Category Archives for Pedestrian Accidents

Do I Need a Pedestrian Accident Attorney?

In a word, the answer is “yes.” If you have been injured as a pedestrian by a motor vehicle, you likely have suffered serious personal injuries. While it may seem clear that the driver was at fault, in fact insurance companies go to great length, and often considerable expense, to defend against claims brought by injured pedestrians, primarily to avoid payment of substantial compensation for the serious injuries suffered.

The pedestrian accident attorneys at Clifford & Raihala have represented many clients severely injured by a car while they were walking. In one of our Illinois cases, for example, a bus turned left at an intersection striking our 36-year-old client who was crossing the intersecting street. The bus driver was cited for failure to yield to the pedestrian’s right of way, but the insurance company defended against our client’s right to compensation claiming she was not in the cross walk and that the driver’s view was obstructed by shadows from the setting sun. Our pedestrian accident attorneys retained an accident reconstruction expert (who actually acquired a similar bus to reconstruct the accident) and two bus safety experts to overcome the insurance company’s claims. Clifford & Raihala’s personal injury lawyers also obtained interviews with two witnesses supporting our client’s claim that she was in the cross walk. Because our pedestrian accident lawyers knew how to handle the complexity of her pedestrian accident claim, we successfully obtained a $9,000,000.00 settlement for her.

In another Wisconsin pedestrian accident, our client was crossing a street in Madison when a truck turned left into her right of way, again causing severe leg injuries. Our pedestrian accident attorneys searched the area of the collision for street or commercial video cameras, but found that the closest camera was two blocks away and didn’t have sufficient range to film the collision. Nonetheless, we recovered full insurance policy limits for her injuries, without having to file a lawsuit. The driver’s insurance company claimed our client was at fault and was responsible for the collision. Attorney Raihala had promptly obtained a sworn statement from a witness who confirmed that our client was “entirely in the crosswalk,” and that the driver was “not slowing down” and was “100% responsible for causing the collision.” The insurer promptly settled when our pedestrian accident lawyer presented it with the affidavit, and we recovered $640,000.00 for our client.

Similarly, on another Madison, Wisconsin street, our client was crossing at an intersection when a car turned into his right of way. The insurance company tried to argue that our client had not been in the cross walk, but our pedestrian accident attorneys had obtained a street camera video showing the car striking him as he crossed in the intersection. As well, the video showed our client being hit by the front end of the car and sent flying over the car, landing on the street behind the vehicle. The graphic video helped us recover full, fair and substantial compensation of $260,000.00 for our client’s injuries.

Sometimes, pedestrians are injured by mechanisms other than being struck by a motor vehicle. In one of our pedestrian accident cases, our client was walking on a city street alongside a 4-story parking ramp when, without warning, several hundred pounds of ice and snow were blind- dumped over the top floor of the ramp, falling on and crushing her. She suffered multiple vertebral fractures, a crushed rib cage, and other injuries, plus a year-long delay in starting medical school. Our pedestrian accident attorneys obtained 911 recordings on which she was clearly heard groaning in severe pain. As well, we retained a national expert in snow removal protocols to establish the equipment operator’s clear negligence. By those efforts, our pedestrian accident attorneys in Madison helped our client recover $1,250,000.00 to compensate her.

So, the answer is yes: if you’ve been injured as a pedestrian by the negligence of another, whether a driver of a car or truck, or a heavy equipment operator, you need an experienced pedestrian accident attorney to make sure that the defenses raised by the responsible party’s insurance company do not prevent you from being fully, fairly and, often, substantially compensated. The personal injury attorneys at Clifford & Raihala include experienced pedestrian accident attorneys who know how to investigate pedestrian accidents and to assure our clients receive full compensation. Our personal injury attorneys have been representing injured clients for almost 50 years. To speak with one of our pedestrian accident attorneys, call 608-257-7900 (or toll free at 888-791-8422), or click https://myjustice.com to connect now. There is no fee or obligation for this consultation. We would be proud to help.

Why You Should Call a Lawyer immediately After a Collision

When you have been injured by a negligent motor vehicle operator – whether while riding a motorcycle or bicycle, walking as a pedestrian, or driving another car – you may be overwhelmed by the emotional impact of what you’ve endured, or by physical injuries, or by concerns over how you will recover financially, physically and emotionally. Obtaining financial compensation for your losses may initially be far down on your list of needs following the collision.

But, what you do to protect yourself from further harm in the first days after a collision is key to assuring that you are fairly treated by the negligent driver’s insurance company and by our justice system. Clifford & Raihala’s personal injury attorneys in Madison, Wisconsin have decades of experience protecting personal injury victims throughout Wisconsin and Illinois; we want you to know how you can act to vindicate your rights and protect your claims for fair and just compensation, in the hours and days following a collision.

First, be aware that insurance companies require car drivers they insure to promptly report any collision they have caused. That means that the insurer of the driver who negligently injured you – and who may owe you compensation for the injuries its insured caused you — will know about the collision almost immediately after it happened. That insurance company will immediately begin to mount its defenses against you, to claim its insured was not responsible, to claim you were completely or partially responsible, to convince witnesses that you were the negligent party, and so on. That insurance company may even come into your hospital room to interview you. Be aware, they have no right to do so, and the interview is designed to make you admit that you might be responsible, and that your injuries really aren’t that bad.

During these important days immediately following the collision, you have no one on your side, but the negligent driver’s insurer is mounting a campaign against you while you are completely unaware of their activities and tactics. You need someone on your side. At Clifford & Raihala, our personal injury attorneys know that steps taken immediately after a collision can assure you will receive fair and full compensation for your injuries and financial losses.

When our personal injury lawyers are retained shortly after a collision, we will immediately begin obtaining information needed to prosecute your claim, information including the motor vehicle accident report from the police, medical records and bills, police and client photos of the accident scene, interview statements from witnesses named in the accident report, ambulance reports, applicable insurance policies, and other case specific information.

But the first days of representation create a unique opportunity for Clifford & Raihala’s personal injury lawyers in Madison to obtain evidence that may control the outcome of your case. Nothing is routine for our personal injury attorney team. We are creative in seeking information from new sources and unexpected places. Several examples are worth considering.

Highway Videos: The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) operates over 250 traffic cameras throughout Wisconsin. These cameras monitor and record traffic mainly on heavily traveled highways. The DOT has a website which shows camera views and maps showing the location of traffic cameras. So, we can quickly determine if a DOT camera video has captured the actual collision in which our client was injured. However, these videos are routinely kept for only 72 hours, so fast action is imperative. As well, many municipal street videos are available at key intersections, as are videos for commercial establishments. Clifford & Raihala personal injury attorneys may seek these videos to demonstrate exactly what happened to cause our client’s harm. In one recent car-pedestrian case, we obtained a video showing our client hit in a crosswalk by a turning car and being thrown over the car causing significant injuries. The video eliminated any defense claim that our client was not in the crosswalk, did not have the right of way, and that the driver was not negligent.

911 Transcripts: Most 911 centers have detailed reports available for every incident or collision. These provide valuable information regarding time and duration, names and telephone numbers of witnesses and damages. In one recent case, Clifford & Raihala personal injury attorneys in Madison, Wisconsin obtained the 911 transcripts of multiple callers who observed different views of a tragically fatal rear-end collision with our deceased client who had stopped in traffic “due to an object in the roadway,” as the accident report described it. We found a 911 caller’s report that the object had fallen off a truck, which meant that “another vehicle” was involved and triggered our client’s own insurance policy’s “uninsured motorist” coverage of $100,000.00 which we recovered. When added to the insurance coverage of the driver who hit her, our personal injury attorneys obtained a total recovery for her family to $310,000.00 for their tragic loss.

Witness Interviews: Clifford & Raihala personal injury attorneys understand the importance of interviewing witnesses promptly in the appropriate case to secure evidence establishing our client’s lack of fault and the negligence of the other driver. In one recent case, our pedestrian client was struck by a negligent driver. The driver’s insurance company claimed our pedestrian client was at fault and was responsible for the collision. Clifford & Raihala’s partner John Raihala, who heads our personal injury lawyer team, had promptly obtained an affidavit from a witness who swore that our client was “entirely within the crosswalk,” and that the driver was “not slowing down” and was “100% responsible for causing the collision.” When he presented the affidavit to the insurer, it settled the claim for $640,000.00. The settlement was secured by promptly obtaining the witness’ statement.

There are many reasons to promptly seek competent legal representation immediately after you have been injured, or after a loved one has been fatally injured, in a motor vehicle accident. These are just a few. But, know this: when you have been injured through the fault of another, Clifford & Raihala’s personal injury attorneys in Madison stand ready to promptly come to your assistance. Call us at 608-257-7900 (or toll free at 888-791-8422) or click https://myjustice.com to connect with us now. There is no obligation and no fee unless we recover compensation for your injuries.
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Cars Striking Pedestrians Result in High Death or Severe Injury Rates

A report prepared for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation reviewing crashes over a recent three-year period where pedestrians were hit by automobiles disclosed what may seem obvious: when a pedestrian is hit by a car, the result is almost always injury to the pedestrian, most often severe injury or death of the pedestrian. The report, entitled “Wisconsin Pedestrian and Bicycle Crash Analysis: 2011-2013,” disclosed that during the period studied, there were more than 1,600 pedestrian crashes. Those crashes included 152 pedestrian fatalities. This amounted to almost 10% of all fatalities in vehicle collisions in Wisconsin.

When collisions with pedestrians don’t result in death, they still cause severe injury at a high rate. “Severe” injuries are categorized as “incapacitating,” often resulting in permanent or long-term disability. In the reported period, 774 pedestrians suffered “severe” injuries when struck by a motor vehicle. In fact, pedestrian crashes comprised almost 9% of all Wisconsin crashes causing severe injuries during the three-year period. Most of the non-fatal and non-severely injured pedestrians still suffered non-capacitating injuries. Experienced pedestrian accident attorneys understand these statistics.

Setting these “labels” aside, these injuries are real. They include traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injuries and paralysis, fractures, organ damage and soft tissue injuries. They can cause long-term or permanent pain and suffering and disability and may dramatically impair the injured party’s ability to support him- or herself or family. They can impede or impair one’s ability to enjoy life, and can cause mental anguish, emotional distress, depression, and other physical and psychological harm. Pedestrians injured by a negligent car or truck operator are entitled to compensation for their injuries and the harms done them. A skilled pedestrian accident attorney knows how pedestrians suffer from injuries caused by a negligent motor vehicle operator crashing into a vulnerable pedestrian.

Where a death tragically occurs as a result of a pedestrian accident collision, the deceased victim’s immediate family members suffer severe loss and are entitled to recover significant compensation for the harms caused by a negligent driver. The role of a personal injury is to assure the family is fairly compensated. First, the deceased victim’s estate may recover compensation for any pre-death pain and suffering the pedestrian endured. Second, the deceased’s survivors are entitled, under the law, to recover their losses for the economic support the loved one would have provided them and their loss of their society and companionship of their loved one. The valuation of that is an important calculation of a skilled personal injury attorney which will be measured by each individual case.
The personal injury attorneys in Madison, Wisconsin at Clifford & Raihala are experienced in vindicating the rights of pedestrians injured by negligent motor vehicle drivers. Our personal injury attorneys in Madison have decades of representing those injured in car crashes and seeking and obtaining fair and full compensation for their injuries.

Clifford & Raihala pedestrian accident attorneys understand the causes of car-pedestrian crashes. We know that 83% of fatal pedestrian crashes occur at intersections or roadways with no traffic signal or stop sign facing the driver. We know that 45% of fatal crashes occur on roads with speed limits of more than 35 miles per hour. We know that almost 70% of crashes occur even though there was a marked crosswalk present at the scene of the collision. We know that the vast majority of pedestrian fatalities at intersections involved driver error, including failure to yield to the pedestrian at a crosswalk or disobeying a traffic signal.

The knowledge and experience of Clifford & Raihala personal injury attorneys in Madison, Wisconsin can help you or a family member obtain the fair and full compensation you deserve if you or a loved one have been injured in a pedestrian crash. Call Clifford & Raihala at 608-257-7900 (or toll free at 888-791-8842) for a free consultation to learn about your rights, and how our personal injury attorneys in Madison can help you if injured in Wisconsin or Illinois. Feel free to connect with us at https://myjustice.com. We will be honored to help.