Walking for exercise, pleasure, and getting around town is very popular in Southern California, with its beautiful weather and scenic views. Unfortunately, pedestrians can suffer serious injuries or be killed if they are struck by a car in a pedestrian accident, especially in cities along our coastline, such as Del Mar, Encinitas, Solana Beach, Carlsbad, and Oceanside.
If you were injured as a pedestrian, the steps you take after your accident can affect how strong your claim with the negligent driver's insurance company is and the amount of compensation you receive in your settlement. Our experienced pedestrian accident lawyer at The Law Offices of Mark C. Blane, APC, is here to protect your rights and help you build a solid case to seek the maximum settlement that covers all of your damages. Here, you can learn about the important steps we recommend you take after your pedestrian accident.
Five Steps You Should Take If You Were Injured as a Pedestrian in Southern California
If you were the victim of a pedestrian accident, you need to take action immediately to protect your personal injury claim. Here are vital steps our pedestrian accident lawyer recommends you take to help us seek the full value of your claim in a settlement.
1. Get the Medical Help You Need
Your first priority should be your health. Call for an ambulance or go to the emergency room if you need immediate medical care. Even if you do not believe you were hurt or think your injuries are minor ones that you can "tough it out," you should get prompt medical care.
Why is seeing a doctor so important? You may have suffered a severe injury but not realize it until symptoms develop over the days and weeks after your pedestrian accident , when it might suddenly become a life-threatening emergency. Common long-term injuries caused by these accidents include:
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Soft tissue injuries
- Back and spinal injuries
- Paralysis
- Whiplash
- Internal bleeding and organ damage
- Psychological trauma
Another vital reason to take care of your health is to avoid giving at-fault driver's insurance company ammunition to dispute your claim. If you delay getting the medical treatment you need, the insurance adjuster will likely argue that another incident caused your injuries or that they are not as severe as you claim.
2. Call the Police
You should also contact the police at the accident scene. The officer will investigate the accident and prepare a police report with helpful information our attorney can use to argue the motorist's negligence was the cause of your pedestrian accident. Here is useful information the police report might contain:
- Details of how the accident occurred
- The driver's, eyewitnesses, and your statements
- Photographs and diagrams of the scene
- Police officer's conclusions about the cause of the accident and who was the at-fault party
- Any traffic citations issued
3. Collect Evidence
Another important step you can take to help our legal team build your case is to gather evidence. You should collect this evidence right after your pedestrian accident:
- Contact information for the driver and their insurance company
- Eyewitness' names and contact information
- Photos of the accident scene, road and weather conditions, damage to the car that struck you, and your injuries
- Your clothes in the same condition they were in after you were injured
You should continue to gather helpful information in the days, weeks, and months after your pedestrian accident, such as the following:
- Medical records
- Medical bills
- Receipts for the repair or replacement of damaged property like your cellphone or tablet
- Paystubs and wage loss documents
- Your auto insurance policy
4. Limit Your Communications With the Insurance Company
The negligent driver's insurance company may contact you within days of your pedestrian accident when you are coping with the initial pain, shock, and trauma of your injuries. Limit what you say to the insurance adjuster and avoid discussing the pedestrian accident and your injuries in detail. You could accidentally say something that hurts your case. Instead, politely tell them you will have your lawyer contact them.
5. Hire a Skilled San Diego Attorney
Your next step after taking care of your health should be to retain a knowledgeable pedestrian accident lawyer. The legal team at The Law Offices of Mark C. Blane, APC, can help by:
- Investigating your accident's cause. It is too complicated to figure out the cause of your pedestrian accident alone. Our lawyer will investigate the circumstances of your accident and determine what caused it.
- Collecting evidence. We will help you collect the evidence you need to win your case. Some evidence, such as business and traffic camera footage, the car's black box data, and eyewitness written statements, may be very difficult or impossible for you to get on your own.
- Hiring expert witnesses. Depending on the arguments raised by the insurance company, our lawyer may need to hire expert witnesses to help resolve them. For example, we may hire an accident reconstruction expert to prove the cause of your pedestrian accident, a medical expert to establish how serious your injuries are, or an economic expert to calculate your future damages.
- Negotiating your settlement. Attorney Mark Blane will use his decades of experience helping pedestrian accident victims to value your claim accurately. He will also work hard to reach a fair settlement with the insurance company. He understands the unfair tactics they may use to dispute your claim and has effective strategies to defeat them.
- Filing a lawsuit. Mark will keep track of critical deadlines and file your lawsuit if the two-year statute of limitations under California Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1 expires soon or the insurance company refuses to offer you the settlement you deserve. While Mark may be able to settle your case sometime during the litigation process, he will argue your case at a jury trial if this is in your best interests.
Mistakes to Avoid That Could Hurt Your Pedestrian Accident Claim
If you were injured as a pedestrian, you may have to fight long and hard with the negligent driver's insurance company to settle your claim. You cannot afford to make mistakes that hurt your case and make it harder for our pedestrian accident lawyer to get you the compensation you are entitled to for your injuries. Here are the top mistakes you should avoid making:
- Apologizing for the accident. Especially if the driver who struck you was hurt, you may be tempted to make statements like "I'm sorry." While showing your concern in normal circumstances is fine, the insurance company could construe this statement or similar ones as an admission of guilt.
- Minimizing your injuries. Be very careful what you say about your injuries to anyone, including your doctor. You do not want to make statements like "My injuries aren't that bad" that make it sound like you were not hurt very badly. The insurance adjuster could use them to try to reduce the amount of your settlement.
- Having gaps in your medical care. Just like taking care of your health right after the accident, not having gaps in your medical care is essential. Your injuries will take longer to heal if you delay getting the treatments recommended by your doctor. In addition, you may give the insurance company reasons to argue about your medical expenses and your injuries' severity.
- Agreeing to give a recorded statement. Don’t be surprised if the insurance adjuster asks you to provide a recorded statement, claiming they need it to settle your claim. This is not true. You should say no to this request. The adjuster is trained to ask tricky and confusing questions designed to get you to say something they can use against you no matter how careful you are.
- Signing a medical release. If you sign the insurance company's medical release, you are likely giving them access to all your medical records. The insurance adjuster would search them for damaging information they can use in settlement negotiations. You should let our lawyer send them the medical records they truly need.
- Posting on social media. Do not post anything about the pedestrian accident or your injuries on Twitter, Facebook, or other social media sites. The insurance adjuster could search your social media posts multiple times while your claim is being settled, looking for harmful statements you make. You also have to be careful not to post pictures of you doing things you shouldn't be able to do given your injuries or being at a location, like a bowling alley, which suggests you are engaging in these activities.
- Accepting a quick settlement. The insurance company might offer you a settlement of your claim within days of the accident, hoping you will not realize it is for far less than you deserve. You should never settle your claim without first consulting with our attorney, who will protect your rights and fight for all the damages you deserve in your settlement.
