A Strategy For Attorneys Handling Pedestrian Fatality Matters

If past information can help us forecast the future, a pedestrian will be killed roughly once every 111 minutes meaning about 4,500 total pedestrian deaths this year. Attorneys who handle accident cases that resulted in the death of a pedestrian need the experience and the skill to grasp the damages to the victim's family and need knowledge of insurance factors to be able to fully pursue different sources of recovery.

In one case, as he tried to make a left hand turn a driver hit and killed a sixty two year-old male pedestrian crossing the streeton a walk signal. The man died from the resulting injuries. Culpability was not an issue in this matter. The driver admitted he was responsible the accident. So the only issue that remained was the amount of the recovery for the family of the pedestrian who was killed in the accident. The defendant only had fifteen thousand dollars of insurance. The law firm that handled the case was able to reach a settlement on behalf of the victim’s adult children that included the driver’s $15,000 insurance policy as well as $1,000,000 from the separate insurance policy covering the employer of the driver. They accomplished this by showing that when the accident happened the driver, even though he was driving his own vehicle, was on his way to a store to purchase starter fluid for his employer’s truck. They established that the driver was acting within the course and scope of his employment at the time of the accident and therefore reached the employer’s insurance policy for the additional $1 Million.

In another lawsuit, as a man was walking on a sidewalk, the 90 year-old was hit from behind by a pickup truck. The pickup, which weighed a ton, was backing out of a construction site when it hit the pedestrian. The truck did not just strike the man, it actually ran over him, went forward and then ran over him again. The victim did not survive the accident. The law firm that handled this case on behalf of the victim’s adult children brought claims against the driver, he driver’s employer, the developer at the site, and the contractor. Two of the defendany settled. The developer for two hundred thousand dollars and the contractor for an additional one hundred fifty thousand dollars. The employer, while admitting liability, argued that it was the developer was at fault because it did not provide a lookout person as the truck was backing up. After the trial, the jury found against the driver and the employer and ordered that they pay $1.3 million to complensate the victim's family for their loss.

These 2 claims illustrate one of the most important lessons that lawyers helping the families of victims of motor vehicle accidents must learn and apply. Lawyers ought to investigate the matter so as to identify all potential defendants. In addition to the driver, other potential defendants include (1) employers as well as anyone who (2) owns any of the vehicles involved in the accident, (3) contributed to the accident or who can (4) be vicariously liable. Applying this lesson could make a major difference in the amount recovered on behalf of the family of a pedestrian killed in a motor vehicle accident.