Maison Law can guide you through the claims process if you’ve been injured as a pedestrian in Los Angeles. LA traffic is notoriously bad, but unfortunately, that doesn’t make moving around the city on foot any safer. Even if you do everything you’re supposed to do, drivers and other risks are always there. When you’re injured, though, our team will be there to help you. Set up a free consultation today.
Does It Make Sense to Get a Lawyer?
There’s never a good time to get hurt—let alone if you’re a pedestrian. You simply have no protection against a moving vehicle, and that doesn’t even take into account other potential hazards like cracks in the sidewalk or something else unsafe.
Then there’s your injuries, insurance calls, paperwork, and financial stress. On top of everything else you’re dealing with, it becomes a lot to carry alone. That’s usually when getting a lawyer starts to make sense, and that’s where our team can step in to:
- Explain what your options actually are
- Pull together the information you’ll need to make your claim stronger
- Handle the insurance company so you’re not stuck dealing with adjusters over and over
- Help make the process easier on both you and your family while you focus on healing
Every pedestrian accident has its own details and its own challenges. But when you’re the person dealing with the injuries, it stops feeling like a legal process and starts feeling very personal very quickly. Part of that has to do with the specifics, and it starts with looking at what actually happened.
Los Angeles Pedestrian Injury Claim Process
Where Pedestrian Accidents Happen in Los Angeles
This isn’t surprising because LA is so crowded, but there’s a lot of different problems that you and other pedestrians face every single time you head out on foot. And it’s not always about a major intersection or a busy road. A pedestrian can get hit on a quiet neighborhood street, in a parking lot, or while crossing a smaller intersection. Sometimes there’s poor lighting or a blocked line of sight. Other times, the driver simply wasn’t looking.
That’s really what makes these accidents so frustrating. Walking is something most people do without thinking about it. But unfortunately, the nature of pedestrian accidents here mean that they tend to happen in the same types of places like:
- Busy intersections that see a constant mix of pedestrians, cars, buses, bikes, motorcycles, and other traffic.
- Major streets like Western Avenue, Vermont Avenue, Wilshire Boulevard, and Sunset Boulevard.
- Areas around schools and college campuses like USC, UCLA, and Los Angeles City College.
- Shopping centers, parking lots, and busy commercial areas.
- Freeway entrances and high-traffic roads near the 405, 10, 101, and 110.
- Neighborhoods and popular walking areas like Silver Lake, Echo Park, Los Feliz, Venice, and Santa Monica.
These streets and neighborhoods are part of everyday life in Los Angeles. You and everyone else use them to get to work, go to school, run errands, meet friends, and spend time with your families. But again, the bigger issue is when something goes wrong. That’s when the specifics are really going to start to matter.
Who’s Usually Responsible For a Pedestrian Accident?
Pedestrian accidents in Los Angeles can happen in places you walk through every day, but that doesn’t make them any less overwhelming. You might be walking to work, heading home, grabbing dinner, or crossing the street when a driver suddenly hits you. That leads to an obvious question: who’s actually responsible for this?
That question is what the law calls liability, and it matters because the person or group that’s responsible for causing the accident is typically responsible for the losses that follow.
In most pedestrian cases, that comes down to negligence. Legally, that just means that:
- Someone did something—or failed to do something—that led to the accident and your injuries.
That obviously sounds pretty broad, but in the context of a pedestrian accident, negligence usually involves a driver that’s:
- Distracted
- Speeding
- Looking at their phone
- Rushing through a turn
- Running a red light or stop sign
- Simply not paying attention
But it doesn’t always stop with the driver. Others that could share some of the responsibility might include:
- Another driver who caused the accident or did something that led to you getting hit
- A truck driver or trucking company if you were hit by a delivery truck, bus, or another commercial vehicle
- A rideshare driver who was working for Uber, Lyft, or another rideshare company
- A bicyclist or scooter rider if their actions played a part in the accident
- A property owner if something on the property made it unsafe for you to walk through
- A construction company if construction work created an unsafe path or forced you into traffic
- The city or another government agency if something like a broken traffic signal, dangerous intersection, damaged sidewalk, or something similar led to the accident
Even understanding this, it’s important to look at the whole situation instead of taking the first explanation at face value. Where you were walking, what the driver was doing, the condition of the road or sidewalk, and what happened right before you were hit can all help explain how the accident happened and who’s really responsible. But once you have that, you have the starting point of the claims process itself.
How to Get Financial Help After a Pedestrian Accident
There’s a lot of different ways a pedestrian accident could happen, but for you, the main problem is that you’re probably now facing serious injuries, missed work, anxiety, stress, and a host of other related issues.
But that’s why the claims process is so important. It makes financial help—called damages— available to you, and is based on what happened and what it’s left you with. But to actually get that financial help, you have two main options:
- Filing an insurance claim. This is usually the first step, and it happens outside of court. In many cases, it’s the faster route. The problem is that the insurance company controls most of the process early on. They decide how they investigate the accident, whether they accept responsibility, and what they’re willing to offer financially. Their goal is usually to settle the claim for as little as possible.
- Filing a lawsuit. A lawsuit takes more time, but it also creates a more balanced process. Once a lawsuit is filed, both sides can formally gather evidence, question witnesses, and present information under court supervision if a fair resolution can’t be reached on its own.
The decision on which option to go with is ultimately yours. Either way, though, the goal stays the same: recovering damages for what the accident has cost you. That can include things like:
- Current medical bills
- Future treatment and rehabilitation costs
- Lost income from missed work
- Reduced future earning ability
- Damaged personal items like phones or glasses
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Reduced quality of life
- Wrongful death-related losses in fatal accidents
California generally gives you two years to file most pedestrian injury lawsuits, but waiting too long can make evidence harder to find and memories less reliable. Starting earlier usually puts you in a stronger position. Sometimes the smallest details end up carrying the most weight later on, but no matter what your situation is, our team will be there to guide you through it.
What Our Clients Say
Frequently Asked Questions About Los Angeles Pedestrian Accidents
You have two years from the date of your California pedestrian accident to file an injury claim. You should act quickly because waiting can mean that evidence disappears, and witnesses become harder to locate.
Yes. Drivers can be held responsible for failing to slow down and not showing you care no matter where you were crossing a street. You can seek injury compensation even if you weren’t following all traffic laws and using a crosswalk.
Don’t say “my bad” or “I’m fine” on the scene. Insurance companies can claim these statements mean you admitted fault or that you weren’t hurt at all. Also, avoid giving recorded statements when an insurer calls you.
Contact a Los Angeles Pedestrian Accident Lawyer
No matter whose insurance company you end up facing off with, it’s important to ensure you are treated fairly after a pedestrian accident. Victims and their families can easily be robbed of compensation by their own insurance companies.
Martin Gasparian, the founder of Maison Law of Los Angeles, has spent a career giving a voice to victims when their accidents bring them in contact with giant insurance companies. Insurance tactics steal compensation from accident victims each day. Make sure your interests are safeguarded by a skilled California attorney.
Contact Maison Law for a free and confidential case evaluation. Mr. Gasparian will listen to you and help you determine the best path to earning the maximum in financial support for what you and your family have been through.
