Glen Burnie Pedestrian Accident Lawyer

You do not have to be behind the wheel to be injured in an auto accident. Pedestrians are injured in accidents all the time, and they can take legal action against the driver.

Liability in pedestrian accident cases can be tricky. Often, one driver is liable, but multiple parties might be liable if they all contributed to the accident. Determining liability often requires reviewing how the accident happened. Pedestrian accidents often happen at crosswalks, parking lots, or sidewalks. You can claim damages related to economic and non-economic injuries and losses in your lawsuit. Generally, more serious injuries lead to more significant damages. Since the accident involves a vehicle, you can file an insurance claim against the driver, although a lawsuit might still be necessary to cover your damages fully.

Pedestrians should not have to cross the street or walk through a crowded parking lot in fear for their safety. Our Glen Burnie pedestrian accident lawyers can help you sue negligent drivers for the injuries they caused. For a free case review, call Rice, Murtha & Psoras at (410) 694-7291.

Liability for Glen Burnie Pedestrian Accidents

Before you can get financial compensation for your injuries, we need to determine who caused your injuries in the first place. Determining who should be held liable is more challenging than one might think. While liability is a bit more obvious in some cases, it can be a difficult question to answer in others. Our Glen Burnie pedestrian accident attorneys can help determine who should be held liable for your painful injuries and expenses.

If you were hit by a single car, the driver of that car is usually the person you want to sue. If the driver involved stopped their car and got out to render aid and exchange information, identifying them should be no problem. Unfortunately, hit and run accidents have been known to happen, and we might need to work with law enforcement to track down the negligent driver.

In some cases, several drivers are involved in a pedestrian accident, and several might share the blame. Cases like this tend to be complicated because each driver usually points fingers at all the other drivers, and determining who is truly to blame can be challenging.

If the driver who hit you was working (e.g., delivery driver, trucker, cab driver), you might be able to sue their employer. Employers may be held vicariously liable for an employee’s negligence under the legal theory of respondeat superior. This only applies in cases where the employee was acting in furtherance of their job duties when the accident occurred.

How Glen Burnie Pedestrian Accidents Occur

Pedestrian accidents can happen almost anywhere that traffic and pedestrians meet. Knowing how your accident occurred might help our Glen Burnie pedestrian accident lawyers figure out who is to blame and how to hold them accountable for your damages.

Crossing the street should not have to be such a significant safety concern. Unfortunately, negligent drivers make crossing the street a risky endeavor for pedestrians. Crosswalks and intersections are common sites for pedestrian accidents, usually, because a driver failed to brake in time to avoid a crash. Often, drivers are distracted and do not notice changing lights or that a pedestrian has entered the crosswalk until it is too late to stop.

Parking lots are another common location for pedestrian accidents. People often let their guard down in parking lots because they are off the road, and cars tend to move slower. Even so, a negligent driver might hit a pedestrian walking to or from their vehicle and cause serious injuries. In some cases, drivers are moving at unsafe speeds in parking lots because they are in a hurry and cannot be bothered to look out for people walking through the lot.

Many pedestrian accidents also occur on sidewalks. This often happens when drivers lose control of their vehicles and run off the road. Sometimes, drivers try to avoid something in the street, like another vehicle, and they end up running up on the sidewalk where they hit a pedestrian. Other times, the driver might experience trouble with their vehicle. For example, a tire could blow out, or the brakes might fail. In most of these cases, the driver can be held liable.

Damages You Can Claim in Pedestrian Accidents in Glen Burnie

After a pedestrian accident, you might have serious injuries and considerable expenses to deal with. The person who hit you should be the one to pay for these damages, not you. Our Glen Burnie pedestrian accident attorneys can help calculate your damages and maximize your potential compensation.

Economic damages may be awarded to cover financial losses from the accident. Common economic damages include medical bills and lost income. Not only are pedestrians often severely injured, but they must pay for expensive medical treatment. They also tend to lose income from missing work while they recover.

Non-economic damages are somewhat harder to define because they do not relate to money or financial expenses. Instead, non-economic damages can be awarded for painful personal experiences after the accident. Physical and emotional pain and suffering can be intense after a traumatic accident, and you deserve compensation for enduring those experiences. You can also claim non-economic damages for humiliation, damage to your reputation, and more.

How Insurance Might Affect a Glen Burnie Pedestrian Accident Case

After an accident involving a vehicle, drivers and pedestrians often turn to insurance as their first course of action. Maryland is a fault-based state regarding auto insurance claims. Under a fault-based system, injured pedestrians can file a third-party claim against the driver’s insurance. If you can prove the driver is at fault, you may be compensated through their insurance up to the policy’s limits. A lawsuit might still be necessary if insurance does not pan out as you hoped.

Although insurance is an important safety net, it does not always work. Perhaps the driver’s insurance company denied your claim due to a lack of evidence. Maybe your claims were approved, but the insurance policy did not provide enough compensation to cover all your expenses. In other cases, drivers are uninsured, and injured pedestrians must file with their own uninsured motorist coverage if they have it. In all of these cases, a personal injury lawsuit against the driver might still be necessary to cover the full extent of your damages. Our Glen Burnie pedestrian accident attorneys can help you through the insurance process while also helping you begin a personal injury lawsuit.

Call Our Glen Burnie Pedestrian Accident Lawyers for Help

Pedestrians tend to have severe injuries after an accident and are very vulnerable to negligent drivers. Our Glen Burnie pedestrian accident lawyers can help you get justice for your injuries. For a free case review, call Rice, Murtha & Psoras at (410) 694-7291.