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In 2024, 6 of the 31 fatal crashes in Lafayette Parish involved a hit-and-run vehicle. That is 19.4%. The statewide share was 10.8%, the seventh highest among the 50 states and DC.
Six crashes is a small sample; the five-year count is 18 of 153 fatal crashes from 2020 through 2024 (11.8%), against 8.5% statewide. Fifteen of the 18 people killed were pedestrians (9) or bicyclists (6). Source: NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System.
When the driver is never found, a hit-and-run claim runs through your own uninsured motorist (UM) coverage. The claim turns on two facts: whether the other car touched you, and whether anyone finds the driver. Plan as if no one ever will.
Start collecting proof at the scene.
Whether the cars touched decides what you must prove to collect from your own UM coverage. R.S. 22:1295(1)(f) covers injuries from a crash "caused by an automobile which has no physical contact with the injured party or with a vehicle which the injured party is occupying." One condition applies. The injured party "bears the burden of proving, by an independent and disinterested witness," that another driver caused the injury.
The UM statute does not require contact and sets no deadline for reporting the crash. Your policy may still set its own reporting and notice terms. The statute does not define who counts as independent and disinterested, so collect every witness.
Courts decide who qualifies case by case. In 2009 Louisiana's Third Circuit Court of Appeal, which also hears Lafayette appeals, upheld UM coverage for an Alexandria crash. A car swerved into the plaintiffs' lane on an I-49 exit. Their car hit a guardrail and went down an embankment without any contact. Their witness was a driver ahead of them. He had met up with the group that night and was then dating the owner's adult daughter. The trial court believed him and found coverage. On appeal, the court noted that the relationship had ended several years before trial and that he had no financial interest in the outcome, and found no clear error in treating him as independent and disinterested (Johnson v. State Farm Insurance Co., La. App. 3 Cir. 2009). It affirmed general damages of $5,000 to the owner and $8,500 to the driver, and cut the general damages for the owner's 10-year-old daughter, also in the car, from $5,000 to $2,000.
In 2014 the same court affirmed the dismissal of a driver's UM claim. She said an unknown car ran her off the road on her way to work in Lake Charles and fled without touching her. There were no witnesses. The officer who arrived about 30 minutes later believed her, but he had no personal knowledge and found no physical evidence, so the court held his testimony was not enough to show another driver caused the crash (McCoy v. USAgencies Casualty Insurance Co., La. App. 3 Cir. 2014). That was a loss for the injured driver. Get witness names at the scene.
In a no-contact crash, expect the insurer to blame your swerve. For causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, a person 51% or more at fault recovers nothing (Civil Code article 2323, as amended by Act 15 of 2025). Under 51%, recovery shrinks by your share.
If you carry collision coverage, use it. If not, check your declarations page, because uninsured motorist property damage coverage pays for this crash only if already on the policy. On a policy without collision coverage, a named insured can request that coverage in writing, unless UM was rejected. Coverage added that way pays the lesser of actual cash value or the state's minimum property damage limit, after a $250 deductible, under the same contact-or-witness rule. It does not pay for loss of use, such as a rental car (R.S. 22:1295(1)(d)).
Finding the driver decides whose insurance pays. In an AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety study of fatal U.S. hit-and-runs from 2017 through 2023, driver information existed for only 47% of the drivers who fled, the ones eventually caught. For the other 53% there was none, in many cases likely because they were never apprehended.
Found. You claim against the driver's liability coverage, as in any Lafayette car accident claim. If the driver has none, or not enough, your own UM or underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage comes into play.
Never found. Your UM coverage is the claim, under the touch test. If you were a passenger, or driving a car you do not own, the UM on that car usually pays first, even if you have no policy of your own. Which policy pays first is covered on our Lafayette uninsured motorist accident lawyer page. On foot or on a bike, your own or a household auto policy may cover a pedestrian accident or bicycle accident, depending on who it calls insured.
For crashes on or after August 1, 2025, Louisiana's No Pay No Play law (R.S. 32:866, Act 16 of 2025) bars an uninsured owner or driver from the first $100,000 of bodily injury damages and the first $100,000 of property damage. A driver who flees the scene cannot use it against you. That helps only if police find them. If you were driving your own uninsured car, UM on another household car generally will not cover you in a car you own that the policy does not list (R.S. 22:1295(1)(e)).
The criminal case under R.S. 14:100 runs separately from your injury claim. Its fines and prison terms pay you nothing. Since August 1, 2025, when a hit-and-run causes death or serious bodily injury that the driver knew or should have known about, and the driver's vehicle was directly involved, two years of any prison term are served without parole, probation or suspension of sentence (Act 124 of 2025). For hit-and-runs on or after August 1, 2026 that kill or seriously injure a pedestrian or bicyclist, Act 890 of 2026 requires at least two years of the sentence, or five after certain prior convictions, to be served without those benefits. If the driver is caught and sentenced, the court must order restitution for any "actual pecuniary loss" it finds (Code of Criminal Procedure article 883.2). Small claims court needs someone to sue. When the driver is never found, neither is available, and the UM claim carries the case.
In State Police Troop I, the eight-parish troop area headquartered in Lafayette, LSU's transportation safety center counted 12 hit-and-runs among the 90 fatal crashes in 2024. That 13% was second only to Troop B, New Orleans (21%).
NHTSA's records also put some of the parish's 18 hit-and-run deaths from 2020 through 2024 on named roads. Two of the nine pedestrians were killed on Ambassador Caffery Parkway in 2022, in January and September. Both were after dark. Two of the six bicyclists were killed on Louisiana Highway 93 in 2024, 26 days apart. One was in Scott, the other on a rural stretch north of it.
A lawsuit on your own UM coverage must be filed within two years of the accident (R.S. 9:5629). Against an identified driver, claims arising after July 1, 2024 generally have two years from the injury (Civil Code article 3493.1). After a fatal crash, a family's wrongful death claim against an identified driver generally has one year from the death or two years from the injury, whichever is longer (Civil Code article 2315.2). If the driver was never found, the family's UM claim still must be filed within two years of the accident (R.S. 9:5629).
It can, if you carry uninsured motorist (UM) coverage or were in a car that has it. If you were a passenger, or driving a car you do not own, that car's UM coverage usually pays first, even if you carry none yourself. Check the declarations pages. If the other car never touched you or your vehicle, you also need an independent and disinterested witness who can show another driver caused the crash.
You can still have a UM claim. R.S. 22:1295(1)(f) covers injuries from crashes caused by a car that never touched you or your vehicle, if you prove through an independent and disinterested witness that another driver caused your injury. Contact is not required.
It depends on the harm. Without death or serious bodily injury, R.S. 14:100 allows up to a $500 fine, six months' imprisonment, or both. Since August 1, 2025, death or serious bodily injury means up to a $5,000 fine, two to ten years in prison, or both, with two years of any prison term served without parole, probation or suspension of sentence (Act 124 of 2025). Certain prior convictions make it five to twenty years. Since August 1, 2026, stricter no-parole rules protect pedestrians and bicyclists (Act 890 of 2026).
It depends on your medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, and how fault is divided. If the driver is never found, the usual ceiling is your UM limit. In a car you do not own, that car's UM usually pays first, and one more UM policy can add to it. If a declarations page shows economic-only UM, that coverage does not pay for pain and suffering. If the driver is found, their liability limit comes first, then your underinsured coverage.
The consultation is free. There is no attorney fee unless we win. Clients may be responsible for costs and expenses, which are separate from the attorney fee. Before you sign anything, ask how the fee and the costs are each handled in your case.
Two years to file suit on your own uninsured motorist coverage, counted from the accident (R.S. 9:5629). A claim against an identified driver generally must also be filed within two years of the injury, for claims arising after July 1, 2024 (Civil Code article 3493.1). Do not count on either clock waiting for police. Tell your insurer much sooner. Your policy has its own notice terms.
When the driver gets away, the fight is usually with your own insurer. Brandt & Sherman has more than 50 years of combined experience. Call (337) 800-4000 or contact us online while the witnesses can still be found. The consultation is free. There is no attorney fee unless we win. Clients may be responsible for costs and expenses.
Past results are not a guarantee of future success. Results may vary.
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