Can you sue for pedestrian accidents caused by distracted driving? The answer is a resounding—yes. Injured parties or families mourning the loss of a loved one can file a pedestrian accident claim or civil lawsuit against the distracted driver’s insurance company. Both legal actions seek to recover financial compensation for a pedestrian’s economic losses and non-economic damages in an accident. Most pedestrian accidents caused by distracted driving begin by filing an insurance claim. However, some circumstances may render an immediate need to file a lawsuit. Schedule a free case evaluation with an experienced pedestrian accident attorney to determine which legal action best suits your claim’s needs. They can assist you with both processes for a more optimal outcome.
What Constitutes Distracted Driving?
Distracted driving involves any action that takes your attention away from driving, including visual, manual, audio, and cognitive (mental) distractions. Recent distracted driving statistics demonstrate that one in nine people are killed in the U.S. daily due to distracted driving. Roughly 3,000 Americans die in crashes involving distracted driving annually. One in five distracted driving fatalities are people outside of vehicles, such as pedestrians and bicyclists. Examples of distracted driving include the following:
- Cell Phone Use: Whether reading or sending a text message, taking a call, scrolling social media, uploading short video content, or checking emails, drivers on their cell phones are a leading distraction. Reading or writing a text takes a driver’s eyes off the road for five seconds. While that may not seem like much time, it is the equivalent of driving the length of a football field with your eyes closed. Drivers on cell phones cause pedestrian accidents every day.
- Adjusting Controls: Drivers can be distracted by adjusting vehicle controls, such as climate controls, stereo, GPS navigation, and other systems. Many newer vehicles have screens, rather than knobs, requiring both a driver’s eyes to be off the road and hands to be off the steering wheel. These technological upgrades can lead to pedestrian accidents caused by distracted driving.
- Personal Grooming: Drivers who indulge in personal grooming habits also cause pedestrian accidents. Personal grooming distractions include brushing hair, applying makeup, applying lotions or sunscreen, shaving, plucking and tweezing, and applying eye drops.
- Eating, Drinking, and Smoking: Eating, drinking, and smoking involve a driver taking their hands off the steering wheel, significantly delaying response time. They all pose other risks that can be distracting while driving, such as suffering burns, spilling hot, cold, and messy things, or choking.
- Watching Outside Events: Watching an event outside the vehicle significantly distracts drivers who cause pedestrian accidents. A typical example is rubbernecking—when a driver turns their head nearly all the way around to stare at an event (usually a car accident). Drivers who rubberneck cause rear-end collisions and pedestrian accidents.
Teenagers and young adults are more at risk for distracted driving. Sixteen states ban motorists from holding electronic devices, like cell phones, while driving. Thirty-four states and Washington D.C. have completely banned teen driver use of electronic devices, including hands-free use. Regardless of the distraction, you can sue for pedestrian accidents caused by distracted driving. Consult a pedestrian accident attorney to discuss the details of your case and discover a plan for securing compensation.
Who Is Liable for Pedestrian Accidents Caused by Distracted Driving?
Generally, the driver is at fault for pedestrian accidents caused by distracted driving, as distractions are a driver’s error. However, some circumstances involve other liable parties—for example, truck accidents. If a commercial truck causes a distracted driving pedestrian accident, the trucking company may also be liable for injuries and damages. A legal doctrine called respondeat superior holds employers responsible for the actions of their employees, even when the employer is not at fault.
Another viable possibility of liability is government entities—for example, regarding hazardous road conditions. Recent pedestrian accident statistics show that most fatalities occur during dark conditions (74 percent). If inadequate lighting is determined to cause a pedestrian accident, and the driver was distracted by turning on their high-beams, a lawyer may also file an insurance claim through government agency insurers. An attorney will investigate all possible parties of liability before drafting and sending a demand letter for the damages in your claim.
How an Attorney Can Help With Pedestrian Accidents Caused by Distracted Driving
Injured pedestrians and families grieving the loss of their loved ones don’t have to navigate the insurance claims process and legal system alone. A pedestrian accident attorney will handle the entire claims process or lawsuit so that you may prioritize recovery. An experienced lawyer will offer a free case evaluation, provide ample protection against insurance companies, conduct a thorough case investigation, and work with accident reconstruction specialists. After determining liability, they will comprehensively evaluate damages before negotiating a reasonable settlement for your damages. Finally, if insurers refuse to pay on valid claims, your attorney may file a civil lawsuit.
Offer a Free Case Evaluation
A significant benefit of hiring a pedestrian accident lawyer is their free case evaluation offer. The evaluation allows you to interview prospective attorneys before you file a claim or sue for a pedestrian accident caused by distracted driving. Attorneys should discuss their fee structure, strategy, and possible outcomes of your case.
Most pedestrian accident lawyers work in contingent fee arrangements. Contingency imposes that clients do not pay any out-of-pocket costs to retain legal counsel. Instead, they forfeit a percentage of their settlement when insurers settle. The attorney sets the percentage, and it is not a universal figure. Ask prospective lawyers to clarify their contingency fees during your initial consultation.
Provide Ample Protection Against Insurance Companies
Insurance companies are notorious for using tactics to deny as many claims as possible to prioritize profits. After a pedestrian accident caused by distracted driving, the at-fault driver’s insurance company will call you, usually sooner rather than later. They may act like your best friend to disarm you. However, they intend to get you to admit liability or say anything they can use to deny your claim. Attorneys protect pedestrian accident victims from insurance tactics, are as follows:
- Denying Liability: Insurance companies sometimes deny a valid claim even when liability is clear. That is not typical when you have a lawyer attached to the case.
- Requesting Excessive Documentation: Insurers sometimes request excessive amounts of irrelevant documentation, complicating and slowing down the claims process.
- Unnecessarily Delaying Claims: Insurance companies may delay claims to wait you out so that you settle when they finally send a lowball offer. Most claimants without lawyers do not negotiate and accept the first lowball offer. They know this.
- Requesting Medical Records: Insurers don’t want to review medical records because they’re concerned about your injuries. They want to find anything in them that they can pin your symptoms on and dismiss as pre-existing conditions. Do not give them access to your medical records. If you have, contact an attorney immediately.
- Downplaying Injuries: Insurance claim adjusters may downplay the severity of your injuries, suggesting you don’t need specific treatments. They may attempt to reduce the value of your claim by suggesting that the costs are high for your level of injury.
- Undervaluing Claims: Insurers consistently send lowball first offers, knowing injured parties without lawyers usually accept them. An attorney will demand reasonable compensation.
Recorded statements are another tactic insurance companies use to deny the partial or complete liability of pedestrian accidents caused by distracted driving. Insurers call (almost immediately) after an accident and request or pressure accident victims to provide a recorded statement. The insurance claims adjuster then asks a series of questions designed to get you to say things they can use to deny your claim. Accident victims are not obligated to provide recorded statements. Consult an attorney if you gave a recorded statement. They can best prepare for what may come following that incident.
Conduct a Thorough Case Investigation
The investigation process involves gathering and preserving evidence, interviewing eyewitnesses, analyzing evidence with expert witnesses, and working with accident reconstruction specialists to recreate the circumstances of your accident. Experienced pedestrian accident lawyers have a network of experts they consult to prove negligence, establish liability, and prove the extent of your injuries.
Perform a Comprehensive Valuation of Damages
The damages in your pedestrian injury claim or lawsuit include the economic losses and non-economic damages caused by your accident. Your lawyer will explore all areas where your injuries result in being compensated. Damages your attorney will calculate for pedestrian accidents caused by distracted driving include:
- Healthcare Expenses: Medical, surgical, and rehabilitation costs are economic damages that your attorney will calculate when valuing your claim. These include emergency services, hospital stays, surgical and primary care, dental care, physical therapy, chiropractic care, orthopedics, medical equipment and devices, pharmaceuticals, copays, and deductibles.
- Long-Term Medical Care: Long-term medical care includes medical and non-medical services for accident victims with disabilities or physical impairments. Long-term care costs include daily in-home care or residential care at a long-term facility or nursing home.
- Lost Earnings: Your lost earnings are any income losses from the pedestrian accident. Lost income can include lost income, commissions and tips, bonuses, sick pay and vacation, medical and retirement benefits, and lost promotions.
- Diminished Earning Capacity: When injuries are severe enough that you cannot return to work in total or no capacity, your attorney will work with vocational economists to determine diminished or lost earning capacity. A diminished earning capacity is the decreased ability to earn an income due to physical or mental impairments sustained in your pedestrian accident.
- Property Damages: You can file a claim or sue for property damage in a pedestrian accident. These claims often involve recovering compensation for cell phones, headphones, jewelry, clothing, and other personal belongings.
- Pain and Suffering: Your pain and suffering entail your physical pain, emotional distress, and psychological trauma. Pain and suffering include symptoms of acute and chronic pain, mental anguish, anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These damages are more challenging to quantify and prove and are only compensable when physical injury and actual damages are present.
- Loss of Consortium: A loss of consortium refers to losing the intangible benefits of your relationships with spouses or children. It may include the loss of companionship, physical intimacy, love, and—assistance or service. Children may be compensated for the loss of parental guidance. Both surviving spouses and children may secure compensation for a loss of consortium in the event of wrongful death.
When a pedestrian accident is fatal, families of the victim may have the right to file a wrongful death claim or lawsuit to secure monetary justice for their loss. Wrongful death claims allow families to recover accident-related damages of their loved one before their death and their personal damages. Wrongful death damages may include funeral and burial expenses, final medical costs of the decedent, lost financial support, loss of parental guidance and support, and a lost prospect of inheritance.
Negotiate a Reasonable Distracted Driving Settlement
Negotiations are vital for securing reasonable compensation when you file a claim or sue for pedestrian accidents caused by distracted driving. Insurance companies rarely pay what is outlined in your attorney’s demand letter. Instead, they counter with an unreasonable offer and start negotiations. Negotiations can be complex when multiple parties of liability are involved or when insurance companies refuse to be reasonable. However, most of the time, negotiations result in terms all parties agree on before insurance companies issue a check.
File a Civil Lawsuit
When insurance companies and lawyers cannot agree on settlement terms and conditions, your attorney may decide you should sue and file a civil lawsuit. In that case, they will handle depositions, preparing witnesses, and other pre-trial motions while continuing negotiations. Most of the time, all parties agree before trial. However, if your case proceeds, your attorney will present the evidence of your case, call expert witnesses, cross-examine defense witnesses, and represent you in court. A jury deliberates and decides whether to award or deny compensation.
Schedule a Free Case Evaluation
Consult a reputable and experienced personal injury attorney today. You’ll want to determine which legal action to pursue to secure financial compensation for your tangible and intangible losses. Don’t delay; states impose statutes of limitations on how long an individual has to file an injury claim or sue for pedestrian accidents caused by distracted driving. Schedule a free case evaluation.