Important Lesson For Attorneys Who Handle Matters Involving The Death Of A Pedestrian

If historical data can help us forecast the future, a pedestrian will die from a motor vehicle accident about once every 111 minutes resulting in an estimated 4,500 total pedestrian deaths this year. Lawyers who regularly litigate accident claims 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 alternative sources of recovery.

Examine, for instance, the documented lawsuit in which the driver actually admitted to being at fault for the accident. The driver was turning left when he hit and killed a 62 year-old man crossing the street on a walk signal. These details were not disputed by the driver. There was no dispute that the driver's full coverage would be paid out. Still , as is so often the situation in motor vehicle accidents with serious injuries to or the death of the victim, the driver driver’s insurance policy had limits of only $15,000. In this matter this was insufficient given that the victim did not survive the accident.

The law firm that handled this lawsuit on behalf of the victim’s family established that, while the driver had been driving his own automobile at the time of the accident, the driver was going to a store to make a purchase for his employer. They were thus able to establish that the driver was acting within the course and scope of his employment at the time of the accident. This makes the employer liable as well. Therefore, the law firm was able to pursue the employer’s insurance policy and got an additional $1 Million. The law firm thus recovered at total of $1.015 Million on behalf of the victim’s adult children.

In the second case, a pickup truck hit a ninety year old male pedestrian who was walking on a sidewalk. The pickup, which weighed a ton, was backing out of a construction site when it hit the pedestrian. And hitting the pedestrian, the truck ran over him, and then pulled forward, running over him a second time. The man died of his injuries. The man was survived by his adult children. They retained a law frim which pursued a lawsuit for them. They named the driver, his employer, the developer of the construction site, and the contractor as defendants. The developer settled for $200,000. The contractor settled for $150,000. Even though the driver's employer did not deny liabity if the driver were liable, the employer argued that the driver was not liable because the real cause of the accident was the developer who failed to have a lookout person at the scene of the accident while the driver was backing up. The law firm took the case to trial and the jury awarded the family an additional $1.3 Million.

These 2 matters show one of the most important lessons that lawyers representing the families of victims of motor vehicle accidents must learn and apply. Lawyers ought to investigate the case in order to find all potential defendants. In addition to the driver, other potential defendants include (1) employers and anyone who (2) owns any of the vehicles involved in the accident, (3) contributed to the accident or who can (4) be vicariously liable. Making use of this lesson, even in the event the potential defendant denies liability, could significantly increase the sum recovered on behalf of the family of a pedestrian killed in a motor vehicle accident.