Pedestrian Accident Complaint

PEDESTRIAN ACCIDENT COMPLAINT — OHIO

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Caption
2. Parties, Jurisdiction, and Venue
3. General Factual Allegations
4. First Cause of Action — Negligence (Against Defendant Driver)
5. Second Cause of Action — Negligence Per Se (Against Defendant Driver)
6. Third Cause of Action — Negligent Entrustment / Vicarious Liability (Against Defendant Owner)
7. Damages
8. Comparative Fault Allegations
9. Prayer for Relief
10. Jury Demand
11. Signature and Service Blocks
12. Verification
13. Certificate of Service
14. Ohio Practice Notes
15. Sources and References

1. CAPTION

IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, [COUNTY] COUNTY, OHIO

CASE NO. [________________________________]

JUDGE: [________________________________]

COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES (PEDESTRIAN COLLISION)

JURY DEMAND ENDORSED HEREON

Plaintiff, complaining of Defendants, alleges as follows:

2. PARTIES, JURISDICTION, AND VENUE

1. Plaintiff [PLAINTIFF NAME] ("Plaintiff") is a resident of [COUNTY] County, Ohio, and at all material times was lawfully traveling on foot as a pedestrian on or along the public roadways of this State.

2. Defendant [DRIVER NAME] ("Driver Defendant") is, upon information and belief, a resident of [COUNTY / STATE] and may be served with process pursuant to Ohio Civ. R. 4 at [SERVICE ADDRESS] or wherever found.

3. Defendant [OWNER / EMPLOYER NAME] ("Owner Defendant") is [an individual / a corporation / an LLC] that, at all material times, owned, controlled, and/or maintained the vehicle operated by Driver Defendant and/or employed Driver Defendant, with its principal place of business at [ADDRESS / STATUTORY AGENT].

4. This action arises under Ohio tort law for personal injuries sustained when Plaintiff, a pedestrian, was struck by a motor vehicle in [COUNTY] County, Ohio, on [__/__/____].

5. This Court has subject-matter jurisdiction over this tort action pursuant to Ohio Const. art. IV, § 1 and Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.01, as the amount in controversy exceeds the jurisdictional minimum of this Court.

6. Venue is proper in this Court under Ohio Civ. R. 3(C) because one or more Defendants resides in, maintains a principal place of business in, and/or the cause of action arose in [COUNTY] County, Ohio.

7. Ohio is a tort-based jurisdiction for motor-vehicle collisions; no mandatory no-fault provisions bar this action.

3. GENERAL FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS

8. On [__/__/____] at approximately [TIME], Plaintiff was lawfully crossing/walking [in the marked crosswalk at / within the unmarked crosswalk at the intersection of / along the shoulder of / describe location] [ROADWAY] at or near its intersection with [CROSS STREET / LANDMARK], in [CITY], Ohio (the "Collision").

9. At the same time and place, Driver Defendant was operating a [YEAR / MAKE / MODEL] [passenger vehicle / pickup truck / SUV / commercial vehicle] owned by Owner Defendant, traveling [northbound / southbound / etc.] on [ROADWAY].

10. Traffic, lighting, and weather conditions were [describe — e.g., clear, dry, daylight; or dusk with the pedestrian-crossing signal displaying WALK], and Plaintiff was [wearing / not wearing] [describe visibility — e.g., light-colored clothing, reflective gear] and was plainly visible to a driver keeping a proper lookout.

11. Plaintiff entered and proceeded across the roadway [with the pedestrian "WALK" signal / when no traffic-control signal governed the crossing / lawfully and with the right-of-way], and at all material times exercised due care for Plaintiff's own safety.

12. The Collision occurred when Driver Defendant [SELECT / DESCRIBE THE MANNER OF COLLISION — e.g., failed to yield the right-of-way to Plaintiff in the crosswalk and drove into Plaintiff; turned left or right across the crosswalk into Plaintiff's path; failed to stop within the assured clear distance ahead and struck Plaintiff; overtook and passed a vehicle stopped to permit Plaintiff to cross and struck Plaintiff; drove at an excessive speed and was unable to stop; was distracted and did not see Plaintiff until impact].

13. Although Plaintiff was plainly visible, Driver Defendant "looked but failed to see" Plaintiff, failed to keep a proper lookout, failed to slow down or stop as required, and/or failed to exercise due care to avoid colliding with Plaintiff.

14. As a direct and proximate result of the Collision, Plaintiff — wholly unprotected by any vehicle structure, restraint system, or crumple zone — was struck by the full force of Driver Defendant's vehicle and thrown to the pavement, sustaining severe, painful, and permanent bodily injuries, including but not limited to [LIST INJURIES — e.g., orthopedic fractures, traumatic brain injury, spinal injury, internal injuries, degloving / road rash, and disfiguring scarring].

15. Because a pedestrian has no protection whatsoever from the forces of a motor-vehicle impact, the Collision caused Plaintiff to suffer injuries materially more severe than those typically sustained by occupants of vehicles.

16. Plaintiff received emergency care at [HOSPITAL / EMS PROVIDER] and has since undergone [SURGERIES / HOSPITALIZATION / REHABILITATION / ONGOING TREATMENT], and will require future medical care.

17. All injuries and damages alleged were the foreseeable, natural, and probable consequence of Defendants' conduct.

4. FIRST CAUSE OF ACTION — NEGLIGENCE (Against Defendant Driver)

18. Plaintiff incorporates by reference Paragraphs 1 through 17 as if fully rewritten herein.

19. Duty. Driver Defendant owed Plaintiff a duty to exercise reasonable care in the operation of a motor vehicle, to obey the Ohio traffic laws, to keep a proper lookout for pedestrians lawfully using the roadway, to yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian in a crosswalk, to maintain proper control and an assured clear distance ahead, and to exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian.

20. Breach. Driver Defendant breached that duty by, among other things:

• Failing to keep a proper and careful lookout for Plaintiff, a plainly visible pedestrian;
• Failing to yield the right-of-way to Plaintiff while Plaintiff was crossing within a crosswalk;
• Failing to slow down or stop as necessary to yield to Plaintiff;
• Turning across the crosswalk or path of Plaintiff when it was unsafe to do so;
• Failing to operate at a speed permitting a stop within the assured clear distance ahead;
• Operating the vehicle at an excessive or unsafe speed for conditions;
• Overtaking and passing a vehicle stopped to permit Plaintiff to cross;
• Driving while distracted, inattentive, or impaired;
• Failing to exercise due care to avoid colliding with Plaintiff, even if Plaintiff was crossing other than within a crosswalk; and
• Failing to maintain proper control of the vehicle.

21. Causation. Each of the foregoing acts and omissions, separately and in combination, was a direct and proximate cause of the Collision and of Plaintiff's injuries and damages.

22. Damages. As a direct and proximate result, Plaintiff has sustained the damages described in Section 7 below, the amount of which exceeds the jurisdictional minimum of this Court.

5. SECOND CAUSE OF ACTION — NEGLIGENCE PER SE (Against Defendant Driver)

23. Plaintiff incorporates by reference Paragraphs 1 through 22 as if fully rewritten herein.

24. The Ohio traffic laws impose specific statutory duties on Driver Defendant for the protection of persons lawfully using the roadway, including pedestrians such as Plaintiff. These include, as applicable to the manner of the Collision:

• Ohio Rev. Code § 4511.46(A) — when traffic-control signals are not in place, are not in operation, or are not clearly assigning the right-of-way, the driver of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way, slowing down or stopping if need be, to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within a crosswalk when the pedestrian is upon the half of the roadway on which the vehicle is traveling, or is approaching so closely from the opposite half as to be in danger;
• Ohio Rev. Code § 4511.46(D) — when any vehicle is stopped at a crosswalk to permit a pedestrian to cross, the driver of any other vehicle approaching from the rear shall not overtake and pass the stopped vehicle;
• Ohio Rev. Code § 4511.48(E) — the rules governing pedestrians crossing at points other than a crosswalk do not relieve the operator of a vehicle from exercising due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian upon any roadway;
• Ohio Rev. Code § 4511.21(A) — no person shall drive at a speed greater than will permit bringing the vehicle to a stop within the assured clear distance ahead; and
• Ohio Rev. Code § 4511.132 / § 4511.25 — duties of a driver proceeding into an intersection and governing lanes of travel and driving on the right, including the duty to yield to pedestrians lawfully within the intersection or an adjacent crosswalk.

25. Plaintiff is within the class of persons the foregoing statutes were enacted to protect, and the Collision is the type of harm those statutes were designed to prevent.

26. Driver Defendant violated [CITE THE SPECIFIC SECTION(S) APPLICABLE], and was cited for [TRAFFIC CITATION, IF ANY]. Such violation constitutes negligence per se under Ohio law, and was a direct and proximate cause of Plaintiff's injuries and damages.

6. THIRD CAUSE OF ACTION — NEGLIGENT ENTRUSTMENT / VICARIOUS LIABILITY (Against Defendant Owner)

27. Plaintiff incorporates by reference Paragraphs 1 through 26 as if fully rewritten herein.

28. Owner Defendant entrusted the subject vehicle to Driver Defendant when Owner Defendant knew, or in the exercise of reasonable care should have known, that Driver Defendant was an incompetent, inexperienced, reckless, or otherwise unfit driver.

29. Alternatively, at the time of the Collision, Driver Defendant was operating the vehicle as the agent, servant, or employee of Owner Defendant and within the scope of that agency or employment, rendering Owner Defendant vicariously liable under the doctrine of respondeat superior.

30. Owner Defendant's negligent entrustment and/or vicarious liability was a direct and proximate cause of Plaintiff's injuries and damages.

7. DAMAGES

31. As a direct and proximate result of Defendants' conduct, Plaintiff has suffered and seeks recovery of the following:

• Economic damages — past and future medical, hospital, surgical, diagnostic, rehabilitative, and pharmaceutical expenses; past and future lost wages and diminished earning capacity; and property damage to clothing and personal effects;
• Noneconomic damages — past and future physical pain, suffering, mental anguish, permanent physical impairment and disfigurement (including scarring), and loss of enjoyment of life; and
• Future medical and life care to be proven at trial.

32. Plaintiff acknowledges that Ohio Rev. Code § 2315.18 may limit noneconomic damages, subject to its statutory exceptions (including for permanent and substantial physical deformity or loss of use of a limb or bodily organ system, which frequently arise in pedestrian collisions). Plaintiff pleads each category of damage separately and in the alternative.

33. If discovery reveals conduct manifesting malice or conscious disregard for the rights and safety of others (e.g., driving while impaired, fleeing the scene, or extreme speed), Plaintiff reserves the right to seek punitive damages under Ohio Rev. Code § 2315.21 and to move to amend as required by Ohio Civ. R. 15.

8. COMPARATIVE FAULT ALLEGATIONS

34. Plaintiff denies any contributory or comparative negligence. Pursuant to Ohio Rev. Code § 2315.33, Plaintiff's recovery shall be barred only if Plaintiff's percentage of tortious conduct is greater than the combined tortious conduct of all other persons included by the statute; any lesser fault shall merely diminish Plaintiff's recovery in proportion thereto, with fault apportioned under § 2315.34.

35. To the extent any defense asserts that Plaintiff was crossing other than within a crosswalk or otherwise contributed to the Collision, Plaintiff affirmatively pleads that, pursuant to Ohio Rev. Code § 4511.48(E), no rule governing pedestrians relieved Driver Defendant of the continuing duty to exercise due care to avoid colliding with Plaintiff, and that Driver Defendant's failure to do so was the proximate cause of the Collision.

9. PRAYER FOR RELIEF

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff demands judgment against Defendants, jointly and severally, as follows:

• A. Compensatory (economic and noneconomic) damages in an amount to be determined at trial, in excess of $25,000, exclusive of interest and costs;
• B. Punitive damages as allowed by Ohio Rev. Code § 2315.21 (if later pled);
• C. Pre-judgment and post-judgment interest as permitted by Ohio Rev. Code § 1343.03;
• D. Costs of this action; and
• E. Such other and further legal and equitable relief as the Court deems just and proper.

10. JURY DEMAND

Pursuant to Ohio Const. art. I, § 5 and Ohio Civ. R. 38(B), Plaintiff demands a trial by jury on all issues so triable.

11. SIGNATURE AND SERVICE BLOCKS

Respectfully submitted,

[LAW FIRM NAME]

[________________________________]

[ATTORNEY NAME] (Ohio Bar No. [________])

Counsel for Plaintiff

[STREET ADDRESS]

[CITY, OH ZIP]

Telephone: [NUMBER]

Email: [EMAIL]

12. VERIFICATION

I, [PLAINTIFF NAME], verify under penalty of perjury that the factual allegations contained in the foregoing Complaint are true and correct to the best of my knowledge, information, and belief.

Date: [__/__/____]

[________________________________]

[PLAINTIFF NAME], Plaintiff

13. CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that a true and accurate copy of the foregoing COMPLAINT was served upon the following this [____] day of [_______________], 20[____], by [certified mail / personal service / clerk-issued service] pursuant to Ohio Civ. R. 4:

[DEFENDANT NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES)]

[________________________________]

[ATTORNEY NAME]

14. OHIO PRACTICE NOTES

• Statute of limitations. Actions for bodily injury in Ohio must be brought within two years of accrual. Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.10. Wrongful-death actions carry a separate two-year period under § 2125.02(D). Property-damage claims generally run two years under § 2305.10 as well; verify.
• Modified comparative negligence (51% bar). Under Ohio Rev. Code § 2315.33, the plaintiff's contributory fault bars recovery only if it is greater than the combined tortious conduct of all other persons included by the statute (the "51% bar"); otherwise damages are reduced in proportion to the plaintiff's fault. Fault is apportioned under § 2315.34. In pedestrian cases the central battleground is usually whether the pedestrian was in a crosswalk and whether the driver kept a proper lookout — preserve signal-timing data, surveillance/dashcam footage, the crossing geometry, and the vehicle's event-data recorder early.
• DRIVER'S DUTY OF DUE CARE EVEN OUTSIDE A CROSSWALK. Ohio Rev. Code § 4511.46(A) requires the driver to yield to a pedestrian within a crosswalk, slowing or stopping as needed. But even where the pedestrian crossed outside a crosswalk, § 4511.48(E) expressly preserves the driver's duty "to avoid colliding with any pedestrian upon any roadway." This blunts the common defense that a pedestrian outside the crosswalk is automatically barred; the question becomes comparative fault, not absolute defense.
• Pedestrian's statutory duties. A pedestrian crossing at a point other than a crosswalk must yield to vehicles (§ 4511.48), and a pedestrian may not suddenly leave a curb or place of safety into the path of a vehicle that is so close as to constitute an immediate hazard (§ 4511.46(B)). Address these candidly; under the comparative regime, any pedestrian fault reduces but does not necessarily bar recovery unless it exceeds 50%.
• Assured clear distance ahead. Ohio Rev. Code § 4511.21(A) imposes an "assured clear distance ahead" (ACDA) duty; a driver who could not stop within the visible distance ahead and struck a pedestrian in the roadway can be liable on an ACDA negligence-per-se theory.
• Noneconomic-damages cap. Ohio Rev. Code § 2315.18 caps noneconomic damages at the greater of $250,000 or three times economic damages, up to $350,000 per plaintiff and $500,000 per occurrence — but the cap does not apply to catastrophic injuries (permanent and substantial physical deformity, loss of use of a limb or a bodily organ system, or permanent inability to independently care for oneself), which frequently arise in pedestrian collisions. Confirm whether the exception applies before conceding the cap.
• Punitive damages. Punitive damages require clear and convincing evidence of malice or conscious disregard under Ohio Rev. Code § 2315.21 and are generally capped at two times compensatory damages, with sub-caps for small employers/individuals. A hit-and-run or impaired driver may support the claim.
• UM/UIM and hit-and-run. Ohio is a fault state offering uninsured/underinsured-motorist coverage under Ohio Rev. Code § 3937.18. An injured pedestrian may recover under his or her own (or a resident relative's) auto UM/UIM coverage when struck by an uninsured, underinsured, or hit-and-run driver; coverage generally follows the insured person, not a vehicle. Identify and notify all applicable carriers promptly, report the hit-and-run to police, and comply with consent-to-settle and subrogation procedures before resolving the liability claim.
• Service. Service is governed by Ohio Civ. R. 4 through 4.6 (commonly clerk-issued certified mail); out-of-state defendants may be served under the long-arm statute, Ohio Rev. Code § 2307.382, and Ohio Civ. R. 4.3.

15. SOURCES AND REFERENCES

• Ohio Revised Code (Title 23 — Courts; Title 45 — Motor Vehicles) — https://codes.ohio.gov/
• Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.10 (two-year limitations)
• Ohio Rev. Code § 2315.33 (modified comparative negligence); § 2315.34 (apportionment)
• Ohio Rev. Code § 4511.46 (pedestrian right-of-way within crosswalk) — https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-4511.46
• Ohio Rev. Code § 4511.48 (crossing at other than crosswalk; (E) preserves driver due-care duty) — https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-4511.48
• Ohio Rev. Code § 4511.21 (assured clear distance ahead); § 4511.25 (lanes of travel); § 4511.132 (proceeding driver duties)
• Ohio Rev. Code § 2315.18 (noneconomic-damages cap); § 2315.21 (punitive damages)
• Ohio Rev. Code § 3937.18 (uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage)
• Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure (Rules 3, 4, 8, 38)
• Ohio Jury Instructions — Civil (Motor Vehicle; Pedestrian; Comparative Negligence)

Disclaimer: This template is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. An attorney licensed in Ohio must review and customize this document before filing. Laws, citations, and court rules change frequently; verify all authorities before use.