|
Answers to the Twelve Most Frequently Asked Questions in Pedestrian Accident Cases (1)
1. If I am injured by a motor vehicle or a loved one is killed
as a pedestrian, can I sue the motor vehicle that hit me or
my family member?
Yes. As long as you can establish that the motor vehicle
driver was at least partially at fault, you are entitled to bring
a lawsuit.
2. What if I was partially at fault for the accident because I
was walking outside of a crosswalk or running across the
street?
You can still bring a lawsuit as long as the driver that hit
you was also partially at fault. However, your eventual recovery
will be reduced by your percentage of fault. In other words, if
a jury were to award you $1 million but determined you were 50%
at fault, your recovery would be reduced by 50% and you would
receive $500,000.
3. If I am a pedestrian hit by a motor vehicle, is there anyone
else I can sue other than the motor vehicle driver?
Yes. Anybody whose fault contributed to the accident that
caused your injuries can be sued. This can include a public
entity if a crossing was in an unsafe condition, the company that
repaired the brakes on the motor vehicle that hit you if the
brakes were repaired negligently, or any other entity or person
that contributed to your injuries.
4. If I am a pedestrian, does a motor vehicle driver owe any
special duty or care toward me under law?
It is well recognized that although pedestrians and drivers
are both charged with a duty to exercise ordinary care, the
amount of care required of the driver is greater, since the
driver is driving a vehicle capable of inflicting injury or
death. Motorists have a duty of having their vehicle under
sufficient control to enable them to avoid injury to pedestrians.
5. As a pedestrian, what duty is placed upon me to avoid
accidents?
Pedestrians are required by statute to obey traffic signs
and signals. Therefore, every pedestrian has the duty, before
entering a street, to make reasonably careful observations to
ascertain traffic conditions to be encountered. Pedestrians
should not begin or continue their forward course across a street
if they are aware of the approach of a vehicle. Interestingly, a
pedestrian who is "just outside of a crosswalk" is entitled to
the exact same protections as a pedestrian who is in a crosswalk.
Remember, however, if you are partially at fault for the
accident, this does not mean that you cannot also sue the vehicle
driver or other entity who is at fault.
6. Is a driver always at fault for an accident if the
pedestrian is in or near a crosswalk?
No. Although a motor vehicle driver is required to yield
the right of way to a pedestrian in a crosswalk, the driver is
not required to anticipate that a pedestrian may suddenly run out
from the curb directly into the path of the driver's car.
7. If my child has been injured or killed by a motor vehicle
when he or she was a pedestrian, what are our rights?
The law recognizes that greater care must be exercised for
the protection and safety of young children than for adults
possessing normal and mature faculties. The law recognizes that
children's conduct is unpredictable and one operating a motor
vehicle should anticipate their thoughtlessness and
impulsiveness. The presence of children itself is a warning of
danger requiring an exercise of care for their safety.
Thus, a motor vehicle driver must exercise a greater degree
of care when they know or should know that small children are at
play in the immediate area. A driver even owes a duty to
anticipate the presence of the children he cannot see. Thus,
with the exception of a case in which a child darts out in front
of a vehicle and a driver has no opportunity to stop and had no
reason to anticipate the dart-out, you should be able to prevail
in a case against the vehicle driver.
8. What if I or one of my family members is injured or killed
by an uninsured/underinsured motorist while we were
pedestrians?
An uninsured or underinsured motorist policy will probably
provide coverage for the injuries or death to you or your family.
Thus, you will be able to recover damages up to the amount of
your uninsured/underinsured motorist policy limit.
9. What damages are recoverable in pedestrian accident cases?
Plaintiff is entitled to recover damages for past and future
and medical expenses, past and future wage loss, past and future
pain and suffering, and if it is deemed that conduct is bad
enough, punitive damages (i.e., punishment damages against the
defendant). If the pedestrian dies, his or her survivors are
entitled to recover full compensation for their economic losses
that result from the pedestrian's death as well as emotional
distress damages which stem from the loss of society care and
comfort of the decedent. If the survivors can prove that the
pedestrian lived for a period of time between the negligent act
and death, they can also bring an action for punitive damages.
10. How soon do I need to bring a case after a pedestrian
accident?
If you are an adult, you have one year from the date of the
accident to bring a case except on rare occasions in which there
is delayed discovery. However, if a public entity is in any way
at fault for the accident, the claim against the public entity
must be brought within six months whether the pedestrian was a
child or an adult. The same rules would apply if your child was
killed in an accident. If your child was injured in a pedestrian
accident, he or she has until the child's 19th birthday to bring
an action. However, it is generally wise to not wait very long
to bring a case because evidence will be lost and the cast may
become more difficult to prove.
11. Do I need to retain an attorney?
It is almost always a good idea to retain an attorney in a
pedestrian accident case because there usually will be some
questions of comparative fault, and expert witnesses may need to
be retained to reconstruct the accident factors and help
determine responsibility for the accident.
12. Will my case settle out of court?
Probably. Ninety percent to ninety-five percent of
pedestrian accident cases settle before trial.
1. Most legal questions require complex answers. The answers
provided here may not be complete or fully accurate but attempt
to provide consumers with abbreviated answers. For more
detailed answers to these questions, a consumer should check out
other articles in this section of this web site, research other
legal articles and texts on the subject matter or consult with an
attorney.
|
