Collierville Pedestrian Accident Lawyer

Getting hit while walking leaves a person with a long list of needs: medical bills paid, income replaced, the driver’s insurer held to account, and a clear picture of who was actually responsible. Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette is a Tennessee personal injury firm that helps injured walkers and the families of those killed reach that outcome, and a Collierville pedestrian accident lawyer from our team can take on the investigation, the insurance negotiations, and the courtroom work while you focus on getting better.

Pedestrian cases are different from ordinary car wrecks because the person who was struck has no steel frame around them. Injuries tend to be severe: fractured pelvises and legs, traumatic brain injuries, spinal damage, and in the worst cases death. Collierville has a busy mix of arterial roads, shopping centers, and residential streets, and Poplar Avenue, Houston Levy Road, and the area around the historic Town Square all put people on foot near moving traffic. Drivers backing out of parking lots, turning across crosswalks, or looking at a phone cause a large share of these crashes, and the insurance company’s first move is often to suggest the pedestrian should have been more careful.

We serve Shelby County and families across Tennessee, and we represent clients from Memphis to Johnson City. We work on contingency, so there are no attorney fees in a personal injury case unless we recover compensation, and your first consultation is free. If your injuries make travel hard, we can meet you at home or in the hospital.

Where Pedestrian Crashes in Collierville Tend to Start

• Crosswalk and Intersection Turns: A driver turning right on red or left on a green light while watching oncoming traffic, not the crosswalk, is one of the most common ways walkers are hit. Busy corridors like Poplar Avenue and Houston Levy Road combine heavy turning traffic with signal timing that rushes people across.
• Shopping Center and Parking Lot Collisions: Low-speed impacts in lots and drive aisles can still break bones, especially when a driver reverses without checking behind the vehicle. Property owners may share responsibility if lighting, striping, or sight lines were poor.
• Distracted Drivers: Tennessee’s Hands Free law bars drivers from holding a phone or mobile device, reading or sending text-based messages, or watching video behind the wheel. A violation is a Class C misdemeanor, and evidence of phone use can strengthen a negligence claim.
• Impaired Drivers: Alcohol and drug impairment are a recurring cause of serious pedestrian injuries at night. A blood alcohol level of 0.08 percent is the per se standard for driving under the influence, and impairment can also affect which damage limits apply to your claim.
• Hit-and-Run Crashes: When the driver leaves the scene, the claim may depend on uninsured motorist coverage, surveillance footage, and witnesses who saw the vehicle. Our attorneys have handled uninsured motorist and fleeing-driver cases, including a Knox County motorcycle crash that ended in a $2.3 million recovery for a client who lost his leg.
• Low-Light and Residential Street Crashes: Subdivision streets without sidewalks and roads with limited lighting put joggers, dog walkers, and children in the path of vehicles. Claims in these settings often turn on speed, visibility, and what the driver should have seen.
• Commercial Vehicle Impacts: Delivery vans, work trucks, and tractor-trailers moving through the area can bring the employer, a staffing company, or a vehicle owner into the case alongside the driver.
• Fatal Pedestrian Crashes: When a family loses someone, the case becomes a wrongful death claim with its own rules about who may bring it and what can be recovered.

What to Do After a Pedestrian Crash in Collierville

Medical care comes first, even if you feel mobile. Adrenaline hides concussions, internal bleeding, and fractures, and a gap between the crash and your first treatment gives an insurance adjuster room to argue your injuries came from something else. If you were taken from the scene to a Shelby County hospital, ask for copies of your records and keep every discharge instruction, bill, and prescription receipt. Follow your physicians’ recommendations, because missed appointments are routinely used to suggest an injury was minor.

Make sure a police report exists. The responding agency in Collierville is typically the town’s own police department, and the report records the driver’s information, insurance details, witness names, and the officer’s initial view of fault. If you can, or if someone with you can, photograph the crosswalk, signals, signage, skid marks, lighting, and any visible injuries, and note nearby businesses whose cameras may have recorded the crash. Video is often overwritten within days, so early requests matter. Do not post about the crash online, and do not give a recorded statement to the other driver’s insurer before speaking with a lawyer; adjusters are trained to find wording that shifts blame toward the person on foot.

The deadline is the part people underestimate. Tennessee’s statute of limitations for personal injury is one year from the date of the injury, one of the shortest in the country. That period can stretch to two years if the driver is criminally charged and the prosecution begins within that first year, but you should not count on it. Claims against a government entity, such as a crash involving a city vehicle or a defect in a public roadway, fall under the Governmental Tort Liability Act and must be filed within twelve months, with damages limited to $300,000 per person and $700,000 per occurrence. If the injured person is a minor, the one-year clock generally does not start until the child turns eighteen. A claim for damage to property, such as a bicycle, phone, or glasses destroyed in the crash, has a three-year window, but do not let that longer period lull you into waiting on the injury claim.

Pedestrian cases in Shelby County are typically filed in Circuit Court, while smaller claims may be heard in General Sessions, which has monetary limits that vary by county. If a federal forum becomes relevant because the parties live in different states, the Western District of Tennessee holds court in Memphis. Most claims resolve through negotiation, but we prepare every file as though a jury will see it, because that preparation is what moves an insurer’s final number.

Fault, Insurance Limits, and What a Pedestrian Claim Can Recover

Insurers frequently argue that the pedestrian crossed mid-block, wore dark clothing, or stepped out unexpectedly. Tennessee follows a modified comparative fault system. You can recover only if you are less than 50 percent at fault, and your award is reduced by whatever percentage of fault is assigned to you. At 50 percent or more, the claim is barred. Tennessee has also abolished joint and several liability in most negligence cases, and a jury can assign fault to people who are not even parties to the lawsuit, so every percentage point is contested. That is why the early investigation matters: signal timing, driver speed, sight lines, and phone records can shift those percentages considerably.

Insurance limits shape what is realistically collectible. Tennessee’s minimum liability coverage is $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury, with $25,000 for property damage. Those numbers are small next to a spinal injury or months in a hospital, so we look at every possible source: the driver’s own policy, an employer’s commercial coverage if the driver was working, the pedestrian’s own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, and potentially a property owner or contractor whose negligence contributed to the danger.

Economic damages, meaning medical expenses, lost wages, and reduced earning capacity, are not capped in Tennessee. Noneconomic damages, which cover pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life, are generally limited to $750,000, rising to $1 million for a catastrophic injury such as paraplegia or quadriplegia, amputation of two hands, two feet, or one of each, or severe burns over large parts of the body or face. The same higher limit applies when a parent of minor children is killed. The cap is applied by the court after the verdict and is not told to the jury. It is lifted entirely when the defendant intentionally caused the harm, was intoxicated to a degree that substantially impaired judgment, destroyed evidence, or was convicted of a related felony. Punitive damages, when awarded, are limited to the greater of two times the compensatory award or $500,000.

When a pedestrian dies, Tennessee law passes the right of action to the surviving spouse first, then to the children or next of kin, or to a personal representative. The one-year deadline runs from the date of the injury, not the date of death, so a person who survives for weeks in intensive care does not extend the family’s time to file. We pursue the financial losses a family faces, including lost income, medical and funeral expenses, and the value of the life that was taken.

Why Choose Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette for a Pedestrian Injury Case

Clients work with us directly and early. We investigate the crash, identify every party who may be responsible, document the full cost of the injuries, and press the insurance company for a fair result, and if the insurer refuses to pay what the case is worth, our trial lawyers are prepared to present it to a jury. Our attorneys bring more than 170 years of combined experience, and the firm has recovered over $100 million for clients. We handle visitors and residents alike, and when someone is too hurt to travel, we come to the house or the hospital room.

Two of our partners spent the early part of their careers defending insurance companies, trucking companies, and businesses, so they understand how adjusters value pedestrian claims and how defense lawyers build their comparative fault arguments. That perspective matters when the other side is trying to push your share of blame toward 50 percent.

Bruce D. Fox, co-founder, has tried more than 125 jury trials in state and federal court, is a past president of the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association, received its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025, and is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. Partner Brad C. Burnette holds an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell, serves on the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association Board of Governors, and is a Keenan Trial Institute graduate. Partner John Willis also sits on that board and has tried cases from the Tri-Cities to Chattanooga. Trial attorney Michael C. Beehan is fluent in Spanish, and hablamos español for families who want to tell their story in their own language.

The results reflect the kind of cases we take on: $3.4 million for the family of a man killed in a Morgan County rear-end collision caused by a construction company driver, $1.9 million after a mother was killed and her daughter seriously hurt by a driver who failed to yield in Sevier County, and $1.6 million for an Anderson County man struck head-on by a commercial delivery truck. Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Frequently Asked Questions About Pedestrian Accident Claims

How long do I have to file a pedestrian accident lawsuit in Tennessee?

The general deadline is one year from the date of the injury. It can extend to two years if the driver is criminally charged and prosecuted within that first year, and claims against government entities carry a twelve-month rule of their own. Because the window is so short, contact a lawyer quickly.

What if I was crossing outside a crosswalk?

You may still have a claim. Tennessee’s modified comparative fault rule lets you recover as long as you are less than 50 percent responsible, and your compensation is reduced by your share. Drivers still owe a duty of reasonable care to people on the road, and a jury weighs speed, attention, and visibility alongside where you crossed.

Who pays my medical bills while the case is pending?

Often your own health insurance does, and the insurer may later seek reimbursement from a settlement. Some auto policies include medical payments coverage that can help in the meantime. We review the sources available and manage reimbursement claims so they do not erode your recovery more than necessary.

What if the driver who hit me had no insurance or left the scene?

Your own uninsured motorist coverage may apply, and we also pursue other potentially responsible parties, such as an employer if the driver was on the job. Prompt investigation, including locating video and witnesses, helps identify a fleeing driver.

Is the driver’s phone use relevant to my case?

Yes. Tennessee prohibits holding a phone, reading or sending text-based messages, and watching video while driving. Phone records and witness accounts can show distraction, which supports a negligence claim and can influence how a jury apportions fault.

Can I recover compensation if my child was hit by a car?

Yes. When the injured person is under 18, the one-year limitations period is generally paused until the child’s eighteenth birthday. Medical expenses incurred during childhood and the child’s own damages can raise separate considerations, so the family should talk to an attorney before accepting any offer.

Does the cap on noneconomic damages limit my whole recovery?

No. The cap applies only to pain, suffering, and similar non-financial losses. Medical bills, lost income, and reduced earning capacity are not capped. The limit is also lifted in cases involving intoxicated drivers and certain other situations.

What if the crash happened in a parking lot at a store or restaurant?

The driver is still responsible for negligent driving, and the property owner may also be liable if poor lighting, confusing traffic patterns, or missing crosswalk markings contributed to the danger. We evaluate both avenues, which can add insurance coverage to the claim.

How much is a pedestrian injury case worth?

It depends on the severity and permanence of the injuries, the medical cost, time away from work, your degree of fault, and the available insurance. Tennessee’s $25,000 minimum liability coverage means many cases require looking beyond the driver’s basic policy. We do not guess at value until the medical picture is clear.

Is it worth hiring a lawyer if my injuries seem minor?

Often yes. Soft tissue injuries and concussions can worsen over weeks, and a quick settlement signed before that happens ends your claim. Because we work on contingency, you pay no attorney fees unless we recover compensation, and the consultation costs nothing.

How long does a pedestrian case take to resolve?

Straightforward claims can settle within months of reaching maximum medical improvement, while disputed liability or serious injuries can take considerably longer, particularly if the case goes to trial in Circuit Court. We do not rush a settlement before the full extent of your injuries is known.

What if my loved one died after being struck by a vehicle?

A wrongful death claim may be brought by the personal representative or the surviving spouse, or by the children or next of kin if there is no spouse. The one-year deadline starts on the date of the crash, not the date of death. We help families understand who may file and what losses can be recovered.

Serving Pedestrian Injury Clients Across Collierville and Shelby County

Our work for Collierville families begins in Shelby County, from the streets near Collierville Town Square and the Poplar Avenue retail corridor to the residential neighborhoods around Houston Levy Road. We represent people injured throughout the surrounding area, including Germantown, Bartlett, Cordova, Memphis, Lakeland, Arlington, and Millington, and we help clients in other Tennessee communities as well. Our attorneys work with clients across West Tennessee, Nashville, and East Tennessee, from Knoxville and Maryville to Sevierville, Gatlinburg, and Pigeon Forge, as well as Anderson, Blount, Sevier, Roane, and Campbell counties, and Johnson City at the eastern edge of the state.

If you live out of state or elsewhere in Tennessee, you do not have to travel for every step of the case. We handle the investigation, insurance negotiations, and court filings and keep you informed by phone and email wherever you recover.

Talk With a Collierville Pedestrian Accident Attorney

A pedestrian crash can change how a person walks, works, and lives, and Tennessee’s one-year filing deadline means decisions made in the first weeks carry real weight. If you or a family member was hit while on foot, a Collierville pedestrian accident attorney at Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette will review what happened, explain what the claim may involve, and tell you honestly what to expect. Call us for a free consultation; there are no attorney fees unless we recover compensation for you.