Pedestrian Accident Complaint - Wisconsin

PEDESTRIAN ACCIDENT COMPLAINT — WISCONSIN

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. Damages
8. Prayer for Relief
9. Jury Demand
10. Reservation of Rights
11. Signature and Service Blocks
12. Wisconsin Practice Notes
13. Sources and References

1. CAPTION

STATE OF WISCONSIN CIRCUIT COURT, [COUNTY] COUNTY

Case No. [________]

Case Code: [30101 — Personal Injury — Automobile]

COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES (PEDESTRIAN COLLISION)

JURY TRIAL DEMANDED

Plaintiff, by and through undersigned counsel, alleges as follows:

2. PARTIES, JURISDICTION, AND VENUE

1. Plaintiff [PLAINTIFF NAME] ("Plaintiff") is an individual residing in [COUNTY] County, Wisconsin, 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 individual residing in [COUNTY / STATE] and may be served with process at [SERVICE ADDRESS] pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 801.11.

3. Defendant [OWNER / EMPLOYER NAME] ("Owner Defendant") is [an individual / a corporation / an LLC] that, at all material times, owned, controlled, leased, 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. [If applicable] Defendant [INSURER NAME] ("Insurer Defendant") is a liability insurer that issued a policy of motor-vehicle liability insurance covering the Collision and is named directly pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 803.04(2).

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

6. Subject-matter jurisdiction is proper in this Circuit Court pursuant to Wis. Const. art. VII, § 8 and Wis. Stat. § 753.03, which vests the Circuit Court with original jurisdiction over all civil matters.

7. Venue is proper in this county under Wis. Stat. § 801.50 because the cause of action arose in this county and/or one or more Defendants resides or does substantial business herein.

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 / MUNICIPALITY], Wisconsin (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 and passed a vehicle stopped at the crosswalk to let Plaintiff cross; emerged from an alley or driveway without yielding; 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 and management and control that Wisconsin 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 and had the right-of-way.

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 ordinary care in the operation of a motor vehicle, including the duties of proper lookout, management and control, and reasonable speed, to obey the Wisconsin rules of the road, to yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian lawfully crossing within a crosswalk, and 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;
• Failing to maintain proper management and control of the vehicle;
• 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;
• 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 a cause of the Collision and of Plaintiff's injuries and damages.

23. As a direct and proximate result, Plaintiff has sustained the damages described in Section 7 below.

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

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

25. The Wisconsin rules of the road 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:

• Wis. Stat. § 346.24(1) — at an intersection or crosswalk where traffic is not controlled by traffic-control signals or by a traffic officer, the operator of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the highway within a marked or unmarked crosswalk;
• Wis. Stat. § 346.24(3) — when a vehicle is stopped at an intersection or crosswalk to permit a pedestrian to cross, the operator of any other vehicle approaching from the rear may not overtake and pass the stopped vehicle;
• Wis. Stat. § 346.23(1) — at a controlled intersection or crosswalk, the operator of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian who has started to cross on a green or "WALK" signal, and may not begin a turn that would endanger or interfere with such a pedestrian;
• Wis. Stat. §§ 346.37 and 346.38 — governing the obedience of drivers and pedestrians to traffic-control and pedestrian signals; and
• Wis. Stat. § 346.47 — the operator of a vehicle emerging from an alley, driveway, or building shall yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian approaching on a sidewalk.

26. 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.

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

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

28. Plaintiff realleges and incorporates Paragraphs 1 through 27 as if fully set forth herein.

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

30. 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.

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

7. DAMAGES

32. 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.

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

8. PRAYER FOR RELIEF

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff demands judgment against Defendants as follows:

• A. Compensatory damages in an amount to be determined by the trier of fact;
• B. Pre-judgment and post-judgment interest as allowed by law;
• C. Costs and disbursements of this action; and
• D. Such other and further relief as the Court deems just and equitable.

9. JURY DEMAND

Plaintiff demands a trial by jury of twelve (12) on all issues so triable, and tenders the requisite jury fee pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 814.61(4).

10. RESERVATION OF RIGHTS

Plaintiff reserves the right to amend this Complaint to add or substitute parties, to assert additional claims, and to conform the pleadings to the evidence as discovery proceeds. Plaintiff denies any contributory negligence; under Wis. Stat. § 895.045(1), any such negligence reduces but does not bar Plaintiff's recovery unless it is found to be greater than the negligence of the Defendant against whom recovery is sought.

11. SIGNATURE AND SERVICE BLOCKS

Dated this [____] day of [MONTH], 20[____].

/s/ [________________________________]

[ATTORNEY NAME], State Bar No. [________]

[LAW FIRM NAME]

Attorneys for Plaintiff

[STREET ADDRESS]

[CITY, STATE ZIP]

Telephone: [NUMBER]

Email: [EMAIL]

12. WISCONSIN PRACTICE NOTES

• Statute of limitations. Personal-injury actions in Wisconsin must be commenced within three years of accrual. Wis. Stat. § 893.54(1m)(a), which expressly includes "an action to recover damages for injuries to the person caused or sustained by or arising from an accident involving a motor vehicle." Note that a wrongful-death action arising from a motor-vehicle accident has a shorter two-year period under Wis. Stat. § 893.54(2m) (verify if the pedestrian was killed). Consider the discovery rule and minority tolling (Wis. Stat. § 893.16).
• MODIFIED COMPARATIVE NEGLIGENCE — the central issue. Under Wis. Stat. § 895.045(1), contributory negligence does not bar recovery if the plaintiff's negligence was not greater than the negligence of the person against whom recovery is sought; damages are reduced in proportion to the plaintiff's negligence. Wisconsin measures the plaintiff's negligence separately against each defendant — a plaintiff who is, e.g., 40% at fault may still recover from a defendant who is 60% at fault but may be barred against a co-defendant who is only 35% at fault. This per-defendant comparison is the dominant strategic feature of a multi-defendant pedestrian case.
• Joint and several liability. A defendant found 51% or more causally negligent is jointly and severally liable for the damages; a defendant below 51% is liable only for its own percentage of causal negligence (§ 895.045(1)). Plead and develop the negligence of each defendant to maximize allocation and joint-and-several exposure.
• Direct action against the insurer. Wisconsin permits naming the liability insurer directly as a defendant under Wis. Stat. § 803.04(2). Consider joining the carrier; this is standard Wisconsin practice and affects pleading, discovery, and settlement.
• The pedestrian's own duties / crosswalk law. Wisconsin imposes reciprocal duties: drivers must yield to a pedestrian crossing within a marked or unmarked crosswalk at an uncontrolled intersection (§ 346.24) and to a pedestrian lawfully crossing on a "WALK"/green signal at a controlled intersection (§ 346.23); a pedestrian crossing at a point other than a crosswalk must yield to vehicles (§ 346.25); and a pedestrian may not suddenly leave a curb into the path of a vehicle that cannot yield (§ 346.24(2)). A violation supplies the defense's comparative-negligence theory. Investigate the precise crossing location, the signal phase, lighting/conspicuity, and vehicle speed.
• Negligence per se. The violation of a safety statute generally constitutes negligence per se in Wisconsin where the plaintiff is within the protected class and the harm is of the type the statute was designed to prevent. See Betchkal v. Willis, 127 Wis. 2d 177 (1985); Walker v. Bignell, 100 Wis. 2d 256 (1981).
• 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 typically "insureds" for UM/UIM purposes. UM coverage also responds to a hit-and-run / phantom vehicle. Wisconsin requires UM coverage and regulates UIM by statute. Promptly identify and notify every applicable policy, preserve the UM/UIM and any medical-payments 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 Wis. Stat. § 632.32 and the applicable policies.
• Service. Service of process is governed by Wis. Stat. § 801.11; an action is commenced by filing the summons and complaint (Wis. Stat. § 801.02), with the 90-day authenticated-service requirement of § 801.02(1). Out-of-state defendants may be served under Wisconsin's long-arm statute, Wis. Stat. § 801.05.

13. SOURCES AND REFERENCES

• Wisconsin Statutes (Ch. 346 — Rules of the Road; Ch. 893 — Limitations; Ch. 895 — Damages and Liability) — https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes
• Wis. Stat. § 893.54 (injury to the person) — https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/document/statutes/893.54
• Wis. Stat. § 895.045 (comparative negligence) — https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/document/statutes/895.045
• Wis. Stat. § 346.23 (crossing controlled intersection/crosswalk); § 346.24 (crossing uncontrolled intersection/crosswalk) — https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/346
• Wis. Stat. § 346.25 (crossing other than at crosswalk); §§ 346.37, 346.38 (signals); § 346.47 (yield when emerging from alley/driveway)
• Wis. Stat. § 803.04(2) (direct action against insurer); § 632.32 (motor-vehicle insurance; UM/UIM)
• Wisconsin Rules of Civil Procedure (Ch. 801–807); Wisconsin Jury Instructions — Civil (Wis JI-Civil 1160, 1190, 1220, 1225, 1580)

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