A car accident involving a pedestrian can cause incredibly devastating injuries. Accidents with pedestrian victims can cause life-long injuries requiring substantial treatment or can even be fatal. The costs of your treatment could quickly overwhelm you, leaving you wondering how you will be compensated for your injuries.
If you were a pedestrian that was hit by a car, a pedestrian accident lawyer could help you recover the compensation you need to get through recovery. You might not be familiar with how New Jersey insurance laws can impact your accident claim and the types of damages potentially available to you depending on the facts of your case. In many cases, a lawsuit will be the best option to recover additional damages that insurance does not provide.
If you were a pedestrian injured in an accident, our Newark pedestrian accident lawyers can help you recover the compensation that you deserve. For a free case assessment, call The Carrion Law Firm at (718) 841-0083.
Recovering Compensation for a Pedestrian Accident in Newark, NJ
New Jersey drivers are required to carry no-fault insurance that covers themselves, their passengers, and pedestrians in the event of an accident. No-fault insurance requires that benefits be paid for the driver’s personal injury protection (PIP) coverage, regardless of who was at fault. Drivers are required to carry a minimum of $15,000 per person in PIP coverage but some drivers also carry liability insurance with a standard policy covering $15,000 per person. However, drivers are not required to carry this additional liability insurance. Further, drivers are required to carry at least $5,000 of coverage for property damage.
Importantly, PIP coverage only compensates you for the economic costs associated with your pedestrian accident injuries. This includes things like medical expenses and lost wages, but it does not pay for non-economic damages, like pain and suffering.
You typically cannot sue under the no-fault laws because the driver’s PIP benefits provide economic compensation for your bodily injuries. Although, if you also possess car insurance, you might have elected for additional coverage that gives you the right to sue for minor accidents.
If you do not have additional insurance coverage, you could still file a pedestrian accident lawsuit if you suffered serious injuries in the accident. This will allow you to recover non-economic damages in addition to any compensation you might receive from the driver’s insurance. Proving that your injury is serious in court can be difficult and usually requires a great deal of supporting evidence, like medical records. Our Newark pedestrian accident lawyers can help you understand what legal and insurance options are available to you.
Proving Fault in a Pedestrian Accident Case in Newark, NJ
While it might seem obvious who is at fault when a pedestrian is hit by a car, proving fault can be more difficult than it seems. Some cases are straightforward and might not involve much of a fight from the driver’s insurance or a lawsuit, such as when a car comes onto the sidewalk and hits a pedestrian. Other cases can be much more complicated, especially if the pedestrian was on the road when the accident occurred.
Insurance companies and courts will look at the facts of your case when determining who was at fault for the accident. One element that will be examined is if a party violated a duty of care that they were required to uphold. Traffic laws place many duties on drivers, including observing traffic lights and signs, not driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and, of course, yielding to pedestrians. If a driver is found to have breached one of their duties, they could potentially be held liable for the damages you suffered. To make this judgment, courts will look at the “totality of the evidence” and decide if your version of the incident is more likely than not to have occurred that way.
However, pedestrians also have duties when sharing the road with vehicles. Foremost, a pedestrian, like all people, have a duty to themselves to stay safe from harm. Sometimes, though, pedestrians can suddenly step out from between parked cars or cross in the middle of the road where there is no crosswalk. If you contributed to the accident, you could be found partially at fault for your injuries, a concept known in the law as contributory negligence. You are not completely prevented from recovering compensation if you were found to have contributed to the accident. As long as you are no more than 50% at fault, you can still receive compensation. However, your potential award will be reduced by the percentage of fault that you were found to have been contributorily negligent for. Our Newark pedestrian accident lawyers are here to discuss the facts of your case to see what facts regarding the accident could impact your case.
Evidence to Gather After a Pedestrian Accident in Newark, NJ
The first thing to do after suffering a serious injury in a pedestrian car accident is to call 911 to get medical treatment for your injuries immediately. From there, you should seek medical care from the doctors in the emergency room. This is the best course of action for not only your health but your case as it is important to begin treatment as soon after the accident as possible.
If your injuries are such that you can walk around the scene of the accident, there are several pieces of important information that you can gather that could be beneficial to proving your pedestrian accident later. First, get the driver’s contact and insurance information. This is important to file your PIP insurance claim and if you need to file a lawsuit later, you have the correct party’s information. Be sure to take down the make, model, color of the car, and importantly the license plate of all the drivers involved. Also, collect the information of any witnesses willing to speak with you. Finally, take photos of the location and your injuries and notes on the weather, the presence of traffic lights or signs, roadway conditions, or anything else you might think relevant to your accident.
Even if you are the victim of a hit-and-run accident, it might still be possible to identify the driver using only basic information. A partial license plate number or the profile of the car could help locate a criminal driver. Regardless of how a driver injured you in a pedestrian accident, our Newark pedestrian accident lawyers can help you collect the evidence you need to prove your lawsuit.
Our Newark, NJ Pedestrian Accident Lawyers Can Help
If you were injured because of a pedestrian accident, our Newark pedestrian accident lawyers are here to provide you with your free case review. Call The Carrion Law Firm today at (718) 841-0083.