Miami Pedestrian Accident Lawyer

Pedestrian accidents can easily cause devastating and life-altering injuries. Unfortunately, pedestrian accidents occur in high frequency in Miami.

However, our experienced personal injury lawyers can help you recover damages from the driver that injured you. Miami has many walkable areas where pedestrians are exposed to traffic. If injured, you will have a few ways to get compensation, with your car insurance being the first. If you sustained serious injuries, you are entitled to compensation for your pain and suffering, which we can help you pursue in a lawsuit.

If you were injured in a pedestrian accident, seek support from our Miami pedestrian accident lawyers by calling the Law Offices of David I. Fuchs, Injury & Accident Lawyer, P.A. at (954) 568-3636 for a free review of your case.

How to Recover Damages for Your Miami Pedestrian Accident

Recovering compensation after a Miami car accident can be challenging if you are unfamiliar with Florida’s insurance rules. Unfortunately, it might be necessary as Miami is one of the most dangerous cities for pedestrians. In 2022, Miami-Dade County reported 1,770 pedestrian accidents, representing about 18% of all pedestrian accidents in the state. Of these, 86 pedestrian accidents resulted in fatalities.

With the many walkable areas like Little Havana and South Beach and thousands of tourists visiting, pedestrian accidents are bound to occur. If you are injured, you will be able to pursue compensation through insurance, but you might have some limitations on your right to file a lawsuit. Our personal injury lawyers can help you navigate the complex recovery process to recover the compensation you need.

Filing an Insurance Claim

Pedestrian accidents in Miami are treated like car accident cases for the purposes of insurance. In Florida, drivers are required to carry “no-fault” insurance. Also known as personal injury protection (PIP) coverage, no-fault insurance compensates victims of a car accident from their own insurance policy. Damages can typically be recovered quickly in a no-fault system since the injured party is not required to prove fault before receiving benefits. Thus, you can file a claim with your car insurance for compensation if you have a policy.

However, you might not possess car insurance if you did not own a car when you were injured as a pedestrian. In that case, you can often use a household member’s insurance or file a third-party claim against the negligent driver’s PIP insurance. You can also file a claim against them if you still have damages after exhausting your own coverage.

The problem with no-fault insurance in Florida is that it will not compensate you for the full amount of your damages. While it will provide benefits for medical expenses and lost wages, no-fault insurance only covers up to 80% of your medical expenses and 60% of your lost earnings from time missed at work. Further, most PIP policies are limited to $10,000 in total expenses that can be paid and will not compensate victims for their pain and suffering. Pedestrian accidents often result in serious injuries, and treatment can easily exceed this low amount. Our personal injury attorneys can help you file your insurance claim and determine if filing a lawsuit would be possible to recover additional damages.

Filing a Lawsuit

As mentioned, insurance coverage will not provide compensation for the pain and emotional suffering your injuries have caused. To recover these damages, a lawsuit must be filed. However, Florida’s no-fault insurance rules prevent victims from filing lawsuits for pain and suffering unless they suffered serious injuries in their accident.

Several injuries fall under the term “serious” when filing a lawsuit in Miami. For instance, you would likely meet the serious injury threshold if you suffered broken bones, scarring, or disfigurement in your pedestrian accident. Also, injuries like losing a body part or function, miscarriage, and wrongful death are considered serious.

While some injuries are obviously serious, some might be close to the threshold and require the right legal arguments to show how the injuries are serious. Our personal injury lawyers in Miami can help you determine if your injuries are serious and file your lawsuit against the negligent driver.

Compensation You Could Be Entitled to for a Pedestrian Accident in Miami

Pedestrian accidents are often devasting, leaving victims with significant costs and future losses. If a negligent driver injured you, you deserve to recover a wide range of damages to help make you whole again. In a personal injury lawsuit, you can pursue economic damages, like medical bills and lost wages, and non-economic damages, like physical pain and emotional trauma associated with your injuries.

Economic Damages

The most common type of compensation that most victims are aware of is for the economic losses they have suffered. If you sustained serious injuries in your accident, you will likely require lengthy and expensive medical treatment and might be prevented from working in the same capacity you could before being injured. Fortunately, economic damages are meant to cover your current financial losses, as well as compensation for future medical treatments and lost earning capacity at work. You can also claim out-of-pocket expenses you incurred to treat your injuries. For instance, the gas you purchased to drive to doctors’ and lawyers’ meetings and childcare could be claimed as losses caused by the other driver.

Non-Economic Damages

Many pedestrian accidents will leave victims with not only physical injuries but psychological and emotional ones. It is common for victims of a pedestrian accident to suffer from depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and many other afflictions that impact their quality of life.

While it can be difficult to prove non-economic damages, it is important to pursue them since you might be feeling the effects of your injuries long after the underlying damages have healed. You deserve to be compensated for your subjective damages just as much as you do your economic losses. Our personal injury lawyers can review your case to help determine an accurate value for the damages you are owed.

Our Miami Pedestrian Accident Lawyers Can Help

If you suffered injuries in a pedestrian accident, the Miami personal injury attorneys at The Law Offices of David I. Fuchs, Injury & Accident Lawyer can help you recover the compensation you deserve. Call us today at (954) 568-3636 for a free case evaluation.