Pedestrian & Vulnerable Road User Accidents
$4.8 Million
Overview
At a glance
- The reality: An unprotected body absorbs the full force of the impact
- The battleground: Comparative fault, decided by signal timing, sightlines, and vehicle data
- The deadline: Government claims can expire within six months
- The standard: Drivers, rideshare companies, and municipalities held accountable
Injuries that are severe by default
A pedestrian or cyclist struck by a vehicle absorbs the full force of the impact with no protection at all. The resulting injuries are severe by default, and the defense response is predictable: blame the person who was hit. The driver says the pedestrian stepped out suddenly.
The police report says the pedestrian was wearing dark clothing.
The adjuster says the intersection is known for jaywalking.
These narratives are offered with confidence, and they are frequently false.
Who is accountable
Robert holds negligent drivers, rideshare companies, and municipalities accountable for the devastating toll these accidents impose. That includes pursuing dangerous roadway design, obstructed sightlines, missing signals, and inadequate crosswalk infrastructure where a public entity contributed to the harm:
- A signal that gives pedestrians too little time to cross
- A sightline blocked by parking or vegetation
- A crosswalk that is painted but unlit
- A road designed for speed where people walk and ride
Rideshare and commercial drivers
When the striking vehicle is a rideshare car or a commercial vehicle, the case expands beyond the driver. The app company's insurance structure, the employer's safety policies, and the driver's history all become part of the liability picture. Robert pursues every responsible party so that the injured person is not left depending on a single driver with minimum insurance limits.
The injuries in these cases
Because the human body absorbs the entire impact, pedestrian and bicycle injuries are often catastrophic: traumatic brain injuries, pelvic fractures, spinal injuries, and crush injuries to the lower extremities. Broken bones heal more slowly at walking age, and the loss of mobility changes daily life in ways that a younger person cannot imagine. These are cases where a lifetime of medical need follows a single moment, and the damages case must reflect that reality from the beginning.
Hit and run cases
A significant number of pedestrian collisions are hit and runs. The driver who leaves an injured person in the roadway has made a calculation, and that calculation is evidence. Robert pursues hit and run cases through witness canvassing, nearby camera footage, vehicle parts left at the scene, and the uninsured motorist coverage that exists specifically for this situation, so that a fleeing driver does not mean a dead end for the family.
Why these cases require a fighter
Pedestrian cases are contested on fault more aggressively than any other type of personal injury claim, because the stakes for the defense are high and the temptation to blame the victim is strong. Robert takes the fight to the defense with evidence, not narratives, and he has the trial experience to see these cases through when the insurer refuses to deal fairly.
The defense's story versus the evidence
The defense narrative in a pedestrian case almost always begins the same way: the pedestrian darted out, the pedestrian was not paying attention, the pedestrian was where they should not have been. Robert meets that narrative with the scene itself. The crosswalk markings, the signal timing, the driver's line of sight, the vehicle's speed before the driver reacted, and the driver's phone records all speak more reliably than the driver's memory of a sudden shadow in the road.
Driver phone records are a routine part of modern pedestrian cases. A driver who claims the pedestrian appeared suddenly while actively using a phone has surrendered the case, and Robert obtains and reviews those records in every matter where distraction is possible.
Children, older adults, and the most vulnerable
Children lack the judgment adults expect of them, and the law does not hold them to adult standards. A child who steps into a street has acted with the immaturity the law anticipates, and the driver bears the responsibility to anticipate it. Robert handles children's pedestrian cases with particular care, working with pediatric specialists to document injuries that may not fully manifest for years.
Older adults and people with disabilities are overrepresented in pedestrian deaths, and their cases demand respect for the life they lived before the collision. Robert builds damages cases that reflect mobility, independence, and community participation, the losses that matter most when a person is forced off the street and into the house.
The full cost of the accident
Beyond the medical bills, a pedestrian injury costs income, activities, and the structure of daily life. Robert documents the full picture: the career interrupted, the hobbies abandoned, the family rearranged around the recovery. The damages presentation gives the jury the complete cost, because a settlement built on hospital bills alone undervalues what was taken.
The human toll
Behind the statistics are people whose lives stop at the moment of impact. The cyclist who commuted every day, the parent walking a child to school, the retiree crossing to the market: each of them had a routine, a family, and a future, and a single driver's carelessness took it away. Robert represents the person, not the case, and the damages presentation reflects the life that was interrupted rather than a list of medical charges.
The long road back is part of the damages too. Months of surgery, rehabilitation, and dependence on others change the entire family. Robert documents that journey while it happens, so the jury sees the cost in real time rather than through a retrospective report.
Cases We Handle
- Pedestrian and crosswalk collisions
- Bicycle and e-bike accidents
- Scooter and micromobility injuries
- Hit and run investigations
- Dangerous roadway and intersection design claims
- School zone and residential street collisions
- Pedestrian injuries from left-turn and right-turn collisions
- Nighttime and low-light visibility accidents
- Pedestrian accidents caused by commercial and rideshare drivers
- Uninsured motorist coverage for hit and run cases
- Crosswalk signal timing and compliance issues
- Sidewalk and curb-related falls caused by roadway defects
- Injuries to children walking to school
- Disabled and older pedestrian accidents
- Loss of consortium and family claims
- Distracted driver collisions with pedestrians
- Backing-up accidents in parking lots and driveways
- Bicycle injuries from dooring incidents
- Crashes at unmarked crosswalks
- Pedestrian accidents on freeway shoulders and off-ramps
- Pedestrian accidents caused by turning commercial trucks
- Injuries to runners and joggers on roadways
- Collisions in parking lots and garages
- Pedestrian accidents involving emergency and service vehicles
Our Approach
The scene is the case
Comparative fault is the central battleground in these cases, so the investigation starts with the scene itself. Signal timing, lighting, sightlines, crosswalk markings, and prior incident history at the same location are all documented before anything changes. If the city later repaints the crosswalk or re-times the signal, the evidence of what was wrong is already preserved.
Government claims have short deadlines
Claims against public entities carry short notice deadlines that can extinguish an otherwise strong case, so those filings are handled immediately while the broader investigation continues. In California, a government claim must typically be filed within six months of the incident, and the failure to file is fatal to the case. That deadline is calendared the day Robert takes the case, not discovered weeks later.
Witnesses and vehicle data
Pedestrian accidents often happen in public with witnesses nearby, and those witnesses are identified and interviewed quickly. Vehicle data from the striking car, traffic cameras, business security cameras, and even the app data from a rideshare driver's phone can reconstruct the seconds before impact. Robert assembles that record early, because every hour that passes makes the evidence harder to obtain.
Trial readiness as leverage
Defendants in pedestrian cases assume the injured person cannot sustain the fight. Robert's cases are prepared to disprove that assumption, with liability experts, damages experts, and a presentation that shows the jury exactly what the client lost. When the defense realizes the case will go to trial and the evidence will be presented, settlement talks begin on realistic terms.
Negotiating from the evidence
The defense knows that a well-investigated pedestrian case is dangerous to try, because juries are protective of people on foot. Robert's investigation gives the defense the facts it must confront: the driver's speed, the signal timing, the sightline obstruction, the prior incidents at the same corner. Negotiation from that record produces offers that reflect the real value of the case.
When the defense insists on its narrative anyway, the case is prepared for trial on the same record, and the narrative is tested against the evidence in front of a jury.
Trial when the defense won't deal
Pedestrian cases reach trial when the insurer decides the victim's story can be beaten. Robert tries those cases with the scene as the centerpiece, walking the jury through the intersection, the timing, and the physics of what the driver could and should have seen. The evidence that was gathered in the first days becomes the evidence that decides the verdict.
Why this fight matters
The defense counts on pedestrian cases folding. The injured person is recovering, the family is stretched, and the prospect of years of litigation is exhausting. Robert has built his career on not folding, and the defense knows it. That reputation, combined with a complete evidentiary record, is what moves pedestrian cases from lowball offers to resolutions that reflect the true harm.
The families and individuals Robert represents come out of the process with the resources to rebuild the lives a collision interrupted, and that is the measure of success.