In a pedestrian accident, the victim has no car around them to protect them from the crash. This often translates to more serious injuries and a higher occurrence of fatal crashes than in crashes where everyone was in a vehicle.
If you were seriously injured or a loved one was injured or killed in a pedestrian accident, our lawyers can help you fight for damages. Car insurance rules in New York might limit your ability to sue, and it is vital that you have a lawyer examine your case, help you build a strong claim for damages, and allow us to fight for adequate compensation for your injuries.
For a free case assessment, call us today at The Martello Law Firm at (914) 685-6950.
Suing in Pedestrian Car Accidents in Mamaroneck, NY
When you get hurt in an accident, your first instinct might be to consider a lawsuit against the responsible parties. However, when there is insurance to cover damages – like there often is in car accident cases – you might turn to an insurance claim instead. The way that New York’s no-fault insurance rules affect your pedestrian accident might surprise you.
Generally, lawsuits are barred for car accidents in New York unless the victim faces “serious injuries.” Instead of filing a lawsuit, you are usually required to file your claim with your own insurance if you are a “covered person” under the terms of I.S.C. § 5102(j). This definition brings in pedestrians hit by a car, meaning that they should be covered under that driver’s insurance as if they were the driver that the policy covers.
This sounds good at first, given that it allows you to file an insurance claim even if you have no insurance of your own. However, these policies only cover “basic economic loss,” defined under § 5102(a). That includes up to $50,000, but this only covers up to certain daily amounts, puts limits on lost wage recovery, and blocks pain and suffering damages entirely.
To get the rest of your damages, you can file a lawsuit against the driver and their liability insurance, but this is only allowed when your case involves “serious injury” under § 5102(d). That can include any permanent injuries or losses, a broken bone, serious scarring, or any injury that would disable you for at least half of the following 180 days. Death and loss of a fetus also qualify as serious injuries, allowing a loved one to sue for these losses.
You should always consult with our pedestrian accident lawyers to check whether your case can be covered by insurance alone, whether a lawsuit is possible, and what additional damages you can claim in your lawsuit. Our attorneys can also help you calculate these damages so that you can avoid settling for any values below what you are owed, and we can fight the case in court if a settlement proves challenging or impossible.
Damages for Injured Pedestrians in Mamaroneck, NY
As mentioned, if you get hit by a car, it is likely your injuries will be somewhat severe. Without a car, airbags, or even a bicycle helmet, you could be left with broken bones, crush injuries, internal damage, head injuries, back and spine injuries, and other long-term injuries. Even if you got away mostly unscathed, serious road rash injuries, cuts, scrapes, and concussions could require hospital visits, time away from work, and other interruptions in your life. Damages for all of these should be available to you, including damages for the intangible, non-economic harms:
Economic Damages
Injury victims can claim damages to pay them back for any expenses or monetary losses from a pedestrian accident. This includes things like the costs of medical treatment, physical therapy, and other medical care, but it also includes the cost of mental health care, accessibility needs at home, replacement household services, additional childcare needs, and other economic harms. Additionally, the value of any earnings and wages you lost or will lose in the future should be claimed. This often requires specialized calculations and estimates from financial experts who can estimate how much longer you would have worked before the injury and how your capacity to work has now been reduced.
Non-Economic Damages
When you get injured, the basic feelings of pain and discomfort are harmful in and of themselves. These damages, along with emotional distress, mental anguish, fear of reinjury, post-traumatic experiences, and interruptions to your activities of daily living, can all be grouped under the umbrella of “pain and suffering” or “non-economic damages.” Even though these damages have no set monetary value, no receipts, and no bills to show their values, they can result in monetary damages to pay you back for the harm you experienced.
Punitive Damages
In some cases, the courts can order the defendant to pay you additional money solely to punish the defendant for what they did. This usually requires serious misconduct on the defendant’s part, and these payments are based on how bad that conduct was rather than how much harm you suffered. Because many pedestrian accident cases involve serious problems like drunk driving, hit and runs, and distracted driving, there are often sufficient grounds to claim punitive damages in pedestrian accident cases. However, these damages are still somewhat rare, and there is no guarantee they will be available in your case or that a claim for punitive damages will be successful.
Common Causes of Pedestrian Crashes in Mamaroneck
As mentioned, pedestrian car accidents often involve serious mistakes. Drivers should not hit pedestrians, given the fact that they often do not share the same areas of the road. On streets with crosswalks and sidewalks, pedestrians are on the sidewalk, and drivers are on the street; if cars end up on the sidewalk, something has gone terribly wrong. Instead, most pedestrian crashes occur in crosswalks, where drivers must yield to pedestrians; the law is therefore stacked in the pedestrian’s favor. Alternatively, they happen on backroads with no sidewalks, often because of drunk driving, distracted driving, tired driving, improper headlight usage, failure to keep a proper lookout for pedestrians, and other mistakes the driver made.
Rarely are these accidents attributed to outside factors; they are most commonly the driver’s fault.
Call Our Pedestrian Accident Attorneys in Mamaroneck Today
For your free case analysis, call The Martello Law Firm at (914) 685-6950 today to speak with our pedestrian accident lawyers.
