I was involved in an accident, the other driver had no insurance, what can i do?

First of all, you have indicated you have no property damage. But I think you may have meant that you have no coverage for collision repair. If you did have damage to your property as was likely the fact and the other party was uninsured, you may have had coverage for collision involving uninsured motorists. Not seeing your insurance policy declaration page, I cannot tell if that is the case. You need to go to an attorney who specializes in insurance coverage to get an opinion as to whether you have this kind of coverage.

You do have uninsured motorist coverage, however. And you have a substantial amount of it. It covers only injuries and damages that may have been proximately caused by the negligence of the uninsured motorist. Under this coverage, you need to prove that the other motorist was in fact uninsured, that the other motorist was responsible for the crash and that you were hurt as a result. Damages are ordinarily set in a claim of this sort at a hearing before arbitrators appointed under the terms of your insurance policy or through the auspices of the American Arbitration Association. Again, you need an attorney who knows what he or she is doing in order to prosecute this sort of a claim. Even something as simple as establishing proof of no insurance as required under an insurance policy is a difficult task for a layman. And there is a cost of filing an uninsured motorist claim with the A.A.A. It used to be $350. Although under Illinois law (Mirabella v. Safeway Insurance Company and Nickla v. Industrial Fire & Casualty) these costs are recoverable, you do have to find an attorney who is willing to advance the costs.

You also can file a lawsuit against the other motorist. A small claim can be initiated to get fairly quick results. I notice you live in the south suburban area. If the other party lives near you or the crash took place nearby, you can file your small claim in the courthouse in Markham or Bridgeview and get it heard before arbitrators in about six to nine months maximum from the time court papers are served on the other party. If you file your case with a request for a Jury of six people and serve it by certified mail, it is going to cost you less than $200 to file it. You cannot ask for more than $10,000 for this kind of small claim, but you are likely to get the case to judgment in less than a year.

Once the case goes to judgment, you can get the license of the uninsured motorist suspended if he or she fails to pay it within 30 days by registering the unpaid judgment with the office of the Secretary of State. You should get the help of a competent lawyer to do this.

If you want to sue for more than $10,000, the costs go up. It can run as much as $319 to file for more than $50,000 with $150 for a Jury demand and $60 for the Sheriff of Cook County to go out and serve court papers (they don't do a good job). Many lawyers will advance court costs in a contingent fee situation.

One way or another, you are well advised to get in touch with a personal injury and Insurance Law specialist as soon as possible.

Good luck to you.

Donald Nathan
www.donaldnathanlaw.com