Callahan & Blaine

Whether you call it “hit and run” or “leaving the scene of an accident” the result is the same; someone is seriously injured, brain damaged, paralyzed, or killed in an accident, and the responsible party takes off without even stopping to see if the victim needs help.

For some reason this offence is growing in numbers all across the US. According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, nearly 1 in 5 pedestrians killed on our roadways are victims of hit and run drivers. Ironically, many times the driver is not even at fault, but turns an accident into a crime by leaving the scene.

Why do drivers commit hit and run; why do they leave the scene of the accident after they have seriously injured a pedestrian or other driver?

The most common answer is that the driver is hiding something or trying to protect himself. This can result from the driver being:

• under the influence of drugs or alcohol
• distracted by a phone call or text messaging
• unlicensed or operating on a suspended license
• uninsured
• an illegal, undocumented immigrant
• driving a stolen vehicle

Whatever the reason, leaving the scene of an accident is a crime that only compounds any fault of the original accident. It may also make the original crime even more serious, if the person injured does not receive medical attention right away and would have suffered less serious injuries if they had received aid from the driver.

Our firm recently won a $50 million settlement in a California hit and run accident case that took place in Dana Point. That settlement has been certified by West Trial Digest as the largest personal injury settlement in the history of the United States. When other law firms turned down the case, Callahan & Blaine took it on, and we are proud of to have won such an astonishing award for our clients.

Callahan & Blaine uses its 25 years of experience to accomplish record breaking jury verdicts and settlements. If you or someone you know has been catastrophically injured or killed in an accident, contact Callahan & Blaine for expert personal injury representation.