Lawsuit over NY fatal pedestrian accident settled for $240,000

With so much traffic in New York City and surrounding areas, many people have decided that owning a car and driving is simply not worth the price or the hassle. There are plenty of New Yorkers who have lived here for decades and have managed to get where they’re going on foot, bicycle or public transportation.

Sadly, every walk is an opportunity for a serious or fatal accident, and pedestrians are killed nearly every day. In one case from Staten Island, an 81-year-old woman was struck and killed in a crosswalk after living for 57 years on SI without driving. A wrongful death lawsuit regarding the 2012 pedestrian accident was recently settled for $240,000.

According to news sources, the woman was planning to attend a relative’s funeral on the day of the accident. Since she had some time before the funeral, she walked to a nearby store. As she was crossing an intersection (in the crosswalk and with the light), a driver struck her while trying to make a left turn out of a parking lot. She suffered serious injuries and died the next day.

Because the at-fault driver had not been drinking and did not appear to have been distracted by his cellphone, criminal charges were not pursued. The 55-year-old driver did, however, receive a summons for failing to yield right of way to a pedestrian.

Earlier this month, the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the woman’s family was settled for nearly a quarter-million dollars. The family’s attorney notes that in this and other cases, “no money could ever replace what the family has lost.”

Unfortunately, money is often the only compensation available to victims of car accidents and their families. In light of this, the importance of accident prevention cannot be overstated.

Source: SILive.com, “Wrongful-death settlement for kin of 81-year-old grandmom hit crossing street,” Frank Donnelly, Oct. 14, 2014