Pedestrian Accident Compensation in Texas: What Is Recoverable
The categories are the same as any injury claim, but two of them carry more weight for pedestrians: physical impairment, because mobility is so often affected, and disfigurement, because of road surface injury.
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Medical costs, past and future
Past treatment is documented by bills. Future medical cost has to be established by medical opinion, and in pedestrian cases it is frequently the largest element because lower limb and pelvic injuries generate predictable later surgery.
Hardware removal, revision procedures, joint replacement brought forward by post-traumatic arthritis, and long-term pain management all sit here.
Lost income and lost earning capacity
Lost income is wages actually missed. Lost earning capacity is the reduction in what can be earned going forward, and it is usually the larger figure.
Where an injury affects standing, walking or lifting, whole categories of work close. Establishing that requires medical opinion on restrictions and vocational opinion on what work remains.
Physical impairment, which matters more here
Texas treats physical impairment as a category separate from pain and from lost income. It covers the loss of the ability to do things, independent of whether they earned money.
For pedestrians this is often substantial: walking distance, stairs, standing, carrying, sport, and the ordinary business of moving around a house. It is under-claimed because it is not on any invoice.
Disfigurement
A separate compensable category, and pedestrians accumulate scarring from road contact and from surgery both.
Evidence for it is photographic and needs building over months as healing progresses. A single image taken in hospital shows the injury at its worst rather than what it settled into.
Pain and mental anguish
Recoverable past and future. There is no multiplier and no formula a Texas court applies, whatever online calculators suggest.
Many pedestrians also develop a lasting anxiety about traffic and crossing roads, which is a genuine consequence and is recoverable where it is documented rather than merely described.
Where the money actually comes from
The driver's liability policy first, though the Texas minimum is usually exhausted quickly by a pedestrian injury.
Then an employer's policy if the driver was working, a vehicle owner's separate policy, an umbrella policy, and the pedestrian's own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, which applies to them on foot and which most people do not realize they hold.
Summary
| Category | Covers | Proved by |
|---|---|---|
| Past medical | Treatment to date | Bills and records |
| Future medical | Later surgery, pain management | Medical opinion |
| Lost income | Wages missed | Payroll records |
| Lost earning capacity | Reduction in future earning | Medical and vocational opinion |
| Physical impairment | Lost ability, separate from income | Treating and lay evidence |
| Disfigurement | Permanent scarring | Photographs over months |
| Pain and mental anguish | Past and future | Specific evidenced consequence |
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Frequently asked questions
Past and future medical costs, lost income, lost earning capacity, physical pain and mental anguish, physical impairment and disfigurement. Physical impairment and disfigurement carry unusual weight in pedestrian cases and are often under-claimed.
It covers the loss of the ability to do things, independent of income or pain: walking distance, stairs, standing, carrying, sport, moving around a house. Texas treats it as its own category and it appears on no invoice.
It can. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on your own auto policy generally applies to you as a pedestrian. Most people do not realize they hold it and never check.
Mental anguish is recoverable past and future, and a lasting fear of traffic is a genuine consequence. It needs documenting through treatment rather than only described, like any other injury.
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