Walking should be one of life’s simple pleasures. Whether you’re heading to work, crossing the street to get to the corner store, or just taking an evening stroll through your San Jose neighborhood, you have every right to feel safe on foot. But in an instant, everything can change. The screech of brakes, the impact of metal against the flesh, and suddenly, you’re lying on the asphalt, trying to make sense of what just happened.
The aftermath of a pedestrian accident can feel just as overwhelming as the accident itself. The Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos team will make a daunting situation hopeful. Our many years of experience, proven results, and passion for helping pedestrians make us the firm for you. Call Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangons today at (650) 345-8484 for your free consultation about working with a San Jose pedestrian accident lawyer.
Injured Pedestrians and Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos Are a Timeless Pairing. Here’s Why We’re the Firm to Hire.
When choosing legal representation after a pedestrian accident, you need attorneys who understand these cases’ unique challenges and have a proven track record of fighting for injured pedestrians like yourself.
What sets Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos apart is their commitment to ensuring your case receives the attention it deserves. You will work directly with experienced pedestrian accident lawyers who handle cases personally, though you will also benefit from our support staff’s priceless assistance. Let’s get even more specific about why you should hire your San Jose pedestrian accident attorney from our team:
- More than 75 years of combined legal experience representing injured pedestrians and their families throughout California
- Millions recovered in verdicts and settlements that have helped clients rebuild their lives and secure their futures, including a $3.6 million recovery in one of our pedestrian accident cases
- Preparedness for trial, which often motivates liable parties to offer our clients fair settlements, as they know we don’t hesitate to take cases to court
- Constant attentiveness to our client’s needs, including frequent case updates, close watch over your recovery, and 24/7 availability for you
Our pedestrian accident attorneys understand that your recovery involves much more than just medical treatment. We want to help restore your confidence, financial stability, and ability to move forward after being hit by a motor vehicle including guiding you on how to seek compensation for long-term medical care after a car accident. We are committed to fighting for compensation that addresses your immediate needs and every long-term challenge you might face after the pedestrian crash.
We Use Contingency Fees, So You Don’t Have to Pay Out of Pocket
The contingency fee structure is designed to help injured people, including pedestrians, seek justice without worrying about upfront legal costs or hourly fees that can quickly become unaffordable. This arrangement puts you and your attorney on the same path, as their financial interests align with yours.
Here are some more details about how Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos’s fee structure works:
- No initial payment is required when you first hire us, no matter how complicated your case might appear.
- Our compensation depends entirely on your case’s success, with “success” meaning we secure either a settlement or judgment for you.
- Legal fees are deducted from your final settlement or award based on an agreed-upon percentage established before we become your attorneys.
- You have zero financial obligation if your case doesn’t succeed, though we are always confident in achieving total success for injured pedestrians and clients who pursue wrongful death cases.
No sleep is lost, and no sweat is shed when you hire your San Jose pedestrian accident attorney from Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos.
Let’s Be Clear: Pedestrian Accident Cases Can Be Challenging. That’s Why You Should Leave Yours to Us.
Each case type we handle poses unique challenges and demands, and cases involving injured and deceased pedestrians are no exception. Some complications that may arise throughout your case are:
- Blaming you, the pedestrian, for the accident, even when the driver violated traffic laws or other negligent parties violated their duty of care
- Lack of direct evidence of the collision, which is a common challenge since many pedestrian accidents occur in areas without surveillance cameras
- Lowball settlement offers made before the full extent of your injuries and long-term consequences are clear, as pedestrians’ lack of protection means their injuries are often severe (and even fatal)
- Insurance disputes where insurers question whether expensive treatments, time off work, or other accident-related measures are truly necessary
- Prejudice against pedestrians crossing outside marked zones, even in situations where no crosswalk was available
We will fight for you.
Let One of Our San Jose Pedestrian Attorneys Take Charge of Your Fight for Fair Compensation
There’s an unfortunate bias in our society that suggests pedestrians who get hit must have been jaywalking, not paying attention, or somehow contributed to their own injuries. This bias extends to insurance adjusters, who often approach these cases looking for ways to blame the victim rather than honestly evaluating what happened.
Knowing that your case may be up against this bias from the start, we ask you to let us take over the fight for the compensation you deserve. We use a proven, systematic approach to secure fair compensation for injured pedestrians and their loved ones, and that approach typically includes:
- Investigating the crash scene and gathering key evidence before it disappears or gets compromised by weather, traffic, or deliberate tampering
- Interviewing eyewitnesses
- Requesting surveillance and traffic camera footage that might show how the accident happened
- Dealing directly with the driver’s insurance company so you don’t have to navigate their bad-faith tactics or face pressure to accept a lowball settlement
- Working with medical experts to understand and document your injuries in terms that clearly demonstrate the impact on your day-to-day life and long-term well-being
Of course, we will also fight for a fair settlement. If liable parties stick with lowball offers or fall substantially short of our financial demands, we will be ready to take your case to trial. This comprehensive approach ensures that no aspect of your case gets overlooked and that you feel no pressure to accept an inadequate settlement.
What’s Best for You Is Best for Us
There are no ulterior motives at Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos. Our clients trust us, and we feel an immense ethical duty to do right by you.
Every decision we make, and the strategy we draw up for you will be based on what is best for you. You deserve a law firm you can trust beyond a doubt, and that’s what you get from us.
What Damages Can an Injured Pedestrian Recover?
The goal of legal action is to secure compensation that reflects the accident’s full impact on your life. This means looking not just at what you’ve already spent but what you’ll need in the future to achieve the best possible recovery and maintain your quality of life.
Victims of pedestrian accidents may be eligible to recover compensation for several categories of damages, such as:
- Emergency medical expenses
- Psychological trauma and related mental health treatment
- Income disruption and other career impacts
- Ongoing therapeutic care and rehabilitation
- Physical pain, discomfort, and limitations
- The cost of repairing or replacing damaged property
The calculation of these damages requires careful documentation and consideration of the long-term ripple effects of physical injuries and psychological trauma. We also represent survivors affected by pedestrians’ sudden, devastating deaths, which have seen an alarming rise since 2009.
Who Can File a Claim or Lawsuit After a Pedestrian Injury?
It’s important to understand that you may have legal rights even if you weren’t the person who was struck by the vehicle. Family members, caregivers, and others who have been impacted by the accident may also have valid compensation claims.
Each of these situations presents unique legal considerations, but all share the common thread of having a serious impact on people’s lives. The severity of pedestrian accidents often means that the potential compensation is substantial, and such high-stakes cases can benefit from our firm’s extensive experience, ample resources, and unique perspectives.
We Must Identify Negligent Parties (and Those Responsible for the Cost of Their Negligence)
Most pedestrian accidents don’t happen because of bad luck or unavoidable circumstances. They’re the result of preventable mistakes made by drivers or other negligent parties.
As your legal team, we will conduct an extensive, urgent investigation of your accident and determine if it happened due to:
- Distracted driving, such as texting, calling, or eating, which takes the driver’s attention away from watching for pedestrians
- Speeding near pedestrian crossings
- Failure to yield at intersections or unmarked crossings
- Running a red light or stop sign
- Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol
- Aggressive driving behaviors like making sudden lane changes or racing through yellow lights
We can also find that other symptoms of negligence, like a vehicle’s defective brakes, a construction zone that blocks motorists’ line of sight, or other hazards, contributed to the collision. Such discoveries especially involving faulty vehicle parts—may warrant the insight of a product liability lawyer, as they could change our understanding of fault and liability
The key to building a strong case is identifying which specific acts of negligence contributed to the accident. It often requires careful investigation, expert analysis, and a thorough understanding of traffic laws, which are standard practice at Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos.
Claims and Lawsuits: Approaches Our San Jose Attorneys Are Well-Versed In
Many clients want to be informed about their case strategy, and we love keeping them in the loop. Insurance claims and lawsuits are the two primary ways we secure compensation for injured pedestrians and their loved ones, so here are some things to know about each.
Insurance claims are typically the first step in seeking compensation after a pedestrian accident. These involve filing paperwork with the at-fault driver’s insurance company and attempting to negotiate a settlement without going to court. But it's crucial to understand what you should not tell your insurance company after an accident to protect your claim. On the other hand, lawsuits require filing formal legal papers in court and potentially going to trial if a settlement can’t be reached.
The choice between these approaches isn’t necessarily either-or. Many cases involve insurance claims and lawsuits, particularly when insurance coverage is inadequate, or insurance companies refuse to provide fair compensation.
Depending on your situation, our range of viable strategies may include:
- A personal injury claim against the driver’s insurance who will pay medical bills in an accident seeks compensation through their liability coverage for your medical expenses, lost earnings, and other damages
- A lawsuit if the claim is denied or the offer is inadequate to cover your actual losses and future needs
- Both approaches, especially if multiple liable parties are involved with different insurance policies and coverage limits
Many pedestrian accident cases involve damages that exceed available insurance coverage. While auto insurance policies are required in California, the minimum coverage amounts are often inadequate to fully compensate victims of serious pedestrian accidents. When this happens, a lawsuit may be necessary to recover compensation from the at-fault party’s personal assets.
Let Us Take Care of Your Fight for Compensation. Our Help Will Shorten Your List of Responsibilities.
We handle claims and lawsuits for injured pedestrians. This assistance shortens our clients’ to-do lists considerably, and all we will ask of you is:
- Get regular medical treatment and treat your doctors’ instructions as gospel
- Be available to answer our calls, and get back to us quickly if you can’t answer immediately
- Don’t speak about your case unnecessarily, especially on social media or with insurance company representatives
- Contact us anytime you have a question or need advice
We will take the lead in your case, and we want you to spend as much time as possible resting and getting back to being yourself. That said, we and our clients are a team, and we will keep you as informed and involved in the case as you want to be.
The Lawyer You Deserve Is One Call Away, Reach Out to Our Team Now for Your Free Consultation
Remember that time is critical in pedestrian accident cases. Evidence can be lost or destroyed, and California imposes a statute of limitations for filing cases like yours (generally two years). The sooner you have one of our San Jose pedestrian accident attorneys, the sooner you can rest easy knowing your fight remains alive.
Help is one phone call away. The attorneys at Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos understand the unique challenges pedestrian accident victims face, and they’re ready to put their experience and resources to work for you. Call Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos at (650) 345-8484 for a free, no-pressure consultation today.ltation and learn more about how we can help you achieve justice.