The driver who hit you went home with a dent in their bumper. You woke up in a hospital room, trying to piece together which direction you were walking and whether anyone saw what happened.
Your body took an impact that a vehicle was built to absorb. Medical bills are already outpacing your leave. The driver's insurer is putting together a version of the crash that shifts blame onto you, and if the driver fled, the investigation may already be going cold.
Adjusters minimize. Witnesses scatter. Your family picks up the pieces while you are still learning how to walk.
Cowen | Rodriguez | Peacock, The Trucking Trial Lawyers, represent catastrophically injured pedestrians across Texas from our San Antonio headquarters.
When drivers and their insurers try to shift blame onto the person they hit, our Texas pedestrian accident lawyers pull traffic camera footage, phone records, and crash reconstruction data to expose what really happened. Call (210) 941-1301 for a free consultation today.
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Why Choose Cowen | Rodriguez | Peacock for Your Texas Pedestrian Accident Case
Pedestrian crashes produce catastrophic injuries at rates that few other collision types match, and they are often treated like routine claims by insurance companies that see hundreds of them a year. Our firm was built for cases at the severe end of that spectrum.
- Catastrophic injury focus: Our trial work centers on traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage, amputations, and wrongful death. The medical and economic complexity of pedestrian injuries fits squarely within the cases we handle every day.
- Board certified trial attorneys: Michael Cowen is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, and Malorie Peacock holds Board Certification in Truck Accident Law from the National Board of Trial Advocacy. A large share of pedestrian deaths and injuries involve commercial vehicles, and our background gives us a direct edge in those cases.
- Results that pressure insurers: Our firm has secured outcomes including a $10.5 million judgment in a catastrophic injury case and a $4 million jury verdict in a commercial vehicle crash.
- Direct attorney access: You speak with a lawyer, not a case manager running a script. We return calls, we listen, and we keep you informed from intake to verdict.
- Trial-ready from day one: We love the courtroom, and defense firms know it. That reputation translates into stronger settlement offers long before a jury is seated.
- No fee unless we recover: You pay nothing up front. Our fee comes only from what we bring in for you.
When a driver's insurer treats your catastrophic injury as a line-item loss, the answer is a firm that treats it as the life-altering event it actually is.
What Defenses Do Insurance Companies Use in Pedestrian Accidents?
Pedestrian claims carry problems that rarely show up in a typical vehicle-on-vehicle crash. The injuries run deeper, the evidence scatters faster, and the blame-shifting starts at the scene.
Victim-blaming defenses: Drivers and their insurers routinely argue the pedestrian stepped out unexpectedly, wore dark clothing, or crossed outside a marked crosswalk. We gather crosswalk signal timing, lighting conditions, vehicle speed data, and witness accounts to counter those narratives.
- Hit-and-run investigations: When the driver fled the scene, the investigation often stalls at the local police level. We work with private investigators, canvass nearby businesses for security footage, and pursue uninsured motorist coverage when the driver is never identified.
- Traffic camera and surveillance footage: Video evidence from city cameras, doorbell cameras, and business surveillance systems is typically overwritten within 30 days. We send preservation demands immediately and subpoena footage before it disappears.
- Driver distraction and phone records: A large share of pedestrian strikes involve drivers who were texting, scrolling, or using navigation apps. We obtain phone records through discovery to show exactly what the driver was doing at the moment of impact.
- Severe injury documentation: Pedestrian injuries often require years of treatment, rehabilitation, and assistive equipment. We bring in life care planners and vocational economists to document every future cost.
- Limited driver insurance: Many drivers carry only minimum liability coverage, which falls short for catastrophic injury cases. We identify every available policy, including umbrella coverage, commercial policies, and your own uninsured and underinsured motorist benefits.
Each of these hurdles has a legal answer, and our firm applies them from the moment you sign on.
Who Qualifies for Legal Help After a Texas Pedestrian Accident?
Our firm handles the full range of pedestrian injury scenarios across Texas roadways:
- Struck in a crosswalk or intersection: A driver hit you while you were lawfully crossing at a marked or unmarked crosswalk.
- Hit in a parking lot or driveway: You were struck in a commercial parking lot, apartment complex, or private driveway by a moving vehicle.
- Hit-and-run victims: A driver struck you and fled the scene without stopping to render aid or report the crash.
- Struck by a commercial vehicle: You were hit by a delivery truck, 18-wheeler, rideshare vehicle, company car, or other commercial vehicle.
- Catastrophic injury survivors: You sustained a traumatic brain injury, spinal cord damage, amputation, multiple fractures, or permanent disability.
- Wrongful death families: You lost a loved one who was struck and killed as a pedestrian.
Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.003 gives most pedestrian crash victims two years from the date of the incident to file suit. Critical evidence can disappear much faster than that deadline suggests.
Whatever the facts of your case, the core questions stay the same: who was responsible, what laws did they break, and what coverage applies. We answer all three.
Compensation Available in a Texas Pedestrian Accident Claim
Pedestrian injury cases frequently involve damages that reach into the millions because of the severity of the injuries and the length of the recovery. Texas law allows recovery across three damage categories.
Economic damages cover measurable financial losses:
- Medical expenses: Emergency response, surgeries, hospital stays, ICU care, rehabilitation, prescription medication, and projected future treatment.
- Lost wages: Income missed during recovery, including overtime, bonuses, and self-employment earnings.
- Loss of earning capacity: Reduced ability to perform your job or any future work because of lasting injuries.
- Property damage: Replacement of damaged belongings such as phones, bicycles, strollers, or wheelchairs struck in the collision.
- Future care costs: Long-term rehabilitation, home modifications, assistive devices, and in-home nursing.
These numbers climb quickly, and documentation requires coordinated input from medical providers, economists, and life care planners.
Noneconomic damages cover the human toll:
- Physical pain and suffering: Chronic pain, ongoing injury symptoms, and permanent physical limitations.
- Mental anguish: PTSD, anxiety, depression, and emotional trauma tied to the crash.
- Disfigurement and impairment: Scarring, amputation, and permanent loss of body function.
- Loss of consortium: Harm to the relationship between you and your spouse caused by the injuries.
Exemplary damages may also be available under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 41 when the driver acted with gross negligence, such as driving while intoxicated, racing on public roads, or deliberately ignoring pedestrian right-of-way.
When the at-fault driver's policy falls short of what the injury demands, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage from your own auto policy may also apply, even though you were on foot at the time of the crash.
FAQs About Texas Pedestrian Accident Claims
Who has the right-of-way between pedestrians and drivers in Texas?
Right-of-way depends on where the pedestrian is crossing. Texas Transportation Code Section 552.003 requires drivers to stop and yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk when no traffic signal controls the crossing.
Section 552.005 requires pedestrians crossing outside a marked crosswalk to yield to vehicles. Either way, Section 552.008 requires drivers to exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian, even one who is not in a crosswalk.
What if the driver says I was jaywalking?
A pedestrian crossing outside a crosswalk does not automatically lose the right to recover. Texas follows modified comparative fault, which allows recovery as long as your share of responsibility is 50 percent or less, with your award reduced by your percentage of fault.
Drivers still owe pedestrians a duty of care outside a crosswalk, and a driver who was speeding, distracted, or impaired may bear most of the blame even in a mid-block crossing case.
What happens if the driver who hit me fled the scene?
Hit-and-run crashes are treated as felonies under Texas Transportation Code Section 550.021 when serious injury or death results. Even if the driver is never caught, your own uninsured motorist coverage may fund the recovery.
We work with police, private investigators, and surveillance footage to identify fleeing drivers whenever possible.
How long do I have to file a pedestrian accident lawsuit in Texas?
Most Texas pedestrian injury claims carry a two-year filing deadline under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.003. Claims involving governmental defendants, minors, or wrongful death may follow different timelines, and some require written notice within months of the crash.
Can I recover if I was hit in a private parking lot?
Yes. Parking lot crashes fall under the same negligence standards as roadway crashes. Property owners may also share liability when poor lighting, obstructed visibility, or design defects contributed to the collision.
How much is my Texas pedestrian accident case worth?
Case value depends on injury severity, medical costs, lost earning capacity, degree of fault, and available insurance coverage. Because pedestrians absorb the full force of impact without any vehicle to shield them, these cases often reach seven and eight figures when liability is clear and damages are fully documented.
What does it cost to hire Cowen | Rodriguez | Peacock?
Our firm works on a contingency fee. No retainer, no hourly billing, and no fee at all unless we recover money for you.
Call us at (210) 941-1306 for a free consultation or contact us below. No cost to you unless we win.
Speak With a Texas Pedestrian Accident Lawyer Today
A pedestrian crash can change the shape of your life in seconds. The medical bills, the lost income, the inability to do what you used to do, and the pressure from insurance adjusters all land on you at once, often while you are still in the middle of treatment.
You do not have to carry that load alone, and you should not accept a settlement that reflects only the driver's dent and not the damage to your body.
Cowen | Rodriguez | Peacock, The Trucking Trial Lawyers, stand ready to preserve evidence, identify every source of coverage, counter the driver's blame-shifting, and prepare your case for a Texas jury.
Our record of multimillion-dollar results signals exactly what defense insurers should expect when they see our name on a filing.
Call (210) 941-1301 now for a free consultation with a Texas pedestrian accident lawyer. No cost to you unless we recover money for your injuries.
Our team answers 24/7, and Spanish-language support is available.
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Cowen Law - Texas Office
Address: 6243 I-10 #801, San Antonio, TX 78201
Contact No: (210) 941-1306