requiring people to get car insurance?

So I can cancel my car insurance and just drive around and if I hit someone, feel confident that there is no recourse they can take? Seems like a big incentive not to buy car insurance.

OP here, that's exactly why I posted. So far, the research that I did myself and the responses that I've gathered here indicate that:

1) if the person is truly poor and just plain can't afford the insurance, there is no point in suing at all. You are screwed. If you are a driver with insurance, your insurance will pay, but your premiums will likely increase.
2) if the person is uninsured, but they have a job and/or assets you might sue them and get some of that (garnished wages, etc)
3) the state will suspend the DL and fine the person, they won't be able to register a car again until they pay up. That's fine, but it doesn't get the injured person any relief and something tells me if they weren't paying for car insurance in the first place, they won't care about registering the car either.

Did I forget something?

Depends on the state, but your insurance shouldn't go up unless you are at fault.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you would have to somhow know the financial situation is of the ininsured driver. My MIL was at one point too cheap to get driver's insurance because she wanted to indulge herself with the money she would have spent. If she had injured someone she would have pled poor, but there was money there. She has since spent that all. My guess is that most people who are not insured are people who can't afford it and I don't know what sueing what do because I am not a lawyer.

If you can't afford car insurance, you cannot afford to drive. It's not about being cheap, it's about being incredibly irresponsible and dangerous.

Well, in that case American corporations are incredibly irresponsible and dangerous because they do not pay their workers enough, and that is why they cannot afford insurance.
If we only had unions....

I bet your friend is on the H2b visa, and as such has at least a hospital plan.
Otherwise the hospital bill is not his worry, as there is no way they will pursue him in another country.
And do you know for sure that the accident was not his fault?
The driver most likely has a job and has some money. Your friend does not sound like he was seriously hurt. But if you like you can tell him include things like a broken nail and insomnia in his claim

[Anonymous]

Holy shit! Free health insurance, optional car insurance......where the hell are we? This is crazy.