Pedestrian Accident Complaint

PEDESTRIAN ACCIDENT COMPLAINT — RHODE ISLAND

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Caption
2. Parties, Jurisdiction, and Venue
3. General Factual Allegations
4. Count I — Negligence (Against Defendant Driver)
5. Count II — Negligence Per Se (Against Defendant Driver)
6. Count III — Negligent Entrustment / Vicarious Liability (Against Defendant Owner)
7. Comparative Fault Allegation
8. Damages
9. Prayer for Relief
10. Jury Demand
11. Reservation of Rights
12. Signature and Service Blocks
13. Certificate of Service
14. Rhode Island Practice Notes
15. Sources and References

1. CAPTION

STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

[PROVIDENCE/BRISTOL / KENT / NEWPORT / WASHINGTON] COUNTY, SC.

SUPERIOR COURT

C.A. NO. [________]

COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES (PEDESTRIAN COLLISION)

JURY TRIAL DEMANDED

Plaintiff, complaining of Defendants, alleges as follows:

2. PARTIES, JURISDICTION, AND VENUE

1. Plaintiff [PLAINTIFF NAME] ("Plaintiff") is an adult resident of the City/Town of [CITY/TOWN], County of [COUNTY], Rhode Island, and at all material times was lawfully present as a pedestrian upon or alongside the public roadways of this State.

2. Defendant [DRIVER NAME] ("Driver Defendant") is, upon information and belief, an adult resident of [CITY/TOWN, STATE] and may be served with process at [SERVICE ADDRESS] pursuant to Rule 4 of the Superior Court Rules of Civil Procedure.

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. Owner Defendant may be served at [SERVICE ADDRESS / REGISTERED AGENT].

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

5. Subject-matter jurisdiction is proper in this Superior Court under R.I. Gen. Laws § 8-2-14 because the amount in controversy exceeds $10,000, exclusive of interest and costs.

6. Venue is proper in this county under R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-4-3 because one or more Defendants resides or may be found in this county and/or the cause of action arose herein.

7. This action is timely commenced within the three-year limitations period of R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-1-14(b), the Collision having occurred on [__/__/____].

3. GENERAL FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS

8. On [__/__/____] at approximately [TIME], Plaintiff was lawfully crossing / walking [DESCRIBE — e.g., within the marked crosswalk at the intersection of ___ and ___; within an unmarked crosswalk at the intersection of ___; along the shoulder facing traffic on ___], in [CITY/TOWN], Rhode Island (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 [direction] on [ROADWAY].

10. [Where applicable] A pedestrian-control or traffic-control signal [displayed "WALK" / displayed a green light in Plaintiff's direction of travel / was not in place or not in operation], and Plaintiff had the right-of-way and was crossing within the crosswalk.

11. Traffic, lighting, and weather conditions were [describe — e.g., clear, dry, daylight; or dusk / nighttime, with Plaintiff in or near a marked crosswalk].

12. The Collision occurred when Driver Defendant [SELECT / DESCRIBE THE MANNER — e.g., failed to yield the right-of-way to Plaintiff in the crosswalk; turned left or right across the crosswalk into Plaintiff's path; failed to keep a proper lookout and struck Plaintiff; was traveling at an excessive or unsafe speed; was distracted by a mobile device; overtook a vehicle stopped at the crosswalk to let Plaintiff cross; ran a red light or stop sign].

13. Plaintiff was plainly visible to Driver Defendant, who failed to see Plaintiff in time, misjudged the situation, and/or failed to exercise the due care that Rhode Island law requires of every driver to avoid colliding with a pedestrian.

14. Plaintiff was exercising reasonable care for Plaintiff's own safety at all material times.

15. As a direct and proximate result of the Collision, Plaintiff — an unprotected pedestrian struck by the mass and force of a motor vehicle — sustained 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].

16. Because a pedestrian has no structural protection, restraint system, or crumple zone, the forces of the Collision caused Plaintiff to suffer catastrophic injuries materially more severe than those typically sustained by occupants of vehicles.

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

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

4. COUNT I — NEGLIGENCE (Against Defendant Driver)

19. Plaintiff realleges and incorporates Paragraphs 1 through 18 as if fully set forth herein.

20. Driver Defendant owed Plaintiff a duty to exercise reasonable care in the operation of a motor vehicle, to obey the Rhode Island rules of the road, to keep a proper lookout for pedestrians, to yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian lawfully within a crosswalk, and to exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian upon the roadway.

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

• Failing to yield the right-of-way to Plaintiff, a pedestrian crossing within a crosswalk;
• Failing to keep a proper and careful lookout for pedestrians;
• Operating the vehicle at a speed greater than was reasonable and prudent for the conditions and the presence of pedestrians;
• Driving while distracted, inattentive, or impaired;
• Failing to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian and to give an audible signal when necessary;
• Overtaking and passing a vehicle stopped at a crosswalk to permit a pedestrian to cross; and
• Failing to take reasonable evasive action to avoid striking Plaintiff.

22. Each of the foregoing acts and omissions, separately and in combination, was the actual and proximate cause of the Collision and of Plaintiff's injuries and damages.

5. COUNT II — NEGLIGENCE PER SE (Against Defendant Driver)

23. Plaintiff realleges and incorporates Paragraphs 1 through 22 as if fully set forth herein.

24. The Rhode Island motor-vehicle laws impose specific statutory duties on Driver Defendant for the protection of pedestrians such as Plaintiff. These include, as applicable to the manner of the Collision:

• R.I. Gen. Laws § 31-18-3 — when traffic-control signals are not in place or not in operation, a driver 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 driver's half of the roadway or so closely approaching from the opposite half as to be in danger; and no vehicle may overtake and pass a vehicle stopped at a crosswalk to permit a pedestrian to cross;
• R.I. Gen. Laws § 31-18-8 — notwithstanding any other provision or local ordinance, every driver shall exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian, shall give an audible signal when necessary, and shall exercise proper precaution upon observing any child or any obviously confused, intoxicated, or incapacitated person; and
• [Where applicable] R.I. Gen. Laws § 31-18-6 — duties at crossings controlled by traffic-control signals.

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 Rhode Island law, and was a direct and proximate cause of Plaintiff's injuries and damages.

6. COUNT III — NEGLIGENT ENTRUSTMENT / VICARIOUS LIABILITY (Against Defendant Owner)

27. Plaintiff realleges and incorporates Paragraphs 1 through 26 as if fully set forth 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, for which Owner Defendant is jointly and severally liable under R.I. Gen. Laws § 10-6-2.

7. COMPARATIVE FAULT ALLEGATION

31. Plaintiff was free from fault and did nothing, and failed to do nothing, that proximately caused or contributed to the Collision.

32. In the alternative, and without admitting any fault, pursuant to Rhode Island's pure comparative-negligence statute, R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-20-4, any contributory negligence attributable to Plaintiff does not bar recovery, and Plaintiff's damages may be reduced only in proportion to the percentage of fault, if any, assigned to Plaintiff.

8. DAMAGES

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

• Past and future medical expenses — emergency, ambulance, hospital, surgical, diagnostic, rehabilitative, pharmaceutical, and physician care;
• Future medical and life care — anticipated surgeries, therapy, assistive devices, prosthetics, and long-term or attendant care, to be proven at trial;
• Lost wages and diminished earning capacity — past lost income and the permanent impairment of Plaintiff's ability to earn;
• Physical pain, suffering, and mental anguish — past and future;
• Permanent physical impairment and disfigurement, including scarring from road rash and surgical intervention;
• Loss of enjoyment of life; and
• Property damage to Plaintiff's personal effects, as applicable.

34. Plaintiff pleads each category of damage separately and in the alternative.

35. Plaintiff seeks pre-judgment interest pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-21-10.

9. PRAYER FOR RELIEF

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

• A. Compensatory damages in an amount to be determined by the trier of fact, in excess of the jurisdictional minimum of this Court;
• B. Pre-judgment and post-judgment interest pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-21-10;
• C. Costs of this action; and
• D. Such other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper.

10. JURY DEMAND

Plaintiff hereby demands a trial by jury on all issues so triable as a matter of right.

11. RESERVATION OF RIGHTS

Plaintiff reserves the right to amend this Complaint to add or substitute parties, to assert additional claims (including a claim for punitive damages should discovery support it), and to conform the pleadings to the evidence as discovery proceeds.

12. SIGNATURE AND SERVICE BLOCKS

Respectfully submitted this [____] day of [MONTH], 20[____].

/s/ [________________________________]

[ATTORNEY NAME] (R.I. Bar No. [________])

[LAW FIRM NAME]

Attorney for Plaintiff

[STREET ADDRESS]

[CITY, STATE ZIP]

Telephone: [NUMBER]

Email: [EMAIL]

13. CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on the [____] day of [_______________], 20[____], I served (or will cause to be served with the summons) a true and correct copy of the foregoing COMPLAINT upon the following by [the Clerk with process / process server / certified mail / the Court's electronic filing system]:

[NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) OF DEFENDANT(S) / COUNSEL]

/s/ [________________________________]

[ATTORNEY NAME]

14. RHODE ISLAND PRACTICE NOTES

• Statute of limitations — three years. Personal-injury actions in Rhode Island must be commenced within three years of accrual. R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-1-14(b). A narrow extension applies under § 9-1-14(c): where a timely action is filed against the insured tortfeasor and process is returned "non est inventus," the period to bring a direct action against the insurer under § 27-7-2 is extended an additional 120 days. If the pedestrian was killed, the wrongful-death period runs from death; verify the applicable wrongful-death limitations under R.I. Gen. Laws § 10-7-2.
• PURE COMPARATIVE NEGLIGENCE — the central liability issue. Under R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-20-4, a plaintiff's contributory negligence does not bar recovery; it reduces damages in proportion to the plaintiff's percentage of fault. A plaintiff may recover even if 99% at fault and is barred only if found 100% at fault. This makes Rhode Island plaintiff-friendly relative to contributory-negligence and 50%/51%-bar states, but the defense will still seek to maximize the pedestrian's percentage by arguing the pedestrian jaywalked, crossed against a signal, or "darted out" (§ 31-18-3 expressly excepts a pedestrian who suddenly leaves a curb into the path of a vehicle so close the driver cannot yield).
• The pedestrian's own duties. A pedestrian crossing other than at a crosswalk must yield to vehicles (§ 31-18-5); a pedestrian must not suddenly leave a curb or place of safety into the path of a close vehicle (§ 31-18-3); and pedestrians must obey traffic-control signals. A violation supplies the defense's comparative-fault theory but, in Rhode Island, only reduces — never bars — recovery short of 100% fault. Regardless of the pedestrian's right-of-way, the driver's independent due-care duty under § 31-18-8 survives. Investigate the precise crossing location, the signal phase, conspicuity, and speed.
• Joint and several liability. Rhode Island recognizes joint and several liability among joint tortfeasors. R.I. Gen. Laws § 10-6-2. Where multiple parties (e.g., driver and employer) contributed to the harm, each may be liable for the full judgment, subject to contribution among themselves.
• UM/UIM and hit-and-run. A pedestrian struck by a motor vehicle may recover under their own automobile uninsured/underinsured-motorist (UM/UIM) coverage — and under the UM/UIM coverage of a resident relative's policy — even though the pedestrian was not in a vehicle, because pedestrians are "insureds" for UM/UIM purposes. UM coverage also responds to a hit-and-run / phantom vehicle, subject to prompt-reporting and (in many policies) physical-contact requirements. Promptly identify and notify every applicable policy, preserve the UM/UIM claim, and comply with consent-to-settle / subrogation procedures before resolving the liability claim. Verify the current UM/UIM and hit-and-run requirements under the applicable policies and Rhode Island law (R.I. Gen. Laws § 27-7-2.1).
• Governmental defendants. If a public roadway design, signal timing, or maintenance defect contributed, notice-of-claim requirements and the Governmental Tort Liability Act (R.I. Gen. Laws ch. 9-31) may apply against the State or a municipality (including damages caps); identify and preserve any such claim promptly.
• Service. Service is governed by Rule 4 of the Superior Court Rules of Civil Procedure. Out-of-state defendants may be served under Rhode Island's long-arm provision (R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-5-33) and the nonresident-motorist statute.

15. SOURCES AND REFERENCES

• Rhode Island General Laws (Title 9 — Courts and Civil Procedure; Title 31 — Motor and Other Vehicles) — https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/
• R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-1-14 (limitation of actions — personal injuries) — https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/title9/9-1/9-1-14.htm
• R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-20-4 (comparative negligence)
• R.I. Gen. Laws § 31-18-3 (right-of-way in crosswalk) — https://law.justia.com/codes/rhode-island/title-31/chapter-31-18/section-31-18-3/
• R.I. Gen. Laws § 31-18-5 (crossing other than at crosswalks) — https://law.justia.com/codes/rhode-island/title-31/chapter-31-18/section-31-18-5/
• R.I. Gen. Laws § 31-18-8 (due care by drivers) — https://law.justia.com/codes/rhode-island/title-31/chapter-31-18/section-31-18-8/
• R.I. Gen. Laws § 10-6-2 (joint tortfeasors); § 9-21-10 (interest); § 27-7-2 and § 27-7-2.1 (insurer direct action; UM/UIM)
• Rhode Island Superior Court Rules of Civil Procedure (Rules 4, 8, 38)

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