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Naperville Pedestrian Accident Attorneys
Pedestrians are vulnerable to serious injury if they are hit by a car. While drivers of automobiles may suffer minor scrapes or bruises in the accident, pedestrians could be seriously injured or killed.
Drivers are responsible for the pedestrians when sharing the road. When this obligation is breached in a Naperville car/pedestrian accident, it can result in serious injuries or death.
The law firm of Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers, LLC has decades of experience fighting for pedestrian rights after accidents and knows how to hold negligent drivers accountable for their actions by filing civil lawsuits against them on behalf of our clients.
Contact a Naperville personal injury attorney at (888) 424-5757 (toll-free phone number) or use the contact form today if you've been injured as a pedestrian to hold the responsible party accountable. All confidential or sensitive information you share with our legal team remains private through an attorney-client relationship.
Pedestrian Accident Statistics
Walking around Naperville can be dangerous if you are not careful. According to the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), there were 1,813 pedestrian accidents in 2016 alone.
In addition, pedestrian-related motor vehicle crashes accounted for 2.5% of all traffic fatalities that year and 5% of all traffic injuries requiring hospitalization or treatment beyond first aid.
An even greater percentage occurred on the roads surrounding Naperville, with nearly 3,000 incidents statewide taking place within 15 miles of this city's border between 2010 and 2015, according to IDOT data.
Suppose you've been hurt in a car accident while walking through your neighborhood or downtown area. In that case, it is important to know what legal options may be available to help you recover compensation for your losses.
A qualified Naperville pedestrian accident lawyer can review your case and help determine whether another party should pay for any damages caused by their negligence (such as medical bills) or recklessness (such as lost wages).
Legal Advice from Naperville, IL Personal Injury Lawyers
The Naperville pedestrian accident attorneys at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers, LLC, prosecute cases on behalf of those killed or suffered serious injuries because they were struck by a motorist while lawfully walking across or near public streets.
Since pedestrians have no protection during an accident, their injuries are far more devastating than those of other accident victims.
Whether you have lost a loved one and are looking into filing a wrongful death lawsuit or have been injured yourself and wish to recover compensation for your medical bills and other expenses, we are prepared to fight on your behalf.
The Key to Recovering Compensation After a Naperville Pedestrian Accident is to Establish Fault
Whenever filing a personal injury lawsuit, it is a plaintiff's responsibility to prove they were injured and that the defendant was the cause of injury.
For example, if you were using the street lawfully when you were struck by a car, you or someone close to you must gather as much evidence to show who was at fault for the accident as possible.
A qualified attorney will find additional methods of recovering this evidence, but a lot of it can be lost if not acquired from the scene shortly after the accident.
Here are some of the ways you can gather evidence, along with the ways we can assist.
- Gather witness accounts of the accident along with their names, telephone numbers, and addresses so that they can be contacted later for their statements.
- Work with law enforcement officials to reconstruct the accident. This evidence gathering is done by requesting the accident reports filed by the police and cross-checking information reported by the witnesses listed in the reports with evidence found at the scene.
- Gain access to closed-circuit security cameras, traffic cameras, and other devices that would have recorded the sounds and video evidence right before the accident, proving that the driver was at fault. Video evidence is invaluable in helping us recreate the accident as it is irrefutable.
- Request tapes of the 911 calls made by people at the accident scene to learn how the events were described as they unfolded. This evidence is used to corroborate statements made by witnesses or to settle conflicting accounts of the events.
- Subpoena the phone records of the driver. Getting the records can allow us to see if the driver was talking or texting on the phone at the time of the accident. In addition, it will establish that they were distracted and liable for the accident.
Have our accident reconstruction team visit the collision scene to determine the course of events and how they unfolded.
This step is important because these professionals can use the evidence to determine:
- The estimated speed of the vehicle at the time of the accident
- Whether the brakes were being applied
- Whether any attempt was made to swerve from hitting the pedestrian
How We Can Recover Damages for You After Your Pedestrian Accident
If we are confident that we can prove the driver is at fault for your accident, we will proceed with your claim by first seeing whether the negligent driver's insurance company is willing to work with us.
The insurance carrier will pay out damages in most cases. So, negotiating with insurance companies can make the process quicker and less expensive from a legal standpoint.
If your damages exceed the policy's limits, there are other ways we can gather the difference, including the following.
- Filing a claim with your own driver's insurance policy— there are clauses in many insurance policies that may allow you to file a claim against your insurance if the driver is uninsured or underinsured. These clauses could provide one avenue to collect the difference.
- Using your health insurance to cover the difference— health insurance is there to cover medical expenses regardless of how you have been injured. In addition, we can negotiate with your insurance company to ensure you get the most out of your health insurance coverage during your claim.
- Suing the driver directly— if the driver has assets that could be used to cover the cost of your medical expenses and other expenses, we could sue them directly.
Statute of Limitations
Under Illinois law, injured pedestrians and surviving family members who lost a loved one in a pedestrian accident can file a personal injury lawsuit seeking financial compensation.
However, the state legislature had limited that amount of time to file a claim to two years from when the accident occurred, the victim died, or other circumstances.
Once that time has passed, you will be forever barred from seeking maximum compensation in the courts to recoup economic and non-economic damages. However, there could be extenuating circumstances that can allow you to extend the time limit.
Meet a Naperville pedestrian accident attorney before the deadline expires. They will help you file a petition to extend the statute of limitations and provide evidence to support your claim. The court can grant an extension of up to three years if it is determined there is a good reason for doing so.
Pedestrian Accidents and Comparative Negligence
In the state of Illinois, pedestrians are afforded special protections compared to drivers. If a pedestrian acts responsibly— obeying all traffic laws, watching for oncoming vehicles, and only crossing the street when it is safe to do so— they can recover damages if hit by a careless driver.
However, if a pedestrian is not acting reasonably— darting into the street with no warning, jaywalking, or otherwise ignoring traffic laws— they can be found negligent and sued for any damages they cause to others.
If you are hit by a motorist while crossing the road illegally, creating your own risk of harm, you will not be able to recover damages. However, if you are hit while walking responsibly in a crosswalk or along the shoulder of the road and that driver is negligent, they can be sued for any damages they cause.
In some cases, pedestrians have been found 100% at fault for their injuries when illegally crossing the road in areas like strip malls or private driveways.
Often, the landowner allowed them to cross in that location, creating their own risk of harm; then, they were hit by a negligent driver who did not have the time to stop for them.
Who Pays Your Pedestrian Accident Settlement?
As with all wrongful death claims, if you can prove a driver was negligent and caused an accident that killed a pedestrian, the insurance company must pay out the full amount of compensation. Again, some of this can come from their homeowner's policy, but not all of it necessarily.
In cases where the responsible party is uninsured or underinsured, you can seek damages from any policies that serve them directly.
For instance, if their homeowner's insurance does not pay out the full amount and there is a life insurance policy that will cover up to $500,000 in your settlement, that could provide you with compensation for damages through this other source.
There are also times where family members can use their health insurance coverage to pay for damages in their loved one's case. However, these cases can be a complex and time-consuming process.
They will likely require the assistance of a Naperville pedestrian accident attorney to help sort through the details and make sure you get the most out of your health insurance coverage during your claim.
A pedestrian accident is something every pedestrian should dread because it puts them in a highly vulnerable position— walking on the side of the road with no protection from a vehicle.
In addition, if you have lost a loved one in an accident like this and they were not as cautious as they should have been, you can seek compensation through a wrongful death claim against the negligent driver.
Recent Catastrophic Naperville, IL Pedestrian Accidents
Our Naperville pedestrian accident law firm has reviewed many personal injury cases and wrongful death lawsuits involving pedestrian accidents in the local community over recent years.
Some of these include:
In March 2021, a Lake County man crossed the road and was struck by a car. He died at the scene after suffering fatal traumatic injuries to his head and body.
The driver claimed he did not see the man and was not aware of what had happened until another car approached and told him there was a pedestrian in front of him who had been hit. The victim's family member sued for wrongful death, and the case is still pending.
In June 2020, A Chicago pedestrian was taking her normal route to work when she was struck by a car on the road. She suffered numerous injuries - including fractures, brain trauma, and several lacerations - and died due to those injuries later that evening. The driver who hit her told police he had been blinded by the sun as it was rising, making it difficult to see as he drove down the street.
The Joliet man's family sued for wrongful death and claimed that the driver had been negligent in his actions because his car did not have a sun visor and was going too fast at the time of impact. The case is still pending.
In April 2020, a Downers Grove victim crossing Route 59 on foot in a marked crosswalk was struck by a car and knocked to the ground. She suffered serious injuries from the fall and had multiple fractures, including three on her left side that required surgery. In addition, her family filed a personal injury claim against the driver for what she believed was negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The case is still pending.
In April 2020, a driver struck and killed an older man crossing the street in Naperville. The woman said she had been distracted by her cell phone when the accident happened and did not see him before it was too late to stop her vehicle.
The victim's family filed a wrongful death claim against the driver for what they believed to be her negligence and asserted that there were several dangerous conditions on the road where the accident happened. These included high-speed limits, lack of sidewalks or crosswalks, and insufficient lighting at night. The case is still pending.
When dealing with a personal injury case, it is important to keep up with all deadlines and rulings, so you do not lose your right to file a claim. All pedestrian/car accidents are serious and can cause catastrophic injuries to those involved if they do not receive the proper medical treatment.
Naperville Pedestrian Accident Attorneys | DuPage County Personal Injury Lawyer
Naperville Personal Injury FAQs
Our personal injury law firm understands that many families have unanswered questions about dealing directly with an insurance company seeking financial compensation for severe injuries resulting in a pedestrian accident. Our Naperville pedestrian accident attorneys have answered some of those questions below.
Call our Cook County law office at (888) 424-5757 (toll-free phone number) or use the contact form for additional information or schedule a free case review to talk with attorneys in our law offices.
Let Our Naperville Pedestrian Accident Law Firm Fight on Your Behalf
Did you lose someone or been injured in a pedestrian accident? If so, Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC would like to invite you to have your pedestrian accident case reviewed free of charge.
Our experience and dedication have allowed us to secure damages on behalf of thousands of clients. We are willing to guarantee results— or our legal services will cost nothing as we accept all personal injury cases on a contingency fee basis.
Contact our Naperville, IL, accident lawyers today to schedule your free initial consultation with an award-winning Naperville pedestrian accident attorney so that we can get to work on your behalf right away. We look forward to serving your interests.
Our Cook County law firm represents clients in related practice areas, including medical malpractice, nursing home abuse, car accidents, product liability, truck accidents, pedestrian fatalities, defective drugs, premises liability, and wrongful death.