This comprehensive guide will provide you with a thorough understanding of the case process for DC pedestrian accidents. The case process for pedestrian accidents mirrors the process of other types of injury cases. However, the extent of the injury suffered typically sets pedestrian accident cases apart. Pedestrian injuries can be brutal and often leave victims with mounting medical expenses. Moreover, the injuries can be physically debilitating. You may be unable to work due to your injuries. An inability to work may mean no stream of income, which is a problem with expensive medical costs. You might know you didn’t cause the accident but are still determining your next steps. You may be uncertain if you are legally responsible for the accident because the driver got out of his car and blamed you. Worse yet, maybe the police report says you caused the accident.
The case process for DC pedestrian accidents can be intimidating. Without skilled legal representation, going through the process alone may lead to you not receiving the compensation you deserve based on your injuries. Going up against insurance companies can be an uphill battle if you lack the legal knowledge and experience to evaluate your claim. Our attorneys have over 70 years of experience assessing and negotiating personal injury cases. This guide will explain the steps following your injury and detail how we build your case. You will learn how you go from an injured victim to a compensated plaintiff with assistance from a skilled DC pedestrian accident attorney.
This marks the start of your case. Whether your accident involves a car, truck, motorcycle, bicycle, e-scooter, or anything else, you may have a claim against the driver if they behaved negligently in causing your injury. Most commonly, we see injuries occur in DC due to a car hitting a pedestrian in a crosswalk or jaywalking. However, bicycles on the sidewalk, where they are legally allowed to be in DC, also present a hazard to pedestrians. While the injury is typically not as severe, burns, scratches, cuts, and scrapes can result.
Collecting information on the scene is essential once you get injured, no matter the fashion. Some information will become unavailable to us if not collected immediately. For example, if you neglect to get any information about the negligent driver who hit you with their car, we will have no one to sue to collect damages. Even if you get a picture of their license plate number before they flee, we can at least track down who the car is registered to and potentially make a claim against that person.
Despite DC’s continuous efforts to protect pedestrians, accidents still regularly occur.
Gelb & Gelb, P.C. is proud to offer potential clients free, no-obligation consultations. At this stage, we will evaluate the merits of your case and determine whether it is worth pursuing. We will explain who is liable and whether any exceptions apply that allow you to make a claim even if you are contributorily negligent. Sometimes, you have every right to legal compensation, but no money can be recovered. While rare, it does happen in pedestrian accident cases. If the car that hit you was stolen, for example, then there is not likely any available insurance on that car for your accident. Fortunately, there are plenty of other options.
You may be able to use insurance on your car at home. But what if you also do not have insurance? You may be able to use a resident relative’s insurance. But if that is also unavailable, then your options are running out.
If the police could track down the tortfeasor who fled the scene in the stolen vehicle, it may still not be worth your time to sue him because he will not have sufficient assets to cover your damages. This is our experience in successfully suing people with no insurance. Typically, those who do not have car insurance and who are stealing vehicles cannot afford to pay a judgment against them.
Often, this can be the longest part of the case process for DC pedestrian accidents. Treatment of severe injuries can take years. Typically, we will wait for you to finish treatment before commencing settlement negotiations. This is because we do not know the actual value of your case until you are done. However, we must be mindful of the statute of limitations for your bodily injury claim, which in DC is three years. Thus, we must enter settlement talks early for cases where your treatment may be continuous for the rest of your life. In these cases, we need expert witness testimony to estimate future medical expenses so you are not forced to pay for those out of pocket.
Once you complete medical treatment, we request bills and records from your medical providers. Our personal injury attorneys review your doctors’ notes, and the insurance companies will eventually do the same. We then calculate your special damages, primarily medical expenses and lost wages, and value your pain and suffering (general damages). This is a point that requires fierce debate between the attorneys.
We start this phase by sending a demand letter to the adverse insurance company. They are slow and typically take 30-45 days to assess your case. The insurance carrier’s legal team will argue that you were not in as much pain as you claim and you do not deserve much compensation. We argue that a pedestrian accident is a severe injury, and you are entitled to maximum compensation. In most cases, we can successfully settle your case for a value we believe represents your damages. If we do not think a settlement offer represents the value of your case, we will advise you to reject the offer. However, this is ultimately your decision. We can negotiate for a more significant offer if you reject it.
If settlement negotiations are unsuccessful, we will file a suit on your case, according to your direction. This typically only happens if the insurance company is unwilling to make a reasonable settlement offer or wholly denies liability. In the context of a pedestrian accident case, they may claim as a defense that you were jaywalking or stepping into the crosswalk at the last second, making it impossible for their insured to stop in time to avoid the accident.
If we can settle your case, we will accept the offer on your behalf. We then receive a settlement check, and you sign a release, waiving the right to later sue the defendant in consideration for the settlement check. We then deposit the check into our escrow account and disburse the monies to you, your medical providers, any lienholders, and our office to cover the legal fee. If we have to file a suit on your case and win at trial, we will have received a judgment from the court. Collecting a judgment from an insurance company is relatively simple and follows a similar path as we had settled. However, collecting a judgment from a business or individual may be more difficult, but we have methods to encourage collection.
Our experienced attorneys offer free, no-obligation consultations to all potential clients. Our phone lines are open 24/7. Please give us a call at (202) 331-7227 to discuss your options.