Pedestrian Accident Attorney
The Car Didn't Stop and Now What?
You were doing everything right. Walking in a crosswalk, crossing with the signal, moving through a parking lot. Then a driver wasn’t paying attention — and your life changed in an instant.
Pedestrian accidents are among the most serious cases we handle. There’s no steel frame around you, no airbags, no seatbelt. When a vehicle hits a person, the injuries are often catastrophic. Broken bones, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage, internal bleeding, and permanent disability are common outcomes. So is a long road of surgeries, rehabilitation, and lost income that can stretch on for months or years.
What makes these cases even harder is what comes next. The driver’s insurance company will start building its defense immediately — sometimes before you’ve even left the hospital. They’ll look for any reason to shift blame onto you. They’ll question whether you were in the crosswalk, whether you were distracted, whether you were visible. They work fast. You need someone working just as fast on your side.
That’s not a scare tactic. It’s what we see in these cases every day. The sooner you have an attorney in your corner, the stronger your position from the start.
Who Is Liable in a Pedestrian Accident?
Most people assume the driver is always at fault. The reality is more complicated — and insurance companies know it.
Liability in pedestrian accidents can fall on multiple parties depending on the circumstances. Drivers are most commonly responsible, but they’re not always the only one.
Depending on how the accident happened, other liable parties can include:
- A driver who ran a red light, was speeding, or was distracted by a phone
- A municipality that failed to maintain safe crosswalks or traffic signals
- A property owner whose poorly lit parking lot created dangerous conditions
- A vehicle manufacturer if a defect contributed to the driver losing control
- An employer, if the driver was operating a company vehicle at the time
Identifying every liable party matters — and it directly affects how much compensation you can recover. This is exactly the kind of analysis an experienced pedestrian accident attorney handles from day one. Missing even one responsible party can mean leaving significant money on the table.
What Compensation Can You Recover?
Pedestrian accidents frequently result in serious, long-term injuries. The compensation available reflects that.
A successful claim for a pedestrian accident can recover damages for:
- Emergency medical care, surgeries, and hospitalization
- Ongoing treatment, physical therapy, and rehabilitation
- Lost wages and reduced future earning capacity
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress and loss of enjoyment of life
Permanent disability or disfigurement
The insurance company will make an early offer. It will almost certainly be lower than what your case is worth.
Don’t accept anything before speaking with an attorney who can evaluate the full picture — including the future medical costs, lost earning potential, and long-term quality-of-life impacts that most people forget to account for when they’re just trying to get through the day.
What To Do After a Pedestrian Accident
The steps you take right after the accident can have a real impact on your case.
Call 911. Get police to the scene and get medical help on the way. A police report creates an official record of what happened, and medical documentation establishes the connection between the accident and your injuries.
Document the scene. If you’re physically able, photograph the vehicle, the driver’s license plate, the crosswalk or road conditions, any traffic signals, and anything else relevant to how the accident occurred. Get witness contact information while people are still present.
Seek medical treatment immediately. Even if you feel okay, get checked out. Adrenaline masks pain. Some of the most serious injuries — internal bleeding, spinal trauma, traumatic brain injury — don’t announce themselves right away. A gap in medical care is one of the first things insurance companies use to challenge a claim.
Don’t give a recorded statement to the insurance company. They will ask. Say nothing until you’ve spoken with an attorney. A single sentence taken out of context can be used to reduce or deny your claim entirely.
Call Chris and Frank as soon as possible. The earlier we get involved, the more we can do to protect your case.
Why Hire Chris and Frank
We’ve recovered over $100 million for our clients and we win 99% of our cases. But what keeps people coming back — and sending their family members to us — is how we handle the experience from start to finish.
From the day you call us, we take over. We connect you with top doctors and specialists at no upfront cost so you can focus entirely on recovering. If lost income is putting pressure on you right now, we offer cash advances to help bridge the gap. Need a rental car while your vehicle is in the shop? We handle that too.
No fees until we win. Se habla español. And with offices across California and the Pacific Northwest — and more locations opening — we’re expanding to be wherever our clients need us most.
Pedestrian accident cases involve serious injuries, contested liability, and insurance companies with experienced legal teams. You deserve the same level of firepower on your side.
Read our 5-star Google reviews and you’ll see what it looks like when a law firm actually fights for its clients — from the first phone call to the day the settlement check arrives. That’s what we do, every case, every time.