Pedestrian Accident Lawyer

Take the medical help first. Call 911 so police and paramedics respond, and let yourself be examined even if you feel able to walk away — that's a health decision before it is anything else, and it's also what creates the medical record tying your injuries to the collision. The officer's traffic collision report becomes an important record later.

If you're able, or if someone with you can, preserve the scene before it changes. Photograph the crosswalk or roadway, the vehicle and its position, the traffic signals and signs, the point of impact, and your visible injuries. Get the driver's name, license, and insurance, and — critically — the names and phone numbers of any witnesses before they leave, because independent witnesses are often what defeats a driver's self-serving account. Note any nearby businesses, homes, or traffic cameras that may have captured the collision on video.

Then two things to avoid. Do not tell the driver, or anyone at the scene, that you are 'fine' or that it was your fault — fault is a legal question that turns on facts you may not have yet, and how you feel in the first hour is not a reliable guide to what happened to you. And do not give a recorded statement to the driver's insurance company, or take a quick check, before you have spoken with a lawyer. Those statements are taken early on purpose: to lock you into an account, and to start building the 'you weren't in the crosswalk' defense before anyone knows how badly you are hurt.

California gives pedestrians strong protection through its right-of-way law. Vehicle Code § 21950 (opens in new window) requires a driver to yield the right of way to a pedestrian crossing in a crosswalk — and that includes unmarked crosswalks, which generally exist at intersections even where no lines are painted on the pavement. The same statute also imposes duties on pedestrians: a person on foot may not suddenly leave a curb into the path of a vehicle that is so close it is an immediate hazard, and everyone must exercise due care. Right of way, in other words, is a two-way obligation — but the driver's duty to yield in a crosswalk is the heart of most claims.

The word adjusters reach for is 'jaywalking,' and the ground has shifted under it. Effective January 1, 2023, California's Freedom to Walk Act decriminalized crossing the street outside of a crosswalk when it is done safely — an officer may no longer cite a pedestrian for crossing mid-block or against a signal unless there is an immediate danger of collision. That reform matters in a civil case because it undercuts the reflexive argument that a pedestrian crossing outside a crosswalk was automatically in the wrong. Whether a crossing was reasonable is a fact question, not an automatic bar to recovery.

Even where a pedestrian bears some responsibility, California's negligence law still allows recovery. Civil Code § 1714 (opens in new window) sets the basic rule that everyone is responsible for injury caused to another by their want of ordinary care, and being partly at fault reduces a recovery rather than eliminating it — the mechanics are in our guide to comparative negligence in California injury claims.

That last point does more work in a pedestrian case than almost anywhere else, because the share of blame is exactly what the insurer is arguing about. Every percentage point it can pin on the person who was walking is a percentage point it does not pay.

Because a pedestrian absorbs the full force of a collision, these cases tend to involve the most serious injuries on the road — traumatic brain injury, spinal cord damage, multiple fractures, internal organ damage, and permanent disfigurement. In a catastrophic-injury case the future is frequently the largest part of the claim, because a settlement that only covers today's bills leaves years of care unpaid. Our guide to what damages a California injury claim can cover sets out the categories and how each is proven.

Valuing these claims well means valuing the future, not just the present — the ongoing treatment, the permanent limitation, the reduced earning capacity — and documenting it with medical records, treating physicians, and, where needed, life-care planners and economists. Once you settle, the case is over; there's no coming back if the injury turns out to be worse than the insurer wanted to admit. That's why we work to document the full arc of an injury before resolving a claim.

When a pedestrian collision is fatal, California law allows the surviving family to bring a wrongful-death claim for their own losses — the loss of financial support, the loss of the companionship, care, and guidance the person provided, and related costs — separate from any claim the estate may have. These are among the hardest cases a family can face, and we handle them with the care they deserve. Who may bring such a claim, and what the law lets a family recover, is set out on our wrongful death page.

For most pedestrian-injury claims the statute of limitations is two years from the date of the collision under Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1 (opens in new window), and filing late is one of the few mistakes that cannot be fixed. Our guide to California personal-injury deadlines covers the exceptions.

Pedestrian cases involve government defendants more often than most people expect, because the safety of a crossing is frequently a public responsibility. A malfunctioning walk signal, a crosswalk with dangerous sightlines, a missing or worn crossing, a poorly designed intersection, or a collision with a public bus can all point to a city, county, or the state — and those claims carry a six-month deadline, covered on our government liability page. It's rarely obvious at the scene that a public entity is involved, which is why these cases need looking at early.

Limited circumstances can change these timelines — a claim involving a minor, or an injury that was not immediately discoverable, for example — but they are exceptions, not the rule, and they are fact-specific. Nobody should rely on having 'plenty of time,' and nobody should work out their own date from a general rule on a website. Have yours confirmed early enough that the evidence is still there when the answer comes back.

Boyadzhyan Legal Shield is based in Encino on Ventura Boulevard and represents injured pedestrians and their families throughout the San Fernando Valley and greater Los Angeles — Encino, Sherman Oaks, Tarzana, Van Nuys, Woodland Hills, Studio City, Northridge, and the surrounding communities. Ventura Boulevard itself, with its dense mix of foot traffic, storefronts, bus stops, and constant turning movements, is exactly the kind of corridor where pedestrian collisions happen, and the Valley's wide arterial streets and busy intersections produce them daily.

That local knowledge is practical, not decorative. Knowing how traffic moves through a particular Valley intersection, where the crosswalks and cameras are, and how a stretch of Ventura Boulevard tends to back up helps us reconstruct what happened and anticipate the arguments an insurer will make. When a pedestrian case cannot be settled fairly and has to be filed, San Fernando Valley civil matters are generally heard at the Van Nuys Courthouse, and we appear in Van Nuys and the surrounding Los Angeles County courts.

Working from a single Encino office keeps the firm close to the clients and communities it serves. You work directly with the attorney handling your case — not a rotating cast at a high-volume settlement mill. The initial consultation is free, confidential, and carries no obligation to hire the firm.