A Marksville pedestrian accident lawyer from our firm could fight for your right to compensation if you or a loved one suffered an injury in a pedestrian accident.
Drivers of any vehicle are legally mandated to share the road with pedestrians. They must yield to pedestrians at unmarked crosswalks or when they have the right of way at marked crosswalks. Drivers who fail to abide by traffic laws and, as a result, cause injuries to walkers may be financially liable.
If you (or a loved one) was involved in a pedestrian accident, a Marksville pedestrian accident lawyer from Laborde Earles Injury Lawyers can help you learn more about your legal rights and options. One of our compassionate personal injury lawyers could help you file a claim for the compensation you may be entitled to.
Potential Causes of Pedestrian Accidents in Marksville
Our team understands the events that lead to pedestrian accidents in Marksville. We know motor vehicle operators often cause these accidents. Drivers cause these collisions when they:
Fail to Yield at Crosswalks
Pedestrians have a legal right to cross the street in properly marked areas. Drivers are supposed to stop and allow pedestrians to use the road while they’re in a crosswalk. However, many drivers ignore this rule and maintain their speed, leading to serious accidents.
Drive While Distracted
Some drivers look down at their phones while stopped at a red light. They may become distracted with text messages or a game and simply begin driving when the light changes, neglecting to look up to check for pedestrians.
Distraction is a major cause of pedestrian accidents throughout our area. However, distraction does not only affect drivers. Pedestrians may place themselves in dangerous situations if they get distracted while crossing a road or walking along the side of a road.
Fail to Look Before Backing Up
Drivers often have trouble seeing things behind their vehicles when backing up, especially if they operate a large truck or SUV. Backup cameras help with this issue, but these cameras may not work properly due to glare, dirt on the lenses, or damage.
Drivers who do not check their mirrors or cameras when backing up could easily strike a pedestrian passing behind them, especially in a parking lot.
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Steps to Take After Your Pedestrian Accident In Marksville
Many pedestrians are unsure what steps to take when a vehicle strikes them in Marksville. In general, it’s important to:
Report Your Accident
Call 911 after a vehicle strikes you in Marksville. Police officers will come to the accident scene and determine what happened. In many situations, they will file a report about the collision.
Seek Medical Care
You should also ensure you receive medical attention as soon as possible. If you don’t need emergency services, go to the hospital instead.
Even if you feel fine, you should seek care. You may have an injury without any current symptoms, and this injury could worsen if it isn’t treated. For example, a concussion may not have obvious symptoms but can worsen.
Collect Contact Information
Hopefully, the driver who struck you stopped at the accident scene instead of committing a hit and run. If the driver stopped, get their contact information and insurance details. You may also gather information from any witnesses of the accident.
While speaking with the driver who hit you, do not admit fault for the accident or apologize, as this could weaken your claim.
Focus on the Evidence
Each accident scene holds evidence about what happened and who caused the collision. You can take pictures of your injuries and the damage to the vehicle that hit you. It’s also a good idea to get pictures of the accident scene itself.
Consider Working With a Lawyer
You do not have to try to handle the aftermath of a pedestrian accident by yourself. A lawyer from our firm can provide you with professional assistance throughout your legal challenges. Getting immediate help from the lawyer allows you to ask questions before making any decisions about your case.
Your lawyer can also help you handle insurance agents.
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Damages You Can Claim in a Pedestrian Accident Case
A successful pedestrian accident legal action can result in a fair settlement or a jury awarding compensation. An Avoyelles Parish pedestrian accident lawyer from our legal team could help you recover any damages a liable party owes you.
Damages usually fall into two categories: economic and non-economic. Economic damages have a predetermined value and are easily verified with bills, pay stubs, or receipts. Common examples of economic damages include medical bills and lost wages.
Non-economic damages can include:
- Pain and suffering
- Scarring and disfigurement
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Emotional trauma
- Loss of a bodily function
Non-economic damages are typically more difficult to quantify. To prove non-economic losses, a car accident attorney from our firm might use such evidence as counseling records or expert testimony.
Wrongful Death Damages
Losing a loved one in a pedestrian accident is a tragedy. If your family experienced this tragedy, you may be suffering and struggling in many ways. You may have serious emotional trauma and financial hardship.
You can file a wrongful death lawsuit for your financial losses and other damages. With the lawsuit, you’ll be able to hold the responsible party to account, and you may even find some closure for your family’s loss.
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An Attorney Can Help You Negotiate a Fair Settlement
Most pedestrian accident cases entail at least one attempt to negotiate a fair settlement with the plaintiff’s insurance company. This is sometimes done with direct communication between the opposing attorneys or in a mediation conference.
A settlement is often preferable for both the plaintiff and the defendant, as they bring the case to a close with less expense and risk than with a trial. It is common for settlement negotiations to happen over several months since there may be many offers back and forth between the two parties.
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We Can Take Your Case to Trial on Your Behalf If Necessary
If we cannot secure a fair settlement for you through negotiations with the at-fault driver’s insurance company, we can file a lawsuit to get compensation for you.
In some cases, the defendant’s insurer does not make a fair settlement offer until the days leading up to the trial. Whether to settle is ultimately up to the victim, but our attorneys could provide valuable advice and guidance.
How Comparative Negligence Works
While there are no caps set on how much plaintiffs could be awarded in pedestrian accident cases, Louisiana uses the rule of comparative negligence, which may decrease the amount a plaintiff can receive.
Per CC Art. 2323, if the plaintiff is found partially liable for their injuries, the jury may reduce the amount of their award according to the percentage of fault attributed to them. At the end of a civil trial, the jury will determine what types and amounts of damages the plaintiff is entitled to.
You May Still Be Able to Recover Damages Even If You Were Partially At Fault
If the plaintiff shares partial fault, the jury will determine what percentage of liability the plaintiff holds. That percentage amount will be deducted from the full award.
For example, if a pedestrian was wearing all black with no reflective clothing and was jaywalking, a jury may find them 45 percent liable for their damages. The total amount of the award they can collect will be reduced by 45 percent. A Marksville pedestrian accident attorney from our firm may be able to deduce if a pedestrian shares any liability for their personal injury and prepare their case accordingly.
Multiple Parties May Share Fault
In your case, a driver and another party may be at fault. For example, if the local government neglected to clear the road of an oil slick, and this contributed to the accident, the government may be partially at fault.
If multiple parties are at fault in your case, your lawyer can identify each of them. Also, comparative negligence law can distribute fault among each party and help your lawyer hold each one accountable.
Why Hire a Pedestrian Accident Lawyer for Your Case?
When you hire a Marksville lawyer from our firm to handle your pedestrian accident case, we will take care of everything for you while you focus on recovering from your injuries. We will:
- Investigate your case and gather evidence: This entails speaking with the authorities, any witnesses, and the other party’s insurer. Doing this on your own may seem daunting, so you can leave it to your lawyer. Evidence in your case may be the police report, a witness’s statement, and traffic camera footage.
- Build a case to prove the driver’s negligence: Proving negligence isn’t easy. It requires showing the other party owed you a duty of care, they breached this duty, the breach in duty caused the incident, and you suffered damages.
- File a personal injury claim with the proper insurance company: Your claim must be filed in accordance with proper procedures and the proper insurer. This insurer may be yours or the other party’s.
- Negotiate a settlement on your behalf: Negotiations can be complicated, especially when the insurer doesn’t cooperate. Your lawyer may be able to convince an insurer to cooperate, such as by threatening a lawsuit.
- File a lawsuit to seek compensation in civil court, if necessary: If negotiations aren’t successful, your lawyer can sue and take your case to court.
We work on a contingency-fee basis, meaning there is no risk to you in using our services. We only get paid once and if we win you a settlement.
Why You Should Hire Your Lawyer from Our Firm
At our firm, our attorneys have over 250 years of combined legal experience and obtained hundreds of millions of dollars for their clients. Also, our attorneys handle pedestrian accident cases, car accident cases, wrongful death cases, and other personal injury cases almost exclusively, so they know how to handle your case.
We’re committed to the law, our clients, and each of our cases. When a defendant or an insurance company acts unlawfully or unreasonably, we hold them to account and push hard for the compensation our client deserves. We won’t hesitate to take the case to court if it could lead to a better outcome.
The Pedestrian Accident Statute of Limitations in Avoyelles Parish
Many pedestrian accident victims do not realize that CC Art. 3492 restricts their time to file a lawsuit. This statute of limitations gives injured individuals just one year from their accident to file a lawsuit or have an Avoyelles Parish pedestrian accident attorney do so on their behalf.
Failing to meet this deadline will likely preclude the plaintiff from receiving compensation for their injuries. Our legal team can ensure we build your case with enough time left to file a lawsuit, if needed. The sooner you reach out to our team, the sooner we can get started on your case.
Let Our Marksville Pedestrian Accident Attorney Help You
Our Marksville pedestrian accident lawyers understand how your pedestrian accident may impact you for your lifetime. Contact us today to learn more about the compensation you may be entitled to and how an attorney from our firm can help. Whether by settling your case pre-trial or by fighting for you in the courtroom, our attorneys will be there for you.
Reach out to Laborde Earles Injury Lawyers today for a free consultation and case review.
Get The HelpYou Need(318) 310-8922To Schedule a FREE CONSULTATION
24 hours a day • 7 days a week
