Pedestrian Accidents

Reputable personal injury attorneys handle cases on contingency. That means no fees unless your case results in a recovery. You should never pay upfront costs for a pedestrian accident claim. Confirm the contingency percentage and whether litigation costs are advanced by the firm or charged back to you at settlement.

Under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 335.1, you have two years from the date of the accident to file a lawsuit against a private party. If a government entity shares responsibility, the deadline to file an administrative claim is six months from the date of injury. Missing the government claim deadline eliminates your ability to pursue that defendant, even if the two-year period has not yet expired.

California law does not prohibit pedestrians from crossing outside a marked crosswalk, but crossing mid-block does require yielding to traffic. Drivers still owe a duty of care to all pedestrians on the road. Crossing outside a crosswalk may introduce a comparative fault argument, but it does not eliminate the driver’s liability if they failed to exercise reasonable care.

If the driver was on company business at the time of the crash, the employer may be liable under the doctrine of respondeat superior. This matters significantly because commercial policies and employer assets typically represent far greater coverage than an individual driver’s personal policy. Identifying employer liability is one of the first things a pedestrian accident attorney should investigate.

Most pedestrian accident cases resolve within one to two years. Cases involving severe injuries, disputed liability, government entities, or uninsured drivers may take longer. The timeline depends on how quickly your medical condition stabilizes enough to calculate future damages accurately, and whether the at-fault party’s insurer disputes liability. Settling before your medical picture is complete almost always undervalues the claim.

Private property accidents follow the same negligence framework as public road accidents. If a driver struck you in a parking lot, the duty to yield to pedestrians still applies. Liability may also extend to the property owner if the parking lot layout, inadequate lighting, or obstructed sightlines contributed to the crash.

An honest attorney will tell you early if comparative fault is a realistic issue in your case. California’s pure comparative fault system allows recovery even with significant shared fault, but an attorney who never raises it may not be preparing your case for the arguments the defense will make. You want candor, not just reassurance.

Many large personal injury firms hand intake cases down the chain after signing the client. Know who will actually be building your file, making strategic decisions, and communicating with the insurance company. You hired a specific attorney for a reason. That attorney should be managing your case.

Case value in a pedestrian accident includes current medical bills, future medical costs, lost wages, reduced earning capacity, pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life. Ask how the attorney calculates future damages and whether they use life care planners or economic experts in serious injury cases. An attorney who cannot walk you through that process is not someone who has built these cases before.

Yes. California follows pure comparative fault. If you were 30% responsible for the crash and your case is worth $300,000, you recover $210,000. Your partial fault reduces your recovery but does not prevent it. Insurers often overstate a cyclist’s fault to reduce their liability. An attorney can challenge those determinations.

Pedestrian accident cases involve specific liability questions, biomechanical evidence, traffic engineering analysis, and California Vehicle Code provisions that differ meaningfully from other personal injury claims. You want an attorney whose firm has a documented track record with pedestrian cases, not one who lists them on a general practice page alongside every other injury type.

Culver Legal charges no fees unless we win. Ask any firm you consider what percentage they take at settlement versus trial and whether expert witness and litigation costs are deducted from your recovery separately.

Will you have direct access to your attorney throughout the case? Culver Legal is available 24/7, bilingual in English and Spanish, and assigns a named attorney to every file.

Does the attorney know how California courts treat California Vehicle Code violations in bicycle cases and how Los Angeles juries view cyclist fault arguments? Local experience matters in these cases.

Will the firm take your case to trial if the insurer refuses fair value? Culver Legal prepares every bicycle case for trial from the start, which is what produces serious settlement offers rather than quick-close minimums.

Has the attorney handled bicycle accident cases involving dooring claims, lane positioning disputes, and government entity road defects? General personal injury experience is not the same as bicycle-specific case work. Culver Legal has recovered over $1 billion for injured clients across California.

Hit-and-run pedestrian accidents may be covered under your own uninsured motorist (UM) policy if you have one. An attorney can also investigate whether any other liable parties exist, such as a property owner, a government agency responsible for a dangerous intersection, or a commercial employer if the driver was on the job. Do not assume you have no options because the driver fled.