After a serious accident in a crosswalk, the last thing you deserve is to be blamed for your own injuries. Yet, many insurance companies may argue that because you were wearing dark clothing or were not walking “fast enough,” you share the fault for the collision.
In Washington, insurers often use these arguments to try to reduce your compensation. However, under the state’s “pure comparative fault” system, your right to seek justice remains intact, even when fault is not one-sided.
The law protects your recovery
Unlike many other states, Washington does not bar you from seeking compensation even if an insurance company tries to assign you a percentage of blame. Here is how it works:
- The “pure” rule: You can recover damages even if you are partially at fault. The rule simply reduces your total compensation by the percentage of your responsibility.
- Driver responsibility: Drivers have a duty to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks. A driver’s admission of phone distraction is a massive legal factor that often outweighs their excuses about your visibility.
- Fair calculation: If a jury were to find a driver 90% at fault and a pedestrian 10% at fault, the pedestrian would still receive 90% of their total damages. This includes coverage for medical bills, rehabilitation costs and home modifications.
By holding drivers accountable for their share of the fault, the law provides a pathway to secure the assistance you need.
Focusing on your recovery, not the blame
You should not have to defend your choice of clothing or the way you walk while recovering from a broken hip and concussion. An attorney’s job is to dismantle these “shared fault” tactics, keeping the focus on the driver’s negligence.
By grounding your case in Washington’s protective statutes, you can move forward with the confidence that your future needs are accounted for. You have the right to be in that crosswalk, and you have the right to a recovery that reflects the true cost of your injuries.