Being hit by a car is always a terrifying experience, with the resulting injuries ranging from mild to catastrophic. Damages such as medical expenses and lost wages add up quickly, but who pays for pedestrian accident damages in Missouri? A dedicated St. Louis pedestrian accident attorney can help you navigate the legal system to ensure those responsible are held accountable.
Under Missouri 537.765. Contributory Fault, the party who caused the accident is responsible for damages equal to their percentage of fault. For this reason, the Missouri Department of Revenue states the following:
“Missouri law requires that all motor vehicle drivers and owners maintain some type of motor vehicle liability insurance coverage.”
In most cases, the liability insurance of an at-fault driver pays for damages in a Missouri pedestrian accident.
What Types of Damages Are Recoverable In a Pedestrian Accident In Missouri?
Pedestrians are completely unprotected and vulnerable to severe or catastrophic injuries in an accident with a moving vehicle weighing an average of 4,000 pounds. The financial losses add up quickly, at the same time that the injury victim often suffers serious pain and trauma. These consequences are the damages in a pedestrian accident claim. Common recoverable damages include the following:
- Reimbursement for medical expenses
- Future medical expenses for ongoing, injury-related care
- Out-of-pocket expenses
- Lost earnings
- Future income loss/reduced future earning ability
- Compensation for pain and suffering
- Compensation for catastrophic injuries with permanent harm, such as loss of limb, disfigurement, loss of an organ, loss of one of the senses, permanent disability, or diminished quality of life
After a fatal pedestrian accident, the recoverable damages are wrongful death damages paid to the closest surviving family member or the victim’s estate representative.
What If the Responsible Party’s Insurer Says I Was Partly At-Fault?
In a pure comparative negligence system like Missouri, even an injury victim who is partly responsible for their injuries can recover a portion of their damages, but the insurance company paying the claim subtracts the injury victim’s percentage of fault from the amount they pay on the claim.
This system greatly benefits a pedestrian if they were truly partly responsible; for instance, if they were crossing the street in a section without a crosswalk. However, it more often benefits the insurance company. Insurers have a strong financial incentive to assign fault to injury victims so they can pay out less on a claim. For this reason, it’s in the injury victim’s best interest to have legal representation to protect their interests throughout the investigation and negotiation process.
Seeking the Policy Limits In a Pedestrian Accident Claim
An experienced Missouri pedestrian accident lawyer not only protects the accident victim against an insurance company’s undue assignment of fault, but also carefully calculates the damages to seek the full policy limit from the at-fault party’s insurance company. In addition, an injury attorney explores all avenues for compensation, including other parties that may be partly responsible for the damages. Depending on the unique circumstances of each case, other common liable parties could include the following:
- A street-planning agency for designing an intersection with obstructed views or inadequate lighting
- A street maintenance agency that failed to replace street light bulbs or repaint faded crosswalk bars
- The manufacturer of a defective traffic signal
Missouri’s comparative negligence laws allow an injury victim to recover compensation from all parties who caused or contributed to the cause of their injuries and damages.