Answers for anyone hurt in California

Often, yes. The driver’s duty of care does not end at the crosswalk line; what changes is how fault is shared.

A hit-and-run claim can proceed against your own uninsured motorist coverage. Report it to the police the same day.

Two years is the general limit in California, and it can be different if the vehicle belonged to a city, county or state agency.

Yes. Since 2023 California’s Freedom to Walk Act (AB 2147) stops police from citing a pedestrian for crossing outside a crosswalk unless there was an immediate danger of a collision, and even before it, crossing mid-block never gave a driver the right to hit you. A driver must still keep a lookout and slow for a person in the road. Your share of fault, if any, reduces the claim under comparative negligence; it does not bar it.

The driver’s liability insurance pays for what the driver caused. If the driver has none or too little, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on any auto policy in your household can cover you as a pedestrian under California Insurance Code §11580.2. Your health insurance pays treatment in the meantime and is repaid from the recovery. If there is no policy anywhere, the claim is against the driver personally.

The same rules apply: a driver must yield to a person on foot, and fault follows who was where and who was looking. What changes is the evidence, because parking lots are private property, rarely have police at the scene, and depend on store cameras that are overwritten within days. Ask the business to preserve the footage in writing as soon as possible; a lawyer sends that request the same day.

No. A police report is an officer’s opinion written at the scene, and California courts do not treat it as the last word on fault; insurers quote it when it helps them and argue with it when it does not. The physical evidence, the driver’s statements, witnesses and camera footage can correct it. Aryan Aliakbarzadeh, Esq. reads the report as the starting point of the investigation, not the end.

Treatment does not have to wait for the claim. Medical payments coverage on a household auto policy pays early bills regardless of fault, many doctors and clinics in the Valley treat accident patients on a lien to be paid from the settlement, and emergency care cannot be refused for lack of insurance. The driver’s insurer pays at the end. Bring every bill and every explanation of benefits to the consultation, whoever sent it.