Hit-and-Run Pedestrian Accident Lawyer in California

• A hit-and-run does not end your claim. Uninsured motorist coverage on your own auto policy, or a household family member's, treats the fleeing vehicle as uninsured (Ins. Code §11580.2).
• Two deadlines protect that coverage: report the crash to police within 24 hours and give your insurer a sworn statement within 30 days.
• The vehicle must have made physical contact with you; a near-miss that caused a fall is handled differently, so tell your lawyer exactly what happened.
• Leaving the scene of an injury crash is a crime (Veh. Code §20001), and police identify many fleeing drivers through cameras, debris and repair-shop reports.
• Two years to file suit (Code Civ. Proc. §335.1); six months to present a claim if a public vehicle or dangerous road was involved (Gov. Code §911.2).

Sources: Ins. Code §11580.2 · Veh. Code §§16056, 20001, 20003, 21950 · Code Civ. Proc. §335.1 · Gov. Code §911.2

Get to safety and call 911 immediately; the police report you file at the scene, or within 24 hours, is what preserves your right to uninsured motorist benefits (Ins. Code §11580.2(b)). Tell responders everything you noticed about the vehicle: color, make, damage, partial plate, direction of travel, and any distinctive marks. Ask witnesses to stay or to give you their names and numbers, and look for cameras on nearby businesses, homes and buses. Photograph your injuries, your clothing, debris in the road and the location. Get medical care the same day even if you feel able to walk; pedestrian injuries are frequently internal or delayed. Then contact a lawyer before speaking with any insurer, including your own.

Through uninsured motorist coverage. California treats a hit-and-run vehicle as an uninsured motor vehicle when the vehicle made physical contact with you, you reported the crash to police within 24 hours, and you filed a sworn statement with your insurer within 30 days (Ins. Code §11580.2(b)). The coverage can come from your own auto policy even though you were on foot, or from the policy of a relative who lives in your household. It pays the same categories of damages a negligent driver would owe: medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering, up to the policy limit. If you have no household auto policy, other sources may still apply, including the medical payments coverage of a vehicle involved, a workers' compensation claim if you were working, and a claim against a public entity or property owner whose conditions contributed to the crash.

Then the case proceeds like any pedestrian injury claim against that driver and, often, others: the vehicle's owner, who is liable for a permissive driver's negligence (Veh. Code §17150); an employer if the driver was working; and a rideshare company if the driver was logged in. Fleeing also matters to the value of the case. A driver who left an injured pedestrian in the road has committed a felony when death or permanent serious injury results (Veh. Code §20001), and that conduct can support punitive damages in the civil case (Civ. Code §3294). Because California's minimum liability coverage is only $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident (Veh. Code §16056), we also pursue your own underinsured motorist coverage when the driver's policy falls short.

More often than people expect. Investigators use intersection and traffic cameras, business and doorbell footage, Metro bus cameras, license-plate readers, paint transfer and debris left at the scene, and reports from body shops that repair suspicious front-end damage. Los Angeles and other cities offer rewards in hit-and-run cases. The window is short, because private footage is often overwritten within days to weeks, so we send preservation requests to every camera owner near the scene as soon as we are retained, in parallel with the police investigation.

The same catastrophic injuries as any pedestrian collision, made worse by the delay in care when the driver flees: traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, pelvic and leg fractures, internal organ damage, road-rash and degloving injuries, and, in the worst cases, death. Future medical care is often the largest component of these claims, which is why we document the injury with treating physicians and, where warranted, a life-care planner before any insurer puts a number on the case.

Being outside a crosswalk does not bar your claim. Drivers owe pedestrians due care everywhere on the road (Veh. Code §21954(b)), and since 2023 the Freedom to Walk Act has limited "jaywalking" citations to situations of immediate danger (§21955(b)). If you shared fault, California's pure comparative negligence rule reduces your recovery by your percentage, nothing more. Insurers handling uninsured motorist claims frequently argue the pedestrian "darted out"; camera footage and reconstruction usually answer that.

Four clocks run at once. Report to police within 24 hours and to your insurer under oath within 30 days to protect uninsured motorist coverage (Ins. Code §11580.2). Present a written claim within six months if a public vehicle or a dangerous public road was involved (Gov. Code §911.2). File any lawsuit within two years (Code Civ. Proc. §335.1). Camera footage may be gone in days. A free case review with a legal professional, available 24/7, starts all of that the same day.