Meet Toriana: Another Hensley Success Story

March 10, 2026

In December 2023, Toriana, a 21-year-old certified nursing assistant, was in the middle of making a left-hand turn at the intersection of the Lloyd Expressway and Vann Ave. in Evansville, IN.

She had recently finished paying off her Hyundai Elantra, but this ended up being the last time she would get to drive it because a Chevy Tahoe suddenly blew through a red light and smashed into her car before crashing into a pole.

“When We Went to Go Check, He Was Gone”

Despite having struck her head on the steering wheel, Toriana still had the presence of mind to walk over with one of her passengers to the other vehicle in order to get more information from its driver, only to have her second shock of the night.

“When we went to go check, he was gone,” she recalled.

Gone forever, as luck would have it. Not only had the hit-and-run driver escaped from the scene on foot, the SUV that he was driving didn’t provide any leads either because it had been stolen from a nearby dealership immediately prior to the collision. This meant that the case was closed as far as law enforcement was concerned.

“The police wouldn’t really do anything about it,” Toriana explained. “Because they did find surveillance of somebody breaking into the place where the car was, but they just, I guess, never went on with the investigation.”

Insurance Company Refuses to Honor Policy

The case may have been closed for the Evansville Police Department, but it was about to begin for Toriana, who was stuck dealing with a host of serious injuries and major personal setbacks in the wake of the accident.

Specifically, she suffered from persistent headaches and neck pain secondary to blunt force cranial trauma that prevented her from being able to perform the duties of her job and cost her over a week’s wages as a result.

Moreover, she had no money to replace her car, since the dealership’s insurance company wouldn’t cover a stolen vehicle and her own insurance company refused to honor its uninsured motorist policy without an address for the liable party, no matter that this was an obvious hit-and-run.

Fortunately, this is when Toriana’s mother gave her a piece of advice that would change everything: “She told me to get a lawyer and try to fight the case, because it wasn’t my fault and my car was totaled.”

Her mother also recommended one firm in particular: Hensley Legal Group, PC.

“They Wanted Me to Get the Best Settlement”

To this day, Toriana remains grateful that she hired Hensley, where her legal team included her attorney Anthony Miller and her case manager Sarah Coffey.

“They were pretty sweet,” Toriana said. “They wanted me to get the best settlement that they could, and I was like, ‘I’m just going to wait and work with you guys, whatever you need, just let me know.’”

And her team definitely went to work gathering irrefutable proof of the hit-and-run nature of her Evansville car accident, such as video footage of the SUV’s theft. Yet regardless of how much evidence Hensley put together, Toriana’s insurance carrier continued to insist that the terms of its policy hadn’t been met – or at least it did until Anthony threatened to file a bad faith claim.

A New Start for a New Mother

Faced with the prospect of having to defend its actions in court, the insurer agreed to come to the negotiating table and eventually came up with a number that took everything that the Evansville car accident had taken from Toriana into account.

Toriana was extremely pleased with the offer, which allowed her to buy another car and make a new start right as she was about to give birth to her first child, and it was especially satisfying when she considered the challenges she’d had to overcome along the way.

“I was surprised I was even getting as much as they allowed me to get for my settlement,” she reflected. “I know that was probably a difficult case to take on, even though that’s their job, and they can do that, but I’m just thankful that they were able to help me out and actually do something about it.”

Get in Touch with Hensley’s Evansville Car Accident Lawyers Now

Hensley Legal Group, PC is a dedicated Indiana personal injury law firm whose experienced attorneys have been fighting on behalf of the wrongfully injured since 1998. If an insurance company is stopping you from getting fairly compensated for a car accident in the Evansville area, get in touch with Hensley’s Evansville car accident lawyers now to explore your legal options.

You can call us at (317) 472-3333, chat with us online, or fill out our contact form for a free case review with a knowledgeable Evansville car accident attorney at our firm.