BBGA attorneys settled a case for a pedestrian who was seriously injured when a car hit her while she was crossing a street. The settlement was for the entire amount of the driver’s GEICO insurance policy.
Our client Ms. N took the bus home from work one evening and got off at her stop on Moreland Avenue. Earlier that evening there had been a bad storm that had knocked out the electricity and the stop lights on Moreland were not working. Since it was still raining hard, Mrs. N didn’t want to walk across the intersection to the crosswalk to the other side of the street. Instead, Mrs. N looked both ways, didn’t see any cars and began crossing the street. She had nearly reached the other side when a car drove through the intersection without stopping and hit her. The wreck broke her hip and tore all the ligaments in her knee, which will require surgery to repair. She spent eight days in Grady Hospital and her medical bills were more than $50,000. The police found her at fault the wreck because she was not crossing in a crosswalk – and even wrote her a ticket for it!
Ms. N tried to make a claim with GEICO, but they denied it because the police report said she was not crossing in a crosswalk and found her at fault for the accident.
Wrong.
We researched the law on pedestrians crossing the street and inoperative traffic lights. We found Georgia law O.C.G.A. § 40-6-70(a), which states that “when two vehicles approach or enter an intersection with an inoperative traffic light, the driver of each vehicle shall be required to stop in the same manner as if a stop sign were facing in each direction at the intersection.”
Next, we spoke with a witness listed on the police report that the insurance company didn’t bother to call. She was driving the opposite direction as the driver that hit Ms. N. She saw that the traffic lights were out and also saw the driver go through the intersection without stopping and hit Ms. N.
Because the traffic lights weren’t working, O.C.G.A. § 40-6-70(a) required the driver to stop at the intersection. Since she didn’t, she broke the law and was negligent.
We put together a settlement demand explaining the law and how the driver was at fault for this accident. GEICO accepted our settlement demand and agreed to pay the entire amount of the driver’s insurance policy to Ms. N.
If you or a friend or family member have been injured in a pedestrian or crosswalk accident in Georgia, contact our lawyers for a free consultation.
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