Being struck by a car while on foot is one of the most one-sided collisions on any road. There is no bumper, no airbag, and no steel frame between you and a vehicle that may weigh two tons. In West Palm Beach and across Palm Beach County, that mismatch plays out on Okeechobee Boulevard, Southern Boulevard, Military Trail, and dozens of other corridors where people walk to work, to bus stops, and across parking lots every day.
If a driver hit you or someone you love, you are now facing medical bills, lost income, and an insurance company that started building its defense the moment the crash was reported. Elstein Legal handles West Palm Beach pedestrian injury claims for people in exactly that position. Attorney Brian Elstein spent years working for the carriers before he opened his own firm, so he knows how they investigate, how they assign blame, and how they decide what a claim is worth.
Why Choose Elstein Legal After a West Palm Beach Pedestrian Crash
The insurance company defending your case is not neutral. Its job is to reduce or deny what it pays you. The strongest reason to hire this firm is that Brian sat on that side of the table first.
He is a former insurance defense attorney. Before founding Elstein Legal, Brian defended and valued injury claims for the insurance companies. He learned firsthand how adjusters build a file, how they use recorded statements against claimants, and how they calculate settlement offers. You can read more about Brian Elstein’s insurance defense background and why it changes how these cases get worked. That experience now works for you instead of against you.
Your case is handled personally. Elstein Legal is a solo firm by design. Brian works your file himself. He does not pass you to a rotating cast of associates or paralegals, and you are not a case number in a call center.
You pay nothing unless he wins. The firm works on contingency. There are no upfront fees and no hourly bills. As the firm’s own promise puts it, “No Fees Unless We Win,” and you owe nothing unless there is a recovery for you.
Someone answers when you call. The firm is available 24 hours a day, including nights and weekends, because a serious injury does not wait for business hours.
What To Do After a Pedestrian Accident in West Palm Beach
What you do in the days after a crash affects both your health and your claim. If you are reading this soon after being hit, here is a practical order of operations.
- Get medical care right away, and keep going back. Even if you feel able to walk away, adrenaline hides serious injuries such as concussions and internal bleeding. Prompt treatment protects you, and it creates the medical record your claim depends on. There is also a strict 14-day deadline to seek initial care to preserve certain benefits, explained below.
- Report the crash and get the police report. A West Palm Beach Police Department or Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office report documents the driver, the vehicle, and the officer’s observations. Ask how to obtain the report number.
- Identify the driver and any witnesses. Get the driver’s name, insurance, and plate. Names and phone numbers of bystanders can decide a disputed right-of-way question later.
- Photograph everything you can. The scene, the crosswalk or lack of one, the lighting, your injuries, and the vehicle all fade or get repaired quickly.
- Do not give a recorded statement to the driver’s insurer, and call a lawyer first. Adjusters call early, sound friendly, and use your own words to shift blame onto you. Speak with a West Palm Beach pedestrian accident lawyer before you talk to the other side.
Florida Pedestrian Injury Law, Stated Correctly
Florida injury law, stated correctly. Many law firm sites, and even AI summaries, still list outdated deadlines and repeat a no-fault myth that can cost you real money. Below is what actually governs a West Palm Beach pedestrian claim in 2026, with the statute behind each point.
The filing deadline is two years, not four. For negligence injury claims that accrued on or after March 24, 2023, Florida law gives you two years to file suit under Fla. Stat. section 95.11(4)(a). HB 837 cut the old four-year window down to two. A lot of sites still show four years. Do not rely on that figure. Miss the real deadline and your claim can be barred no matter how badly you were hurt.
PIP can cover you even though you were on foot. Florida no-fault benefits under Fla. Stat. section 627.736 follow the person, not just the car. If you own a vehicle or live with a relative who does, your own Personal Injury Protection usually pays first, even though you were walking. PIP provides $10,000 in coverage, covering 80 percent of medical expenses and 60 percent of lost wages. Without an Emergency Medical Condition diagnosis from a qualified provider, medical benefits are capped at $2,500, so that diagnosis matters. If you have no auto coverage of your own, the at-fault driver’s insurance and other sources may apply.
The 14-day rule is real, and it is short. To preserve PIP benefits you must seek initial medical care within 14 days of the crash. Wait longer and you can lose no-fault coverage entirely. This is the single most common way injured people forfeit benefits without realizing it.
No-fault was not repealed in 2026. Despite what many websites and AI summaries claim, Florida did not end PIP or no-fault on July 1, 2026. The 2026 repeal bills, SB 522 and HB 769, died in committee when the legislative session adjourned on March 13, 2026. As of July 2026, PIP, the $10,000 minimum, the 80 and 60 percent split, and the 14-day deadline all remain in force. If a site tells you otherwise, it is wrong.
To pursue the driver for pain and suffering, your injury must clear a threshold. Under Fla. Stat. section 627.737, stepping outside no-fault to recover non-economic damages requires meeting at least one of four statutory conditions:
- Significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function.
- Permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability, other than scarring or disfigurement.
- Significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement.
- Death.
Pedestrian injuries are frequently severe enough to meet this bar, but the medical proof has to be built correctly and early.
Being partly at fault does not end your claim, unless you cross the line. Under Florida’s modified comparative fault rule, Fla. Stat. section 768.81, a person found more than 50 percent at fault recovers nothing. At 50 percent or less, your recovery is reduced by your share of fault. Insurers love to argue a pedestrian “darted out” precisely because pushing your fault above half wipes out the claim. Florida’s pedestrian right-of-way rules, Fla. Stat. section 316.130, are central to defeating that argument, and they often favor the person on foot more than the driver’s insurer admits.
How Insurers Value a West Palm Beach Pedestrian Claim
This is where Brian’s background changes the math. He knows the internal logic an adjuster uses, because he used it. A pedestrian claim’s value turns on the severity and permanence of the injury, the strength of the liability picture, and every dollar of loss that gets documented rather than assumed.
Recovery in a pedestrian case can come from more than one place. The chart below shows where compensation typically originates.
| Source of recovery | What it can cover | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Your own PIP | 80% of medical bills, 60% of lost wages, up to $10,000 | Follows you on foot; EMC diagnosis needed for the full amount |
| Driver’s bodily injury liability | Medical costs, lost earnings, pain and suffering | Requires clearing the injury threshold above |
| Uninsured/underinsured motorist | Gaps left by an uninsured or low-limit driver | Depends on your own policy; a recurring issue in Florida |
| Other responsible parties | Varies by facts | For example, a negligent property owner or employer |
On damages, Florida law now limits recoverable past medical costs to amounts actually paid or payable rather than billed, under Fla. Stat. section 768.0427, which is one more reason the medical documentation has to be handled with care. A pedestrian struck by a car often has overlapping claims. If the crash was fatal, the family may have a wrongful death claim to pursue survivors’ losses. And because a driver-versus-pedestrian collision is a motor-vehicle crash at its core, the analysis overlaps heavily with an ordinary car accident case — the same corridors that endanger pedestrians endanger cyclists too.
Pedestrian Crashes in West Palm Beach and Palm Beach County
Florida ranks among the worst states in the country for pedestrian safety, and Palm Beach County reflects that. County crash figures reported through the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles crash system show roughly 25,000 crashes county-wide in 2025, on the order of 70 a day, with about 154 to 161 traffic deaths and around 16,000 injuries. Pedestrians and cyclists account for a heavy share of the fatalities relative to their small slice of total traffic, because a person on foot has no protection when a driver fails to yield.
Local conditions make the problem worse. Wide, fast arterials such as Okeechobee Boulevard and Southern Boulevard mix heavy vehicle traffic with people crossing to transit stops and businesses, and stretches of the county have long gaps between safe crossings. Serious pedestrian trauma in the area is often treated at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, which is one of Palm Beach County’s two state-designated Level I trauma centers.
If your case is filed, it will proceed in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, which sits at the main Palm Beach County courthouse at 205 North Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach. Knowing the local venue, the local corridors, and the way local juries view these cases is part of building a claim that holds up.
Our Results
Elstein Legal has recovered millions in verdicts and settlements across serious crash and injury cases. Representative recoveries include a $7,900,000 settlement in a car accident wrongful death case and a $2,550,000 recovery in a head-on collision involving neck and back injuries. These are examples of the firm’s work, not a prediction about your case. Past results do not guarantee, warrant, or predict future outcomes.
“Brian is absolutely the best! He was by my side every step of the way, and made me feel so comfortable. I highly recommend him, and hope that he can be your attorney!”
Chloe Fretwell, Google review
The firm holds a 5 out of 5 rating from more than 120 Google reviews. That kind of direct, personal handling is the point of hiring a solo firm rather than a high-volume operation.
Talk to a West Palm Beach Pedestrian Accident Lawyer Today
If a driver hit you or a family member in West Palm Beach, the sooner your claim is built the harder it is for an insurer to pick it apart. Brian Elstein will review what happened, explain your options in plain terms, and take the case on contingency so there is no cost to you unless he recovers.
Call (305) 299-2835 any time, day or night, or contact Elstein Legal for a free case evaluation. There is no fee unless the firm wins for you.