KY Pedestrian Hit and Killed by a Vehicle. These Accidents are More Common Than EVER. What Does This Mean for You?
On the evening of December 4th, a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle on US 27 in Lincoln Co. The man sustained fatal injuries, and local authorities arrested the driver for an outstanding warrant. Alcohol is not believed to be a factor. Accidents like these are becoming more and more common. According to NPR, US pedestrian deaths reached a 40-year high in 2023.
Will the Driver’s Insurance Cover the Victim’s Medical Bills and Damages?
Not necessarily. Many residents in Kentucky carry only the minimum auto insurance required by law. These policies provide $25,000 for injury or death of one person, $50,000 for multiple people, and $25,000 for property damage. Unfortunately, these amounts are often insufficient in serious cases.
What Does This Mean for Me?
In Kentucky, many drivers choose to carry only the minimum insurance coverage. This, combined with the rising number of vehicle and pedestrian accidents, can lead to inadequate funds to cover medical bills or damages in the event of an accident for which they are at fault. You may find yourself in a difficult position if you do not have Underinsured or Uninsured coverage.
What If I Am Not at Fault?
In Kentucky, we have a provision known as Personal Injury Protection (PIP) as part of our car insurance. The driver’s PIP may cover your medical expenses. However, you may also experience lost wages from missing work and other related costs. An attorney can help you seek the compensation you deserve.
What Should I Do If Their Insurance Doesn’t Cover Everything?
It’s essential to have representation as a victim in these situations. Finding the right personal injury attorney can be crucial in securing the compensation you deserve for pain and suffering. Queener Law has access to reconstruction experts, financial professionals, medical experts, and others who can bolster your claim for relief. Please contact our office today if you or a loved one has been injured.
We are excited to announce and welcome Attorney Alexandria Jones to our Queener Law Kentucky office. We are thrilled to be able to offer expanded legal services for our Kentucky clients. Alex is a fierce advocate for her clients, guiding them through life’s most stressful situations, like divorces and custody disputes. Her down-to-earth and likable personality makes clients feel at ease and supported.
Alex is a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University and Salmon P. Chase School of Law. She is currently licensed to practice law in both Kentucky and Colorado. While in Colorado, she worked with the Personal Injury Firm Archuleta Law and the State of Colorado Department of Human Services.
Upon her return to Kentucky, Alex worked as a staff attorney for Kenton County Family Court Judge Acena J. Beck. This is where her passion for family law grew. She became a licensed mediator and provided free mediation services in low-income family law cases during this time. She continued working in the family law arena with the Law Firm O’Hara, Taylor, Sloan, Cassidy, & Beck, PLLC in Northern Kentucky. In addition to family law cases, Alex handled tenant/landlord cases, civil, estate planning, and employment discrimination cases.
Alex has continued volunteering at the Kenton Co. Legal Help Center, providing various legal services to residents. She currently serves as Treasurer of the Young Lawyers Section of the Northern Kentucky Bar Association and the DVO/EPO Guardian Ad Litem panel for the Kenton County Family Court as attorney for domestic cases involving young children.
Alex is now taking cases in Pulaski County, her hometown. We are happy to partner with her to provide residents with legal representation in divorces, child custody cases, wills, and DUIs. Please reach out to our office today to schedule an appointment.
Personal injury attorneys understand the risks associated with medical releases and how they can impact your car accident injury claim. Do you? Sharing all your medical records with your insurance company can jeopardize your case. It’s crucial to only provide the medical records from the hospital and the treating physician who saw you after your accident.
Giving all your medical records to an insurance adjuster can negatively affect your car wreck case for several reasons:
1.Loss of Control Over Your Information: When you provide complete access to your medical records, you lose control over which information the insurance company can see. They may access unrelated medical history that doesn’t pertain to your injury, which could be used against you.
2. Pre-Existing Conditions: Insurance adjusters may scrutinize your entire medical history to find pre-existing conditions or past injuries that could be presented as contributing factors to your current pain or disability. This could reduce the perceived severity of your current injuries and weaken your claim.
3.Exaggeration of Claims: Insurance companies may use your medical history to argue that your injuries are exaggerated or that you have a history of similar complaints, undermining your credibility.
4.Settlement Negotiations: If the insurance company sees information in your records that they can capitalize on, they might offer a lower settlement amount than you deserve, believing that your case is weaker based on the additional medical information.
5. Privacy Issues: Sharing all your medical records raises privacy concerns. There’s a risk that sensitive information could be misused or improperly disclosed, impacting your reputation or personal life.
6. Strategic Disadvantages: The more information the insurance adjuster has, the easier it is for them to develop strategies to minimize liability. It can ultimately give them an upper hand in negotiations.
In short, being cautious about what medical information you share with an insurance adjuster is crucial. It’s wise to consult a personal injury attorney like Henry Queener to navigate this process.
When a pedestrian is hit by a car, the driver is typically considered at fault, especially if the pedestrian was in a crosswalk or not on the road. However, in some instances, pedestrians can be found partially responsible for the accident if they were not following road rules.
How Fault is Determined?
The person responsible for covering the expenses related to a crash is the one whose careless actions led to the accident. Negligence involves four main elements that can help determine the party at fault:
1. Duty of care: What are the expectations for both parties to ensure each other’s safety?
2. Breach of duty: Which party acted thoughtlessly or recklessly?
3. Causation: Did that thoughtless or reckless action cause injury?
4. Damages: If so, the negligent party can be held responsible.
Using these criteria, our pedestrian accident lawyers assess each case to identify the negligent act that initiated the chain of events. Sometimes, it may be the driver’s negligence, but pedestrians can also behave recklessly.
When a Driver is at Fault?
Any number of negligent behaviors can lead to a collision between a car and a pedestrian, such as:
These behaviors may result in the driver being considered at fault. According to the elements of negligence, many of the above behaviors represent a breach of duty of care. Someone who turned on red without checking a crosswalk, striking a person, was not exercising proper care.
Rideshares increasingly pose risks to pedestrians, especially at pick-up and drop-off locations. Distracted driving plays a particular role in rideshare-pedestrian accidents; drivers are focused on the GPS, rideshare app, or texting, leaving them at fault.
When the Pedestrian is at Fault?
Pedestrians can be responsible for their own negligence, such as:
– Being under the influence
– Being distracted, like texting while walking
– Crossing outside a crosswalk
– Darting into traffic unexpectedly
For instance, if a drunk pedestrian suddenly stumbles into the street, it doesn’t give a driver enough time to stop. Even though the pedestrian was injured, their reckless action caused the accident. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the pedestrian was intoxicated in 33 percent of fatal pedestrian accidents studied.
We Can Help Make Sense of Your Pedestrian Accident
When you contact the team at Queener Law, you will receive a free consultation to ask questions about your pedestrian accident.
During this consultation, we can help you better understand who may be at fault after a car hits a pedestrian and provide advice on pursuing damages. Please feel free to contact our office today for more information.
Después de sufrir un accidente, sabemos que lo último que desea hacer es informarlo a la aseguranza por temor a que aumenten sus tarifas. Quizás esté pensando en el estrés financiero que le espera en el futuro cercano, pero gracias al estatuto de Colorado C.R.S. §10-4-628 las tarifas de su seguro NO PUEDEN aumentar si usted no tiene la culpa.
CRS §10-4-628 estados:
(1) Ningún asegurador cancelará; no renovar; negarse a escribir; reclasificar a un asegurado bajo; reducir la cobertura, a menos que la reducción sea parte de una reducción general en la cobertura presentada ante el comisionado; o aumentar la prima, a menos que el aumento sea parte de un aumento general en las primas presentado ante el comisionado, cualquier póliza que cumpla el solicitante, asegurado, usuario permisivo o cualquier residente del hogar del solicitante o asegurado tiene:
(a) Ha tenido un accidente o accidentes que no son culpa del solicitante asegurado, miembro del hogar o usuario permisivo nombrado.
Supongamos que tuvo un accidente que no fue su culpa y que luego le dejó con más de $100,000 en billes médicos y la parte que lo golpeó tenía límites de lesiones corporales de solo $25,000. Sabemos que $25,000 no son suficientes para pagar sus billes médicos ni para tratar de compensarlo por su trauma, salarios perdidos, facturas, etc. Ahí es donde entrará en acción su cobertura UIM. La protección contra conductores con seguro insuficiente se aplicará si la otra parte no tiene cobertura suficiente para sus pérdidas, por lo que su seguro intervendrá y proporcionará límites adicionales.
¿Qué pasa si la parte que te golpeó no tiene cobertura de seguro? ¿Cómo pagará sus billes médicos? Ahí es donde interviene la cobertura UM. La protección contra conductores sin seguro ofrece cobertura si el conductor culpable no tiene la cobertura de seguro requerida. De esta manera todavía estás protegido.
En Colorado, por ley se requiere tener cobertura UIM/UM en su póliza con límites mínimos de $25,000 por persona, $50,000 por accidente. Sin embargo, si uno decide no participar en esto, puede hacerlo rechazando la cobertura por escrito. Esto es algo que NO recomendamos enfáticamente, ya que es mejor prevenir que lamentar y pagar más para tener una capa adicional de protección por si acaso. Tener cobertura adicional puede parecer una sin chiste ya que uno siempre piensa que estas cosas nunca les pueden pasar a uno, pero agradecerás tenerla si alguna vez te encuentras en la desafortunada situación en la que se tenia que ulitizar los límites de UIM/UM.
After being in an accident, we know the last thing you want to do is report it to the insurance company fearing they will raise your rates. You may be thinking how much of a financial stress is ahead of you in the near future, but thanks to Colorado statute C.R.S. §10-4-628, your insurance rates CANNOT increase if you are not at fault.
C.R.S. 10-4-628 states:
(1) No insurer shall cancel; fail to renew; refuse to write; reclassify an insured under; reduce coverage under, unless the reduction is part of a general reduction in coverage filed with the commissioner; or increase the premium for, unless the increase is part of a general increase in premiums filed with the commissioner, any complying policy because the applicant, insured, permissive user, or any resident of the household of the applicant or insured has:
(a) Had an accident or accidents that are not the fault of such named applicant, insured, household member, or permissive user.
Suppose you were in an accident that was not your fault which then left you with over $100,000 in medical bills, and the party that hit you had bodily injury limits of only $25,000. We know that $25,000 is not enough to pay off your medical bills, nor is it enough to try and compensate you for your trauma, lost wages, bills, etc. That is where your UIM coverage will kick in. Underinsured motorist protection is triggered if the other party does not have sufficient coverage for your losses. Then your insurance will step in and provide the additional coverage.
What if the party that hit you does not have insurance coverage? How will you pay for your medical bills? That is where UM coverage steps in. Uninsured motorist protection offers coverage if the at fault driver does not have the required insurance coverage. This way you are still protected.
In Colorado, by law it is required to have UIM/UM coverage on your auto insurance policy with minimum limits of $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident. However, if one chooses to opt out of this, they may do so by rejecting the coverage in writing. This is something we strongly DO NOT recommend, as it is better to be safe than sorry and pay more to have the extra layer of protection you need just in case. Having the extra coverage can seem silly as we always think these things can never happen to us, but you will be thankful for having it if you ever find yourself in the unfortunate situation where UIM/UM is necessary.
