Generally, hiring an excellent local car accident attorney with knowledge and experience of local pedestrian auto accident claims will know how to show liability and maximize damages for a pedestrian struck by a vehicle – despite her/his inability to recall the crash. 

Liability in Pedestrian Auto Accident

Reviewing police reports and medical records is critical to proving damages. If a police report is significantly accurate to your claim you need to file an amended police report (i.e., an incident report).

Second, pedestrians should show up at the court hearing that is in the right bottom hand corner of your Illinois traffic crash report. If there is no court date there then you need to get the date from the nearest police station where the accident happened.
If you do not show up, the ticket of the at-fault driver received will be dismissed.

Third, the pedestrian auto accident attorney should also gather or request protection of evidence before it gets erased. (i.e. 911 calls 90-days)

The scene is the opportunity to identify witnesses,  obtain statements, take measurements, identify cameras with audio and video recordings, take photographs, and anything else to prove your client’s injury, locate the at-fault driver and other potential defendants and maximize pedestrians’ catastrophic injuries and damages.  

Hence, the attorney you hire and their investigator must get to the scene of the crash right away issue letters of protection, get audio, video, 911, photos, and talk to witnesses.  By the time your attorney leaves that scene she or he has done the job you hired them to do and sealed the door closed on any dispute about the driver’s liability for striking your client.

Pedestrian Car Accident & Insurance Coverage: Individuals vs. Entities

Maximizing damages in a personal injury claim requires your attorney to identify all at-fault persons and entities with insurance coverage.  

Private entities tend to have higher insurance coverage limits than individuals. Hence, your attorney needs to be able to identify who struck your client, the owner of the vehicle he or she was driving, and sometimes wait for the officers to chase and hopefully catch the person who struck your client. For example, if there’s a company printed on the door of the vehicle that struck your client, it may be a good place to start with finding additional potential defendants (persons/entities that injured pedestrians). 

Other potential persons or entities that could be liable are those who are regulating the security and not government entity. Instead, your attorneys want to find an entity to be a third-party such as a company hired to do street signs or security relevant to the incident.

Damages (person vs vehicle collisions)

Much of what I stated above can also apply to maximizing damages in a claim With a client who does not recall how we are exactly the pedestrian verses vehicle occurred.  This is true about witness statements never won calls to the ambulance ride in the ER.

If you’ve been involved in a pedestrian versus car/truck accident in Glenview, Rockford, Chicago, or Illinois, call Personal Injury Lawyer Cullotta for a free consultation today for a free consultation. 

Josephine Cullotta – Cullotta Law Offices handles many catastrophic auto accidents vs. bicyclist, pedestrian, and commercial driver injuries in Cook county and Illinois.