Salt Lake City Pedestrian Accident Lawyer

Salt Lake City Pedestrian Accident Client Story

 The story that follows is intended to give you more of a feel for your pedestrian accident claim. The names and specifics have been changed to protect our clients’ privacy, but the information is helpful nonetheless. Be sure to read to the end.

At 7:00 a.m. on a cool morning in October not too long ago, Merrill Wallinger piled daughter and dog into her forest green Subaru and headed south for elementary school drop off.

“Mom, can Mr. Wiggins come to school today?”

“No Ella, not today.”

“But Mrs. Stewart said we can bring pets to ‘show and tell’— and it’s Friday! Pleeeeeeease?”

Merrill took a deep breath and patiently responded, “El, we’ve been through this before. When Mrs. Stewart said that, she meant small pets, like hamsters and turtles, not dogs. There’s too much liability for the school with a dog. That means there is too much of a chance that something will go wrong.”

“But Mr. Wiggins is the nicest, sweetest puppy in the whole wide world!” Ella whined. She reached into the back seat to pet the dog, earning a lick on the hand.

“We know that, and Mr. Wiggins knows that, but at 65 lbs., he’s hardly a ‘puppy.’ Why don’t you bring a couple of your friends over this weekend to play with him?”

Twelve more minutes of whining later, Ella bounded out of the car. Though disappointed, she recovered quickly, bouncing into a gaggle of friends. Her mother, on the other hand, was exhausted, and she hadn’t even worked out yet.

Merrill sighed as she pulled out of the parking lot and told her Bluetooth to call ‘Mandy.’ Her best friend answered on the first ring.

“Change your mind about that run?” Mandy asked.

“Yeah, I’ve been awake for an hour and a half and I already need to decompress. Luckily, I left the house in my running clothes, just in case. Want to meet me at the lot near the station and run the trail to the dog park?”

“Sounds good, I’ll bring Jetta. See you in fifteen.”

Merrill and Mandy had met almost ten years earlier at a half-marathon in Salt Lake City. Mandy was on her first half-marathon, and lagging. As she slowed to a walk, she heard a voice from behind call, “Don’t give up now, I’m following you!” She turned to see Merrill pacing her.

Using ‘the buddy system,’ Mandy found inner reserves she didn’t know she had, and by the time the women raised their clasped hands as they crossed the finish line together, they were friends.

Ten years later, the women were training for their first full marathon. They turned out to have a lot in common, including frequenting the local dog park. Since they met, they’d done half a dozen half-marathons and were finally training for “the big race.”

Along the way, they discovered their dogs liked each other, and began using the dog park as a turn-around point on their 10K runs. The break while the dogs played at the park gave them time to catch up before heading back to the cars. Mandy and Merrill liked to joke that their runs were actually the result of being servants to their dogs.

When Mandy clicked off, Merrill turned right at the intersection, heading to a parking lot popular with commuters that was also conveniently near the trailhead. She arrived ten minutes early and decided to use the time to stretch.

Merrill got out of her car, leaving Mr. Wiggins to whine in the back seat for a few minutes. She figured no harm in leaving his seatbelt on while she stretched at the bumper. It would make it easier to leash him up when Mandy arrived with Jetta, a long-legged greyhound mix.

Mr. Wiggins was a Staffordshire/German Shorthair Pointer mix. Though stocky compared to Jetta, he never had trouble keeping up with her. In fact, this too was an ongoing joke; the humans always tired before their dogs.

As Merrill stretched on the back bumper, she didn’t bother to look up when she heard the car enter the parking lot behind her. Her friend would pull into one of the open spots beside the Subaru. She absently lifted a hand to wave over her shoulder as she leaned into her left hamstring, concentrating on loosening the muscle.

A sudden squeal of tires made her instinctively jump away from the bumper as a car slammed into her vehicle, clipping Merrill in the leg and throwing her across the pavement.

Merrill woke up in the hospital, her husband, Eli beside her. She learned that the driver of the car had been texting when she pulled in, and failing to make the turn, had hit Merrill instead.

“You were lucky, Merry,” Eli said with a long shudder. “If you hadn’t jumped, you’d have been pinned between the vehicles. No way to come back from that.”

Lucky or not, Merrill had sustained three fractures to her left leg, a broken shoulder, and a serious concussion. Eli told her the doctors would be keeping her for at least two weeks to ensure the swelling in her brain was going down. They’d reassess as they went.

“Where’s Mr. Wiggins?” Merrill asked, suddenly remembering her dog. “Please tell me he’s okay.”

“He’s with me, and he’s fine,” came Mandy’s voice from the doorway. She’d arrived at the scene five minutes after the accident, to find Merrill being loaded into an ambulance. After calling Eli and putting him on speakerphone, one of the police officers had permitted her to take the frightened dog home.

The next two weeks were a blur. Merrill was in a lot of pain. It turned out she did have a traumatic brain injury that would require her to transition to a rehabilitation facility before going home.

Mandy visited frequently. On one such visit she shared our website with Eli and he called us to schedule a free consultation. He told us he and Merrill had three main questions. They wanted to know how much it would cost to hire us, how much Merrill’s case would be worth, and how long it might take.

We met the couple soon after in Merrill’s hospital room.

How much does it cost to hire a Salt Lake City pedestrian accident lawyer?

When we arrived, Merrill’s first concern was what it would cost to retain us. She’d been out of work for over two weeks, and though she worked from home, her injuries would require her to miss several more weeks, at least.

“The money’s not exactly flowing right now. Maybe Eli and I should try and figure out a claim on our own.”

“What you decide is up to you, Merrill, but even if you don’t go with our firm, I do advise you to retain a personal injury trial attorney. Statistically, people get many times more compensation with a qualified attorney compared to going it alone.

We then told the Wallingers that we work on a contingency fee model. “We don’t get paid unless we successfully resolve your case.”

How much is my case worth?

Merrill was visibly relieved by this information. She moved on to her next question, asking, “How much is a case like mine worth?”

We explained that in truth, no two cases are alike, and that it is almost impossible to predict the value of a claim before an investigation is conducted and damages are determined.

“We can begin the investigation immediately, interviewing witnesses and gathering evidence. But the other half of the case value equation will depend on your damages.

“We’ll need you to reach what’s called ‘maximum medical improvement,’ Merrill. This is the point at which your doctors will agree that you are ‘back to normal.’ If your injuries prevent you from reaching that level of recovery, then maximum medical improvement will be when you reach your ‘new normal.’”

“Your job is to focus on recovery. That means take it easy and be diligent about following your doctors’ treatment plan. Once you reach maximum medical improvement, we’ll know your damages. Then we can definitively tell you what your claim is worth.”

How long will my claim take?

“Okay,” Merrill sighed. “I want out of this bed as soon as reasonably possible. You’ve got my commitment to follow my doctor’s treatment plan.”

At that point, Eli asked, “If you won’t know Merrill’s damages until she reaches ‘maximum medical improvement,’ will her recovery time affect the case timeline?”

“Yes, it will,” our lawyer answered. “Your case timeline will depend partially on how long it takes you to reach maximum medical improvement. We won’t be able to send a demand letter to the insurance companies until we have that very clear understanding of your damages.”

“There’s more than one company involved?” Merrill asked.

“We can’t be sure until we’ve done the accident investigation, but it’s possible. We need to look at whether yours is not the first accident in that lot, whether speed bumps would have gotten the drivers attention, had they been installed, things like that. We’ll need to do a little research.”

“Once we know your damages and send a demand letter, the rest of your claim timeline will depend on whether the insurance companies are agreeable or not. If they are fair and reasonable in their response, we’ll be all set to wrap things up with a settlement.

“If they fight us, we’ll take them to court. Don’t worry about the possibility of a trial, though. Our firm has a long and successful trial record. In fact, it’s not uncommon for insurance companies to come around when they realize they’d be up against a seasoned trial attorney in court. It’s been known to make the idea of a fair settlement very attractive.

“That’s why no matter who you retain to represent you, Merrill, we always recommend an experienced personal injury trial attorney with a record of wins in the courtroom.”

Merrill and Eli were content with the answers we provided to their questions. They retained our firm, and today we are happy to say we got Merrill more than seven times what the insurance companies initially offered.

Call Our Salt Lake City Pedestrian Accident Lawyer Today

We hope the information on this page has given you a better understanding of your pedestrian accident claim. Since no two cases are identical, please give Salt Lake City pedestrian accident lawyer Brad DeBry a call and schedule a free legal consultation to discuss your specific claim. You don’t have to take this on alone. Call us and let us stand with you.