Parking Lot Pedestrian Accident Lawyer: Claims When a Driver Hits You Off the Street

Can you bring a claim if a car hit you in a parking lot?

Yes. A driver in a parking lot owes the people walking there reasonable care, and a driver who hits a pedestrian while pulling in, backing out or cutting across the aisles can be held responsible for the injuries. Your auto-related medical benefits also still apply, because they turn on injury from the use of a motor vehicle, not on where the vehicle was (75 Pa.C.S. § 1713).

What changes in a lot is the rulebook. Many of the Pennsylvania Vehicle Code's rules of the road are written for highways, and a private lot is usually not a highway. That affects how fault is argued, but not whether you have a claim.

Which traffic laws apply in a private lot

The Vehicle Code defines a "highway" as a publicly maintained way open to vehicle travel, and a "trafficway" as any place open to the public for vehicle travel as a matter of right or custom (75 Pa.C.S. § 102). A shopping-center lot is typically a trafficway. The operating rules in Part III of the Code apply only on highways, unless a particular section says otherwise (75 Pa.C.S. § 3101(a)).

Some important rules are specifically extended to trafficways, including DUI laws, the serious traffic offenses in Subchapter B of Chapter 37 and the duty to stop for a school bus (75 Pa.C.S. § 3101(b)). A driver who was impaired in a lot can be charged just as on a street.

For your injury claim, the practical point is this: even where a rule like the duty to yield while backing does not technically apply, the same idea is part of the ordinary duty of care. A driver who speeds down an aisle, reverses without looking or cuts diagonally across empty spaces toward the store entrance is careless, and Pennsylvania negligence law holds them to account.

When the property owner shares the blame

Parking lot crashes sometimes have a second cause: the lot itself. The owner or manager of a lot has a duty to keep it reasonably safe for customers. Problems that can contribute to a pedestrian crash include:

• Burned-out or missing lighting in the aisles and walkways, especially in winter evenings.
• No marked walkway between the parking area and the store entrance, forcing shoppers to walk down the drive aisles.
• Snow piles or overgrown landscaping blocking drivers' sightlines at corners and exits.
• Missing stop signs or speed bumps at a known cut-through used by drivers avoiding a traffic light.

Evidence in a parking lot case disappears fast

Stores and shopping centers usually have cameras covering the lot, but many systems keep footage only for a short time. Ask the store manager to preserve the video the day it happens, write down the manager's name, and ask whether an incident report was prepared. A lawyer can follow up with a written preservation demand to the store and to the property owner, which are often different companies.

Also photograph where you were walking, the lighting, the painted markings and the car. If the driver left without giving information, report it to police immediately. Uninsured motorist coverage on your household policy may cover a driver who cannot be identified, but only if the accident is reported to police and your insurer is notified within 30 days, or as soon as practicable (75 Pa.C.S. § 1702).

Fault arguments, lots around here and the next step

Insurers in lot cases often say the pedestrian walked out from between parked cars or was looking at a phone. Pennsylvania's modified comparative negligence rule reduces a recovery by your share of fault and bars it only if your share is greater than the defendants' combined fault (42 Pa.C.S. § 7102). When the property owner is also a defendant, their share counts toward that combined total.

In our area, these crashes happen in supermarket and pharmacy lots along West Chester Pike, Baltimore Pike and State Road, in the busy lots around the 69th Street Transportation Center, and in smaller lots behind storefronts in Drexel Hill, Clifton Heights and Springfield. A lot crash in Delaware County is usually filed in the Court of Common Pleas in Media, and one in West Philadelphia in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. A lawsuit must generally be filed within 2 years (42 Pa.C.S. § 5524).

Your Legal Warrior works on a 100% contingency fee: no attorney fee unless we recover, all case costs advanced by the firm and repaid only from a recovery, and nothing owed if there is no recovery. Call (267) 412-4601, answered around the clock, or send the free case review form.