Pedestrian Accident Complaint

PEDESTRIAN ACCIDENT COMPLAINT — WYOMING

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. Wyoming Practice Notes
13. Sources and References

1. CAPTION

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE [________] JUDICIAL DISTRICT, STATE OF WYOMING, IN AND FOR [COUNTY] COUNTY

Civil Action No. [________]

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, Wyoming, 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 Rule 4, Wyo. R. Civ. P.

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

5. Subject-matter jurisdiction is proper in this District Court pursuant to Wyo. Const. art. 5, § 10 and Wyo. Stat. § 5-3-101, as the claims sound in tort and the amount in controversy exceeds the jurisdictional minimum of this Court.

6. Venue is proper in this county under Wyo. Stat. § 1-5-104 because the cause of action, or some part thereof, arose in this county and/or one or more Defendants resides herein.

3. GENERAL FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS

7. 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], Wyoming (the "Collision").

8. 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].

9. [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 within or entering the crosswalk.

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

11. The Collision occurred when Driver Defendant [SELECT / DESCRIBE THE MANNER — e.g., failed to yield the right-of-way to Plaintiff within or entering 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; ran a red light or stop sign].

12. 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 Wyoming law requires of every driver to avoid colliding with a pedestrian.

13. Plaintiff was exercising reasonable care for Plaintiff's own safety at all material times and had the right-of-way.

14. 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].

15. 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.

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. COUNT I — NEGLIGENCE (Against Defendant Driver)

18. Plaintiff realleges and incorporates Paragraphs 1 through 17 as if fully set forth herein.

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

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

• Failing to yield the right-of-way to Plaintiff, a pedestrian within or entering 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.

21. 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. 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)

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

24. The Wyoming 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:

• Wyo. Stat. § 31-5-602 — when traffic-control signals are not in place or not in operation, the driver of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way, slowing down or stopping if need be, to any pedestrian within or entering a crosswalk at either edge of the roadway; and no driver approaching from the rear may overtake and pass a vehicle stopped at a crosswalk to permit a pedestrian to cross;
• Wyo. Stat. § 31-5-607 — notwithstanding any other provision, 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, incapacitated, or intoxicated person; and
• Wyo. Stat. § 31-5-601 — governing the obedience of pedestrians and drivers to traffic-control devices (e.g., "WALK" / "DON'T WALK").

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 Wyoming 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.

7. DAMAGES

31. 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.

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

8. PRAYER FOR RELIEF

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff respectfully demands judgment against Defendants 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 as allowed by law;
• C. Costs of this action; and
• D. Such other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper.

9. JURY DEMAND

Plaintiff demands trial by jury on all issues so triable as a matter of right, pursuant to Rule 38, Wyo. R. Civ. P.

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 fault; under Wyo. Stat. § 1-1-109, any such fault reduces but does not bar Plaintiff's recovery unless it is found to be more than 50% of the total fault of all actors.

11. SIGNATURE AND SERVICE BLOCKS

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

/s/ [________________________________]

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

[LAW FIRM NAME]

Attorney for Plaintiff

[STREET ADDRESS]

[CITY, STATE ZIP]

Telephone: [NUMBER]

Email: [EMAIL]

12. WYOMING PRACTICE NOTES

• Statute of limitations. Personal-injury actions in Wyoming must be commenced within four years of accrual under Wyo. Stat. § 1-3-105(a)(iv)(C) ("an injury to the rights of the plaintiff, not arising on contract and not herein enumerated"). Wrongful-death actions carry their own two-year period under Wyo. Stat. § 1-38-102(d) (verify if the pedestrian was killed). Note special tolling for minors and persons under disability (Wyo. Stat. § 1-3-114) and the shortened notice-of-claim deadlines for governmental defendants under the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act (Wyo. Stat. §§ 1-39-101 et seq.).
• MODIFIED COMPARATIVE FAULT — the central issue. Under Wyo. Stat. § 1-1-109(b), contributory fault does not bar recovery if the claimant's fault is not more than fifty percent (50%) of the total fault of all actors; damages are reduced in proportion to the claimant's fault. A claimant whose fault exceeds 50% is barred. This is the dominant strategic feature of a pedestrian case, because the defense will frame the pedestrian as having "darted out," jaywalked, or crossed against a signal to push the pedestrian's share over the bar.
• Several liability only. Under Wyo. Stat. § 1-1-109(e), each defendant is liable only to the extent of that defendant's proportion of the total fault — Wyoming has no joint-and-several liability backstop. If a defendant is insolvent, uninsured, or judgment-proof, the plaintiff bears that shortfall. This makes thorough investigation of every solvent, insured actor essential.
• Nonparty / "empty chair" fault. Wyoming defines "actor" to include any person whose fault proximately caused the injury whether or not a party to the litigation (§ 1-1-109(a)(i)), and the jury allocates fault among all actors (§ 1-1-109(c)). Anticipate and rebut nonparty-fault allocation; consider naming all potentially responsible parties.
• The pedestrian's own duties / crosswalk law. Wyoming imposes reciprocal duties: when signals are not in place or operating, drivers must yield to any pedestrian within or entering a crosswalk at either edge of the roadway (§ 31-5-602); a pedestrian crossing at a point other than a crosswalk must yield to vehicles (§ 31-5-603); a pedestrian must not suddenly leave a curb into the path of a vehicle constituting an immediate hazard (§ 31-5-602(c)); and pedestrians must obey traffic-control devices (§ 31-5-601). A violation supplies the defense's comparative-fault theory. Regardless of right-of-way, every driver still owes the independent due-care duty under § 31-5-607. Investigate the precise crossing location, the signal phase, lighting/conspicuity, and vehicle speed.
• UM/UIM and hit-and-run. A pedestrian struck by a motor vehicle may qualify as an insured under their own automobile policy or a resident relative's policy even though the pedestrian was not occupying a vehicle. Wyo. Stat. § 31-10-101 mandates bodily-injury UM coverage subject to rejection; it does not mandate UIM coverage. UIM, hit-and-run, prompt-reporting, physical-contact or corroboration, and consent/subrogation requirements depend on the applicable policy. Given Wyoming's several-only liability, promptly identify and notify every potentially applicable policy before resolving the liability claim.
• Service. Service of process is governed by Rule 4, Wyo. R. Civ. P.; out-of-state defendants may be served under Wyoming's long-arm statute (Wyo. Stat. § 5-1-107) or the nonresident-motorist statute (Wyo. Stat. § 1-6-301 et seq.).

13. SOURCES AND REFERENCES

• Wyoming Statutes (Title 1 — Code of Civil Procedure; Title 31 — Motor Vehicles) — https://www.wyoleg.gov/StateStatutes/StatutesConstitution
• Wyo. Stat. § 1-3-105 (limitations) — https://codes.findlaw.com/wy/title-1-code-of-civil-procedure/wy-st-sect-1-3-105/
• Wyo. Stat. § 1-1-109 (comparative fault) — https://law.justia.com/codes/wyoming/title-1/chapter-1/section-1-1-109/
• Wyo. Stat. § 31-5-602 (right-of-way in crosswalks) — https://law.justia.com/codes/wyoming/title-31/chapter-5/article-6/section-31-5-602/
• Wyo. Stat. § 31-5-603 (crossing other than at crosswalks); § 31-5-607 (drivers to exercise due care); § 31-5-601 (obedience to traffic-control devices)
• Wyo. Stat. § 31-10-101 (uninsured-motorist bodily-injury coverage; UIM is contractual)
• Wyoming Rules of Civil Procedure (Rules 4, 8, 38); jurisdiction/venue (§ 5-3-101; § 1-5-104)

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