Pedestrian & Crosswalk Injuries

You had the walk signal. The insurer will still say it was your fault.

Pedestrian cases are the clearest illustration of why contributory negligence matters. A driver turns without looking and puts someone in the hospital for weeks — and the first thing the carrier investigates is whether the pedestrian stepped off the curb a half-second early, looked at a phone, or wore dark clothing. In the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, any of that, if believed, ends the claim completely.

These cases are won on the evidence gathered in the first weeks: the signal phasing at that intersection, the independent witness who has not yet moved away, the vehicle's event data, the responding officer's diagram. That evidence disappears quickly.

A result

$1,300,000. Our client was crossing with the walk signal in a marked crosswalk when a driver turned on a red light without yielding. She suffered fractures to her ribs, pelvis, spine, ankle, and face, a shoulder dislocation, a collapsed lung, and permanent nerve damage in her hand. She spent weeks in intensive care and inpatient rehabilitation, later needed nerve decompression surgery and a hip replacement, and did not return to full-time work.

Because the state caps non-economic damages and bars recovery entirely if the injured person shares any fault, the case had to be built on fully documented medical, future-care, and wage-loss proof rather than on argument.

Call (202) 524-0123 for a free consultation.