Steven A. Bagen | April 1, 2025 | Pedestrian Accidents
It’s impossible to tell you exactly how long it will take to settle a pedestrian accident claim. You do not know whether liable parties will negotiate in good faith or whether they’ll fight you. Many injured pedestrians also need time to recover so their lawyer can determine the full cost of their injuries. If your claim becomes a lawsuit and you go to trial, expect the case to take longer.
A Gainesville pedestrian accident attorney can’t tell you exactly how long your case will take. They can tell you—truthfully—that they will do everything in their power to get the compensation you deserve as soon as possible. This is the best you can hope for, and it’s an offer every injured pedestrian should take the attorney up on.
The Timeline for Your Case Is Not as Important as the Outcome
It’s only natural to want to know how long your pedestrian accident case will take. A lawyer will give you an approximate timeline as soon as they can. That being said, your primary concern should be the outcome of your case, which is more important than how long the case takes to settle.
The amount of money you ultimately recover is the most important concern because:
- Your lawyer will ensure you’re not under financial stress during the case: You might want to settle your case as soon as possible because you’re worried about financial stress. A settlement, you might think, will spare you from worrying about medical bills, lost income, and other damages. An attorney will ensure you’re not feeling the financial pressure (they have ways of doing so). By relieving the pressure, you can focus more on getting the right settlement rather than a quick settlement.
- Your long-term damages must be covered: Injured pedestrians often feel the pain of immediate damages most acutely. Short-term medical costs, the pressure of lost income, and other immediate damages may capture your attention. However, it’s just as important that your settlement covers long-term damages. If you need rehabilitation in ten years, you must have money for it. Your lawyer needs the time necessary to calculate and secure a settlement covering both short- and long-term damages.
- Having to pay out-of-pocket for a pedestrian accident can be immensely harmful: If you rush to accept a settlement (perhaps because you cave to immediate financial pressures), the long-term cost of this rash decision may be crushing. Once the money received from the hasty settlement runs out, you may face significant out-of-pocket costs. This can cause emotional and psychological anguish, further health problems, and other complications that you would rather avoid.
Securing all the compensation you deserve should be your only concern after a pedestrian accident. Let a lawyer support you, fight for you, and remind you that full and fair compensation is the only acceptable outcome.
Injured Pedestrians Often Have Complex, Long-Term Health Problems. This Can Complicate Your Case.
In a recent year, a pedestrian in America died every 64 minutes from injuries suffered during traffic accidents. This gives you an idea of how dangerous the roads are for pedestrians and how devastating injuries can be when a motor vehicle strikes a pedestrian.
The injuries you might have suffered during a pedestrian accident may be complicated because:
- Injuries may be serious: More than 67,000 pedestrians were injured in traffic accidents in the United States in a recent year. Those pedestrians did not have the protection that those in motor vehicles have. This means that many of them suffered severe injuries, with brain trauma, spinal cord injuries, internal bleeding, and broken bones being among the ailments pedestrians can suffer. Serious injuries generally require long-term recovery, often making for a complex case.
- You may have multiple injuries: The more injuries a pedestrian suffers, the more complicated their case is likely to be. Your lawyer will need to secure medical records for multiple injuries. They will need to weigh how long recovery from each injury may take and how each injury can affect you. There are simply more variables when you suffer more injuries, and this might extend your case’s timeline.
- You might have significant emotional and psychological trauma: Being hit by a motor vehicle is a big deal. The trauma that pedestrians suffer during traffic accidents can last a lifetime. To fully understand, document, and value your trauma will take work and patience. This is another reason why pedestrian accident cases take time to resolve.
- Your recovery may still be ahead of you: There is a significant likelihood that your recovery is far from over. Many pedestrians take years to recover, and some never return to the healthy state they were in before the accident. Your lawyer will need to see how your recovery goes, and they may be unable to negotiate a settlement until they do.
Your lawyer will evaluate your unique circumstances. You may need to reach a state of maximum medical improvement (MMI) before your lawyer can confidently determine how much your case is worth. If your recovery is going to take many years (or perhaps the rest of your life), your pedestrian accident attorney may consult experts to project future economic and non-economic damages.
Trust your lawyer to take the reins. This is what attorneys do day in and day out, and your case will be in capable hands when those hands belong to a lawyer.
Some More Variables That May Dictate How Long It Takes to Settle
Since you’re interested in how long it can take to settle your pedestrian collision claim, here are just a few more variables that might affect the case timeline:
The Cost of Your Damages
The more compensation you seek, the harder liable parties may fight you. While insurance companies and other liable parties can fight even a small claim, they may be more likely to fight a larger one.
Pedestrians’ serious injuries mean they’re often entitled to large financial recoveries. This can mean you’re in for a hotly contested case, meaning your case can take time. Let a lawyer worry about that, as they will not back down from a knock-down, drag-out.
Insurance Companies’ Approach
Insurance companies do not have the best reputation among claimants—and many lawyers will tell you they’ve earned that reputation. Your case can take longer than it should if one or more liable insurance companies:
- Claim that you—the pedestrian who was hit by a motor vehicle—are responsible for the crash
- Deny your claim (thereby forcing you to appeal and possibly sue)
- Extend one or more lowball offers (wasting your time in the process)
- Make settlement negotiations difficult for your attorney
- Engage in other bad-faith tactics
Insurance companies want to save money, but that’s not an excuse to be unethical. While bad-faith tactics may cause your case to take longer, they won’t throw your pedestrian accident attorney off the track to a fair financial recovery.
Legal Proceedings (and, Specifically, Whether They’re Necessary)
There can be several reasons to file a lawsuit after a pedestrian accident. If you and your legal team choose to sue, this will likely mean a longer timeline for your case.
Many lawyers can secure a fair settlement after filing a lawsuit for their client. However, some lawsuits go to trial. If your case goes to trial, this will almost certainly require your case to take longer.
Remember that the most important consideration is that you receive the compensation you are entitled to. Whether your case is quick, a long-term fight, or somewhere in between, your ultimate financial recovery is mission-critical.
A Lawyer’s Promise: To Resolve Your Case as Soon as They Can (Without Compromising the End Result)
Lawyers must be honest with their clients. An honest attorney will tell you they cannot promise exactly how long your pedestrian accident case will take. What they can promise, though, is that they:
- Will complete your case as efficiently as they can
- Will use all their firm’s resources in the service of your case
- Will not rush the case unnecessarily, as the value of the settlement is more important than the speed of the case
- Have your best interests at heart in everything they do
Trust that your lawyer has your back. That’s their job. It’s also their job to:
Determine Who Caused the Pedestrian Accident
Not only will your lawyer determine who caused your accident, they will prove it. Some ways that an attorney may prove fault for a pedestrian collision are:
- Getting your account of how a motor vehicle hit you
- Securing any video of the collision
- Obtaining witness statements about how the vehicle hit you
- Obtaining any police report related to the accident
Experts can also testify about who they believe is at fault for the accident—most likely, it won’t be you.
Figure Out Who Must Pay for Your Damages
The person who caused your accident may not be the person who ultimately pays for it, though they can be. Insurance companies are often financially liable for pedestrian accidents.
Your lawyer will evaluate all relevant insurance policies, evaluate your losses, and produce a personalized strategy for securing the compensation you deserve.
Pinpoint Exactly How Much Money You Deserve
Before your lawyer presents their settlement demands to liable parties, they will be 100 percent certain of those demands. A fair settlement will cover:
- Damages you’ve already suffered and are currently facing
- Damages you may suffer in the future
- Both economic and non-economic damages
Economic damages have an objective financial value, like medical costs. Non-economic damages don’t have a clear financial value, with pain and suffering being the most common example of non-economic damages.
Negotiate Your Settlement
When you need someone to fight for a potentially life-changing financial recovery, hire an attorney. This is what they do. An effective pedestrian accident lawyer brings the right combination of:
- Aggression
- Straightforwardness
- Persuasion
- Savviness
Different negotiations and different opponents require different tactics. If you hire an experienced and proven lawyer, they will be dynamic. If liable parties are cooperative, your lawyer will not show unnecessary aggression. If liable parties are stubborn or act in bad faith, your lawyer will respond more forcefully.
Take Liable Parties to the Legal Arena, If Necessary
A fair settlement is the ideal outcome for most pedestrian accident survivors. Settling is a more direct path to compensation than going to trial, and that’s one reason why you might prefer to settle.
That being said, filing a lawsuit is never a bad Plan B. If you and your attorney choose to file a lawsuit against the at-fault driver or another liable party, they will be on the front lines of the legal arena, fighting for you. That includes if your case goes to court.
Damages Common to Pedestrian Accident Settlements
Pedestrians don’t typically suffer “mild” injuries. When a multi-ton vehicle hits someone, the result can be beyond devastating. Your recoverable damages may include:
- Pain and suffering
- The cost of mental health treatment
- Medical expenses
- Lost income
- Diminished earning capacity
- Medical equipment costs
Many pedestrians are disabled after their collisions. If physical injuries are not disabling, the psychological and emotional toll may be. Lawyers know how disabling injuries can cost careers, require long-term care, and upend the injured pedestrian’s life.
Trust your lawyer to demand the compensation you deserve and to settle your case (or take it to trial) as soon as possible.
Drivers Have a Duty to Protect Pedestrians. If One Endangered You, Hire a Lawyer Today
Darkness is one factor that can dramatically increase the likelihood of a serious pedestrian accident. The truth is, though, that a pedestrian can happen anytime a driver is not being as cautious as they should be.
If you or a loved one suffered an injury in a pedestrian accident, don’t wait to find your attorney. They will want to obtain video footage and all other relevant evidence right away. You may also have a limited time to file a lawsuit against liable parties if you choose to. Hire your lawyer so you can place your full attention on recovery.
Remember, most personal injury attorneys offer free consultations where they will access your case and explain your next steps. Don’t delay, call a trusted pedestrian accident attorney today.