How Long Do I Have to File a Pedestrian Accident Lawsuit?

After a pedestrian accident in Florida, you have two years to file a pedestrian accident claim. To be eligible for compensation, you have to file your claim within the deadline.

Our Fort Myers pedestrian accident lawyer from Viles & Beckman explains how long you have to file a pedestrian accident lawsuit. Read on to learn how our team can help you understand how long you have to file a pedestrian accident lawsuit.

The Statute of Limitations for a Pedestrian Accident in Florida

According to Florida Statutes § 95.11(3)(a), after you suffer injuries in a pedestrian accident, you have two years to file a personal injury claim. Filing your personal injury claim is the first step toward your compensation. Our Fort Myers pedestrian accident lawyers will help you gather evidence to include in your claim to strengthen your case. 

If you don’t know how long you have to file your pedestrian accident lawsuit, your case could be dismissed. However, there may be special circumstances that allow for a later filing date that increases how long you have to file a pedestrian accident lawsuit.

For example, if you are a minor at the time of injury, the two years may be extended until your 18th birthday. Our attorneys can also review the specific details of your situation to determine if there are any valid reasons the statute of limitations should be tolled or paused temporarily. 

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What Damages Can You Recover for a Pedestrian Accident in Florida?

As an injured pedestrian, you are eligible to recover economic and non-economic losses you’ve suffered due to the negligent party’s carelessness. Our pedestrian accident lawyers can help you recover damages such as:

• Medical expenses: This includes all past and future costs for hospital visits, surgeries, prescription medications, rehabilitation therapies, and medical equipment.
• Lost wages: If the accident caused missed work or an inability to work due to injuries, you can claim lost income.
• Pain and suffering: Compensation is available for physical and emotional pain you experienced, as well as reduced quality of life due to the accident.
• Permanent impairment: If injuries leave lasting functional disabilities, impairment awards account for long-term effects.
• Disfigurement: For visible scars or lasting changes to appearance resulting from crash injuries.
• Wrongful death: If the at-fault driver’s actions caused a death, survivors can sue for the financial support they lost.
• Property damage: These damages cover repairs or replacement costs for personal items damaged in the accident itself.

What Evidence Should You Include in Your Pedestrian Accident Claim?

When filing a claim for injuries after you are hit by a car as a pedestrian, it’s important to provide the insurance company with compelling evidence to support your claim. Some key pieces of evidence to submit include:

• Medical records: Submitting all doctor visits, reports, and bills shows the full extent of treatments needed and costs you incurred.
• Witness statements: Statements from people who saw what happened provide important details to determine liability. Multiple witness accounts increase the credibility of your claim about how the accident occurred.
• Photos of injuries: Photos clearly depicting injuries shortly after the event validate claims of physical harm. A timeline of healing shown through repeated photos supports that injuries were caused by the accident.
• Lost income: Provide pay stubs and tax records to quantify financial losses from unpaid work. 
• Property damage: Receipts for repairs or replacements of damaged items prove out-of-pocket costs. Stating an item’s value before the accident and its condition after demonstrates compensable losses.

The injuries you suffer after a pedestrian accident can be severe. If you’ve suffered catastrophic injuries, our Fort Myers catastrophic injury lawyer at Viles & Beckman can help you gather evidence to prove the impact of your injuries.

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Should You Wait Until Your Injuries Heal to File Your Claim?

Our Fort Myers pedestrian accident attorneys recommend that you file your pedestrian accident lawsuit after you’ve received medical treatment for your injuries. We do not advise that you wait until your injuries heal to file your claim; rather, you should file your claim immediately.

If you wait until your injuries heal, this could pose several risks to the validity and strength of your case. If you wait too long to file, you’re facing risks like: 

Missing Developing Evidence

Ongoing medical treatment and any long-term developments that occur after filing help strengthen personal injury cases. However, if waiting until full recovery to file, valuable documentation of medical care received in the interim could be missing from the case. This gap in evidence collection poses a risk of your claim being denied.

Fading Memories

Delaying filing allows details like witness testimony and physical clues at the crash site more time to fade or become lost over many months of delay. Waiting to file your claim could interfere with fault assignment, which could decrease your chances of recovering compensation.

Continued and Long-Term Damages

The total value of economic and non-economic damages may not yet be apparent in the early stages of injury recovery. However, if you wait to file until your injuries are healed, any high medical costs or lost income incurred since the accident would go uncompensated. Ongoing harms have a chance of not being reflected in the settlement or verdict.

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How Does a Pedestrian Accident Lawyer Negotiate With the Insurance Company?

After you’ve suffered injuries in a pedestrian accident, you’ll likely have to negotiate with the at-fault party’s insurance company. Our pedestrian accident attorneys in Fort Myers will fight for compensation on your behalf.

The first offer that the insurance adjuster gives you will likely be a lowball settlement offer that doesn’t cover all your losses. Our team will leverage our 40 years of combined experience to make sure you recover all the losses you’ve suffered. To show that you deserve an adequate settlement, our team will present evidence to the insurance adjuster to show that you qualify for a higher settlement.

Learn More About How Much Time You Have to File a Pedestrian Accident Lawsuit

At Viles & Beckman, we make sure that your case is our priority. When you meet with our team, we’ll be quick to start the legal process and fight for compensation on your behalf. Let us handle your Fort Myers pedestrian accident case with care while you recover from your injuries. 

Contact us to learn more about how much time you have to file a pedestrian accident lawsuit.

Call or text (239) 334-3933 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form