Glendale Hit and Run Lawyer

The driver is gone, your body hurts, and the insurance adjuster is already asking questions you can't answer. That is the hard part of a Glendale hit and run. California gives you a real path to payment, but short deadlines guard it, and many people never hear about them. You have 24 hours to report the crash to police and 30 days to send your insurer a sworn statement. Miss either one and your uninsured motorist claim can disappear. Moe Abdallah Law, P.C. takes hit-and-run cases from Glendale and across the Southland. Moe handles your case himself, texts and calls you with updates, and moves on evidence before it gets taped over. Call any hour. Se Habla Español. The consultation costs nothing, and we only get paid if we win your case.

The 24-hour report and 30-day statement that protect your claim

When the driver who hit you can't be identified, California treats that car as uninsured. Your own uninsured motorist (UM) coverage can then pay for your injuries, but only if three conditions are met under Insurance Code section 11580.2. First, your injury must come from physical contact with the fleeing vehicle. Second, you must report the crash within 24 hours to the Glendale Police Department if it happened inside city limits, or to the sheriff or CHP if it happened outside them. Third, you must file a sworn statement with your insurer within 30 days after that report. The 24-hour report is a legal requirement, not a suggestion. Call 911 from the scene if you can. If you were taken to the hospital first, report from your bed or have a family member call. Write down the report number. UM does not pay for your car, so repairs go through your collision coverage if you bought it. There is one more clock. You must sue, agree on a number with your insurer, or start arbitration by certified mail within two years of the crash. We calendar all three dates the day you call.

What Glendale's hit-and-run numbers say and what they leave out

California's Office of Traffic Safety counted 42 hit-and-run fatal and injury collisions in Glendale in 2022. Among the 61 cities in its population group, that ranked Glendale 45th, where first is worst. Glendale is not at the top of the list, but that is still 42 crashes where someone was hurt or killed and a driver kept going. Glendale's own Vision Zero analysis shows where crashes bunch up. Thirteen percent of city streets account for 71 percent of crashes, and the worst stretches run along Brand Boulevard, Colorado Street and Central Avenue, plus near freeway entrances and exits. Most of the nine sites the city picked for safety fixes sit in downtown and southern Glendale. Those are the places where a driver can clip you at a stoplight and merge into traffic before you see a plate. These numbers don't prove your case, but they tell you the police and the city keep records worth requesting. If you were hit near a freeway ramp, tell police exactly which ramp and which direction you were traveling. That detail helps officers find cameras and helps us rebuild the route the other car took. Keep a log of every call and every officer's name from day one.

Working with Glendale Police when the other driver is gone

Glendale Police Department headquarters is at 131 N. Isabel Street. A 2014 city release listed the Records Bureau counter as open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at 818-548-3135, so call first to confirm today's hours. A city release from 2014 says routine collision reports could be ordered online through LexisNexis eCrash at least seven days after the crash, or by mail or in person. The same release warns that reports needing a Traffic Bureau criminal investigation, such as hit-and-run and fatal collisions, may be delayed or missing online. Those fees are also from 2014, so ask the Records Bureau for today's price. Fleeing the scene of an injury crash is a crime under Vehicle Code section 20001. A driver involved in an injury crash must stop, give a name, address and registration number, and help the injured person. Prosecutors can charge it as a felony or misdemeanor. Your civil claim runs separately from any criminal case. If the crash happened on the SR-134, SR-2, I-5 or I-210, ask the responding officer whether Glendale police or the CHP has your file, and get the report number before you leave.

Finding a driver who fled: cameras, witnesses and paint

Hit-and-run evidence spoils fast. A restaurant or bank on Brand Boulevard may overwrite its video in days. A doorbell camera on a side street off Colorado Street may keep clips for a week. We send preservation requests quickly and ask for footage from any building facing the spot where you were hit. Witnesses matter just as much. A bus rider, a delivery worker or a neighbor may have caught part of a plate, a color or a dented bumper. Ask them for a name and number before they leave. If you can, photograph paint scrapes, broken glass and plastic pieces on the pavement, because auto parts can narrow down a make and model. Check your own car for transfer paint. Tell the officer about every detail, even partial ones, like the first three characters of a plate. If police later find the driver, you may have a liability claim against that driver and their insurer. California's minimum limits are only $30,000 per person and $60,000 per crash, so we also look at your UM and underinsured coverage so a thin policy doesn't cap what you can recover.

Treatment, Prop 213 and the way adjusters treat unknown-driver claims

Hospitals in town include Adventist Health Glendale Medical Center on Wilson Terrace and Glendale Memorial Hospital and Health Center on South Central Avenue. Both have emergency rooms. The LA County EMS Agency lists both as umbrella facilities, not designated trauma centers, so a badly hurt person may be taken elsewhere. Go to the ER even if you feel okay, and follow up with your own doctor. Insurers love gaps in treatment, and a hit-and-run victim who waits two weeks gets asked why. Your UM insurer becomes your opponent in this claim. It may argue you were partly at fault, or that the car never touched you. California uses pure comparative negligence under Li v. Yellow Cab Co., so partial fault lowers your award but does not erase it. One rule to know is Proposition 213. If you owned an uninsured vehicle, you generally cannot recover pain and suffering damages, with a narrow exception when the other driver is convicted of DUI. If you were a pedestrian or cyclist with no car of your own, that rule usually does not touch you, but we check your situation before we tell you where you stand.

How Moe handles a fled-driver claim from day one

Moe starts by locking down the deadlines: the 24-hour report, the 30-day sworn statement and the two-year limit. Then he moves on evidence, sending camera requests, tracking down witnesses and getting the Glendale or CHP report. He also reads your insurance policy to see what UM, med-pay and collision coverage you actually have. In one past case, a woman was rear-ended by a driver who fled with no police report, and other firms had turned her down. Moe recovered the full $100,000 policy limit under her UM coverage. Past results do not predict a similar outcome, and every case turns on its own facts. You also have to file an SR-1 report with the DMV within 10 days if anyone was hurt or damage topped $1,000, and we remind clients of that right away. Moe takes calls himself, keeps you updated by call and text, and does not hand your file to a case manager. Consultations are free, and you owe no fee unless we win. If your insurer pushes back, we answer in writing and keep a paper trail of every deadline met. You should never have to guess where your claim stands.

Talk to a Glendale hit-and-run accident lawyer

Call (323) 716-1992 for a free, no-obligation case review. You pay nothing unless we win, and we'll handle the insurance companies for you. Learn more about our hit-and-run representation →

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