Sometimes, pedestrians may be at least partly to blame for their own injuries in an accident. This is covered under the doctrine of comparative negligence, and under this doctrine, Los Angeles pedestrians may be held partly liable for their own injuries.
That does not mean that they will not recover compensation for their injuries. However, it could possibly mean that the damages could be reduced to the extent of the pedestrian’s own negligence in causing the injuries. For instance, say that a person darted out into traffic, without looking left and right, and was too quick for a motorist to slow down in time to avoid hitting the pedestrian. In such cases, the insurer may claim that the pedestrian was partly to blame for his own injuries, because of his carelessness and failure to look left and right before crossing the street. A pedestrian may be held negligent if he was crossing out of a marked and designated crosswalk at night while wearing black. In such cases, an insurer could successfully argue that the motorist couldn’t possibly have seen the pedestrian in time to avoid him.
In such cases, it doesn’t mean that the pedestrian will not be eligible for damages at all. It merely means that the damages that he is eligible for will be reduced by the percentage that he’s believed to have been at fault. If he is believed to have been 20% at fault, the damages will be reduced by 20%.
Even if have been partly to blame for the injuries that you sustained in an accident, you must speak with a pedestrian accident lawyer in Los Angeles before filing a claim. Many pedestrians make the mistake of simply giving up on the claim, or not bothering to file a claim at all, believing that they will not recover damages since they were at fault in the accident. This is a major mistake.
