If you were hit by a vehicle while walking in Los Angeles, you are likely facing serious injuries, an incomplete police report and an adjuster who is already asking where you stepped off the curb. I am Brandon Aminpour, a California attorney (State Bar #340927), and I handle these claims myself from my office at 6404 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 1111. When you call, you speak with me — not an intake department that hands your file to someone you never meet.
The City of Los Angeles maintains a Vision Zero High Injury Network — its own mapping of the comparatively small share of streets that account for a disproportionate share of severe and fatal collisions. Long arterials with wide crossings, long distances between signals and heavy turning traffic dominate that map. Downtown adds a different pattern: short blocks, dense crossings and vehicles turning across a walk phase.
Conditions that come up repeatedly in Los Angeles pedestrian claims:
Vehicle Code § 21950 requires a driver to yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing within any marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection. An intersection can have a legal crosswalk with no paint on the ground at all, which surprises many people and is frequently missed in a first report. The same section requires a pedestrian not to suddenly leave a curb into the path of a vehicle that is so close it constitutes an immediate hazard.
Since the Freedom to Walk Act took effect on January 1, 2023, an officer may not cite a pedestrian for crossing outside a crosswalk unless a reasonably careful person would see an immediate danger of collision. A crossing outside a crosswalk is still relevant to comparative fault, but it is no longer the automatic answer an adjuster sometimes treats it as.
Report the collision so there is an official record. On city streets that is normally the LAPD division covering the location; on a freeway or ramp it is the California Highway Patrol. Get medical care the same day where you can. Then preserve what will disappear — footage from nearby businesses and residences is typically overwritten within days, and no one holds it without a written request.
What is worth collecting in the first week:
The general deadline to file suit is two years from the date of injury under Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1. If a public entity is involved — a City of Los Angeles street, a signal, a transit vehicle, or a dangerous condition of public property — a written claim must be presented within six months under Government Code § 911.2, and that shorter deadline is not extended for a minor. Because pedestrian claims so often involve the roadway itself, that six-month clock deserves attention early.
California follows pure comparative fault (Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804), so a share of responsibility reduces recovery by that percentage rather than barring the claim. Where the driver's coverage is short of the harm, your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage may apply even though you were on foot, subject to the notice requirements in Insurance Code § 11580.2.
Possibly. Vehicle Code § 21950 protects a pedestrian in a marked crosswalk and in an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, and many intersections have a legal crosswalk with no paint on the ground. Even outside a crosswalk, California's pure comparative fault rule reduces recovery by your share of responsibility rather than eliminating the claim.
Generally two years from the date of injury under Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1. If a public entity is involved — a city street, a signal, a transit vehicle — a written claim must be presented within six months under Government Code § 911.2, and that deadline is not extended for minors.
California's minimum liability coverage is $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident under Vehicle Code § 16056, which is often less than the medical treatment a pedestrian needs. Your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage can apply even though you were walking. Insurance Code § 11580.2 sets notice requirements that have their own timing, so that policy should be reviewed early.
Not before you have advice. The adjuster is allowed to ask, and in pedestrian cases the questions concentrate on exactly where you stepped and what you were looking at. That statement becomes part of the file used later, at a point when your injuries may still be developing.
The consultation is free. I work on a contingency fee, so you owe no attorney's fee unless I recover compensation. Case costs are separate from the attorney's fee and are explained in writing in the fee agreement before I begin. My office is at 6404 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 1111, Los Angeles, CA 90048 — call (323) 879-9777.
This is general information, not legal advice. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.