Virginia Pedestrian Accident Process

If you or someone you know has been injured in a pedestrian accident in Virginia, the following is important information you should know regarding the process of a pedestrian injury claim. To learn more or discuss your case, call and schedule a consultation with a Virginia pedestrian injury lawyer today.

What Should Someone Going Through The Pedestrian Accident Process For The First Time Expect?

If you’re unfortunate enough to suffer injuries in a pedestrian accident, hopefully it’s always going to be the first time.

But, if you’re going through the claim process following a pedestrian accident, you need to know that the case is likely going to take a considerable amount of time to resolve because your treatment is generally going to be more involved and more sustained than the standard automobile accident. A lot of automobile accidents involve cervical sprains or strains, the classic whiplash injuries that while painful typically will clear up in a couple of months. In pedestrian cases, the injuries are often much more severe. With broken bones a lot of the time you won’t be even out of cast for eight weeks and then you’ve got extensive physical therapy and rehab after that.

It really just depends on the nature of the injuries, but oftentimes pedestrian injuries are much more severe meaning there’s a much more involved longer course of care, so they can expect a hard road to recovery, but one of the more positive things about a pedestrian claim is that a lot of the time liability is more clear than an automobile accident between two vehicles.

If that’s the case, there are certain advantages to that. Having clear liability simplifies the issues that need to be sorted out between the plaintiff’s attorney and either the insurance adjuster or the defense attorney if the case is involved in litigation. The process that you can expect is a lot of communication with medical providers, a lot of communication with paralegals and attorneys keeping a handle on getting all the medical records and marshalling together enough information to make a demand to the at-fault party.

How Long Will That Case Take?

It’s impossible to say because all cases vary, but in the Commonwealth of Virginia if you are injured in pedestrian accident and you contact and accident attorney, in a reasonably timely manner after it happens, you can expect things to get moving somewhat quickly as far as putting the other parties on notice of the representation and starting to gather medical records.

The case timeline is dictated by the course of care, first and foremost. If someone receives treatment for only two months and then is back to work back to school whatever it may be, that case is much more likely to be resolved quickly than someone that has a year and a half, two years of treatment.

Statue of Limitations in Virginia

Virginia has a statute of limitations of two years for personal injury actions, so if you’re a pedestrian and you’re injured in an accident case, if you’re still receiving treatment a year and a half after the accident takes place your attorney would likely want to go ahead and file suit just to protect that statute of limitations even if you are still receiving care.

With that said, however, it really depends on a lot of issues if there’s clear liability and damages are the only thing in play, it’s much more likely that your case would be resolved relatively quickly after you finished treatment. If the liability is in question, like for instance there’s a witness that says someone walked into a busy street without looking and without the right of way, there would be other problems as far as proving liability that come into play.

So, the case really is dictated by all the issues that the plaintiff has to prove because the plaintiff has the burden of proof, so it’s dictated by the issues that have to be proven and by the extent of treatment received.  If all that is in dispute are your damages, it’s going to usually be quicker. If you have to prove liability and damages and there won’t be a stipulation as to liability that can take longer, but really all of that is dictated by the course of treatment.

Will The At-Fault Insurance Company Try and Speak With a Pedestrian Accident Potential Client?

Almost always. At-fault drivers, their insurance companies are going to contact anybody regardless if they are pedestrian, if they are another driver, no matter what the situation is, insurance companies often will try to contact the injured person and try to offer them a settlement before the person knows the full extent of their injuries.

This happens every day in America and it’s a big problem because along with that settlement offer is going to be a requirement for a release of liability to be signed and injured people can’t possibly know the full extent of the damages at the time of the accident or even a week or two weeks afterwards. It takes time for the injuries to fully develop, it takes time to treat them and be able to reach maximum medical improvement and get back to work and it’s just impossible to quantify what your damages are going to be at an early point.

In Virginia there are ways to get out of a settlement that’s entered into shortly after an accident, but it’s never an easy task and it’s always best to just talk with an attorney first take your time figure out all of the particulars of your claim, you need a full snapshot of what your damages are before you try to resolve any claim.