Pedestrian Accident Lawyer in New Mexico

Who pays after a pedestrian accident in New Mexico?

New Mexico is an at fault state and has no personal injury protection, so there is no policy that pays a pedestrian's bills as they come in. The claim runs against the driver and the driver's liability insurer for medical costs, lost income and pain and suffering in one package. While it is pending, your health insurance or Medicaid pays for treatment, and the claim repays those costs at the end. If you have no health coverage, many New Mexico providers will treat on an agreement to be paid out of the recovery.

The driver's policy is the first place to look and often the thinnest. New Mexico has a high share of drivers with no insurance, and many of the rest carry the minimum, which does not cover a night in a trauma bay. That is why your own auto insurance matters even though you were on foot. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on a policy in your name, or on a policy belonging to a relative you live with, follows you as a pedestrian and pays when the driver's coverage is missing or too small.

Hit and run cases follow the same path. Leaving the scene of an injury crash is a crime in New Mexico, and the police report starts the search for the driver, but the civil claim does not wait. Uninsured motorist coverage in your household responds to an unidentified driver, subject to the policy's reporting and proof requirements, which is why we open that claim immediately. A pedestrian with no auto insurance in the household is limited to the driver personally once found, because New Mexico has no public fund for uninsured crashes.

Sometimes the driver is not the only responsible party. A driver on the job brings an employer's policy into the case. A rideshare driver on an active trip brings the platform's commercial coverage. A vehicle owned by ABQ RIDE, Rio Metro, RoadRUNNER Transit, a school district, a city, a county or the State is a public entity claim under the Tort Claims Act with a 90 day notice requirement and capped damages. So is a claim that a public road, a missing crosswalk signal or a dark stretch of a city arterial contributed to the crash.

How much is a New Mexico pedestrian accident claim worth?

A pedestrian has no steel around them, so the injuries run severe: fractures of the pelvis, hip, femur and tibia, head injury from striking the windshield or the pavement, spinal injury, internal bleeding and road rash that scars. Value starts with the economic losses: every medical bill, the surgery and hardware, rehabilitation, future care, lost wages and the earnings you will not have if you cannot return to the same job, plus out of pocket costs such as travel to Albuquerque for follow up care.

Non economic damages add pain, disfigurement, the loss of ordinary activities and the effect on a family. New Mexico sets no injury threshold and no general cap on these damages in a claim against a private driver. A fracture that heals in a cast sits at one level, a femur fixed with a rod and a permanent limp at another, and a traumatic brain injury, a spinal cord injury or a death is valued in its own category.

Two things set the practical ceiling. The first is fault, which under pure comparative negligence reduces the number by your percentage and nothing more. The second is insurance, which in a pedestrian case usually means the driver's liability limit plus whatever uninsured and underinsured coverage exists in your household. Finding a second policy often changes the outcome more than any argument about the injury. Venue plays a part as well, since adjusters value a case bound for the Second Judicial District Court in Bernalillo County differently from one bound for the Third Judicial District Court in Dona Ana County.

We do not name a figure on the first call. We gather the records, wait for your doctors to describe what is permanent, identify every policy and then write a demand backed by evidence. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case turns on its own injuries, its own facts and its own coverage, and we say so plainly.

What if the insurance company denies or lowballs your New Mexico pedestrian claim?

Expect it. In a pedestrian case the insurer's opening move is almost always a fault argument: you were not in a crosswalk, you crossed against the signal, you were wearing dark clothes at night on Coors, the driver never had a chance to stop. The adjuster wants you to describe where you were walking in a recorded statement, because a single sentence about crossing mid block is worth a large percentage to the insurer for the life of the claim. Do not give the statement. We take every call.

New Mexico's answer to that argument is pure comparative negligence, adopted by the New Mexico Supreme Court in Scott v. Rizzo. Your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault and is never eliminated, so a pedestrian found 40 percent at fault for crossing outside the lines still recovers 60 percent from a driver who was speeding or looking at a phone. The argument moves the number; it does not close the file.

We answer fault with evidence rather than argument: the crash report, the resting position of the car and where you landed, the damage pattern on the hood and windshield, which shows speed, the street lighting that night, signal timing records for the intersection, footage from businesses, traffic cameras and ABQ RIDE or RoadRUNNER buses, and the driver's phone records. Where the physical evidence is contested and the injury justifies it, we retain a reconstruction engineer.

On the injury, the insurer's doctor will say your imaging shows age rather than impact, or that a gap in care means you healed. We answer with your treating physicians, objective films and a written causation opinion. If the insurer will not pay fairly once treatment is complete, we file suit in the district court for the county and use discovery to put the driver and the footage on the record. Most cases settle, and they settle for more when a New Mexico jury is the alternative.

How long do you have to file a pedestrian accident claim in New Mexico?

New Mexico gives a pedestrian three years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit under NMSA 37-1-8. Serious pedestrian injuries involve long recoveries, and three years passes quickly once surgery, rehabilitation, the wait for a permanency opinion and negotiation are counted. When the deadline passes, the claim is gone no matter how badly you were hurt.

A wrongful death action must be filed within three years of the death under NMSA 41-2-2, measured from the death rather than the crash. Under the Wrongful Death Act, NMSA 41-2-1, the claim is brought by the personal representative of the estate for the statutory beneficiaries, and that appointment takes time, so a family should not wait for the last year to begin.

If a public entity is involved, the clock is 90 days. A pedestrian hit by an ABQ RIDE, Rio Metro or RoadRUNNER Transit bus, a police cruiser, a city or county truck or a State vehicle, or hurt because a public body left a crossing unlit, a signal broken or a sidewalk ending in a traffic lane, must give written notice under NMSA 41-4-16 within 90 days, and the Tort Claims Act caps the damages. We serve that notice in the first weeks whenever a public vehicle or a public road condition could be part of the case.

Insurance runs on shorter clocks than the statutes. Your own policy requires prompt notice, uninsured motorist coverage has its own reporting rules for hit and run claims, and underinsured coverage requires that your carrier be told before you settle with the driver. Missing those windows loses coverage you already paid for, which is why we open every policy in the first week.

What should you do in the first 72 hours after a New Mexico pedestrian accident?

Go to a hospital the same day, by ambulance if one is offered. A pedestrian who stands up after being hit is often bleeding internally or concussed without knowing it. University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque is the state's only Level I trauma center; Presbyterian Hospital and Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, and MountainView Regional Medical Center and Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces, treat most other injuries. Tell every provider that a car hit you while you were walking so the records say so.

Make sure police respond and write a report, and get the report number. In Albuquerque that is usually the Albuquerque Police Department, in Rio Rancho the Rio Rancho Police Department, in Las Cruces the Las Cruces Police Department, and on highways and county roads the Bernalillo County Sheriff, the Dona Ana County Sheriff or the New Mexico State Police. If the driver left, tell the officer everything you remember about the car, because leaving the scene of an injury crash is a crime under NMSA 66-7-201 and the search starts with the report.

If you can, or a friend can, photograph the car, its plate, its damage, the spot where you were hit, the nearest crosswalk and signal, the lighting, and your injuries. Pedestrian crashes happen in front of gas stations, motels, bus stops and storefronts along Central, San Mateo, Louisiana and El Paseo, and those places have cameras that overwrite within days. Tell us where it happened so preservation letters go out immediately, and get the name and number of anyone who stopped.

Notify your own auto insurer, and the insurer of any relative you live with, that you were hit as a pedestrian so uninsured and underinsured coverage is on notice. Do not talk to the driver's insurer, do not accept a quick check and do not sign a release. Keep a file of bills, appointments, missed work and a short daily note about pain and what you could not do.

What Your Claim Can Cover

• Medical benefits from the driver's policy where no fault applies
• Full pain and suffering claims for serious injuries
• Fault rules explained for people on foot
• Claims against city agencies for dangerous crossings
• Hit and run recovery through uninsured motorist coverage