Phantom Motorist / Hit and Run / Miss and Run

UM coverage shall include coverage for bodily injury arising out of a motor vehicle accident caused by an automobile which has no physical contact with the injured party or with a vehicle which the injured party is occupying at the time of the accident, provided that the injured party bears the burden of proving, by an independent and disinterested witness, that the injury was the result of the actions of the driver of another vehicle whose identity is unknown or who is uninsured or underinsured. La. R.S. 22:1295(1)(f).

This is “justifiable because miss and run is too fraud-fraught: every driver who falls asleep or otherwise loses control and injures himself in a one-car accident could blame a non-existent miss-and-run driver and collect under his uninsured motorist coverage.” Springer v. GEICO, 311 So.2d 36 (La.App. 4th Cir.), writ denied, 313 So.2d 598 (La.1975).