Pedestrian Accident Lawyer In Beverly Hills, CA
Beverly Hills ranked first of 93 similarly sized California cities for pedestrians hurt or killed in traffic in 2023, with 46 pedestrian victims in a city of about 32,000 residents. If a driver hit you while you were walking here, California law gives you more protection than the adjuster will admit, and a shorter deadline than you would guess.
Alpha Law PC handles pedestrian injury claims from an office on Wilshire Boulevard. Attorney Alexander Khoubian (California State Bar #330918) reviews each case himself.
Beverly Hills is the most dangerous small city in California for people on foot
For its size, nowhere in California is harder on pedestrians. In the state’s 2023 traffic-safety rankings, Beverly Hills placed 1st of 93 cities in its population group for pedestrian victims, counting 46 people hurt or killed while walking. It placed 1st of 93 again for pedestrians aged 65 and older.
The Office of Traffic Safety sorts cities into groups by population and miles driven, then ranks them. Beverly Hills sits in Group D. First is the worst spot on the list, and the city holds it in more than one column: 1st of 93 for total crash victims (611), 1st for motorcycle victims (38), and 1st for speed-related victims (82).
The reason is the street grid. Wilshire, Santa Monica, Canon, and Rodeo push heavy, fast traffic through two square miles that thousands of people cross on foot every day: shoppers, workers, tourists, and one of the older resident populations on the Westside. When a car and a pedestrian meet in that mix, the person on foot loses. That is why a crash here so rarely stays minor.
California pedestrian deaths are falling fast, which dates most of what you have read
The “pedestrian deaths at a 40-year high” line that opens most law-firm pages is out of date.
In the first half of 2025, California pedestrian deaths dropped about 32%, the steepest decline among the states the Governors Highway Safety Association named, inside a national drop of roughly 11% that GHSA called the largest in the 15 years it has tracked the figure.
That is good news for the state and useless comfort if you were the one hit. The statewide curve is bending down; the Beverly Hills ranking has not moved with it. A city that sits first among its peers for pedestrian victims is still first, whatever the state average does. The gap between the improving headline and the local reality is exactly why a Beverly Hills case gets valued on Beverly Hills facts, not a national trend line.
Who is at fault when a driver hits a pedestrian in Beverly Hills
In most Beverly Hills pedestrian crashes, the driver carried the legal duty to yield.
California Vehicle Code 21950 requires a driver to yield to a pedestrian crossing in any crosswalk, marked or unmarked, at an intersection, and to slow down and use care to protect anyone on foot. An unmarked crosswalk still counts: at most intersections, the invisible line where the sidewalks would connect is a legal crosswalk even with no painted stripes.
The pedestrian has duties too. You cannot bolt off a curb into the path of a car that is too close to stop, and you have to use ordinary care for your own safety. But here is the part adjusters skip: under 21950, the driver’s duty to watch for and protect a pedestrian does not disappear just because the pedestrian made a mistake. Fault gets split by percentages, not handed entirely to one side.
Being outside a crosswalk does not end your claim
Crossing outside a crosswalk does not bar a pedestrian injury claim in California. Two things make that true, and they are worth knowing before an adjuster tells you otherwise.
First, the Freedom to Walk Act (AB 2147), in force since January 1, 2023, ended the automatic jaywalking ticket. Police can now cite a pedestrian for crossing outside a crosswalk only when a reasonably careful person would have seen an immediate danger of a collision. Casual mid-block crossing, by itself, is no longer a citation. That law governs when police can ticket you, not how a civil claim is decided, but it took away the reflexive “you jaywalked” ticket that insurers used to wave around.
Second, California uses pure comparative negligence (Li v. Yellow Cab Co., 1975). If a jury finds you 30% at fault for crossing where you should not have, and your damages are $200,000, you still recover $140,000. Not zero. An adjuster who says being partly at fault kills your claim is negotiating, not stating the law.
The daylighting rule that can decide a crosswalk case
Since 2025, California bans parking within 20 feet of the approaching side of any crosswalk, a rule called daylighting (AB 413). It matters to your claim because a vehicle parked too close to a crosswalk is the classic thing that hides a pedestrian from a turning or oncoming driver until the last second.
If a car was parked inside that 20-foot zone and blocked the driver’s view of you, that fact can shift fault onto the parked vehicle’s owner or away from you. Photograph any car parked tight to the crosswalk before it moves. It is evidence the day of the crash and gone the next.
The deadline that quietly kills Beverly Hills pedestrian cases
You usually have two years to sue after a California pedestrian crash. But the window shrinks to six months when a government entity had a hand in it, and pedestrian cases pull in public entities more than any other kind of injury claim.
Think about what surrounds a pedestrian crash: the crosswalk, the signal timing, the street design, the curb. Those belong to the city or to Caltrans. A Metro or municipal bus is a public vehicle. A poorly designed intersection is a public-works question. When a public entity is involved, Government Code section 911.2 gives you 180 days to file a formal government claim, and if it is denied, six months to sue. Miss the 180 days and the claim is usually dead, with narrow exceptions.
If any public road, signal, crosswalk, or bus was part of your crash, treat your deadline as six months, not two years. Beverly Hills is actively rebuilding its streets. A late-2024 traffic-calming pilot on Clifton Way cut top speeds from the 45-to-50 mph range down to 35-to-40, and the Traffic and Parking Commission voted to keep it. Street redesign is live here, which means the public-entity question is too.
How insurers price a pedestrian claim
Insurers are predictable, not evil, and that predictability is the advantage once you know how they set a number.
A new claim gets a reserve, an internal figure the carrier expects to pay, set early and quietly. Larger carriers run the medical records and injury codes through valuation software. Adjusters are graded on closing claims below reserve, which is the whole reason first offers come in low.
Two things move that number. A complete demand with no gaps in treatment and clean liability, and a credible signal that the case will be filed and tried if the offer stays low. Carriers track which attorneys actually go to court. A demand from a name they associate with trial is priced differently than one from a firm that always settles. That is the mechanism behind “hiring a trial lawyer matters,” and it is how the software and the adjuster’s authority actually work.
The 4-Signal Beverly Hills Pedestrian Claim Check
Before you call anyone, run your situation through four signals. They sort out in about a minute whether you have a straightforward claim or a hard one.
1Right of Way
Were you in a crosswalk, marked or unmarked at an intersection? If yes, Vehicle Code 21950 put the duty on the driver. Outside one you can still recover, with more to argue under comparative fault.
2Who Owns the Danger
A private driver, or a public entity: a city crosswalk or signal, a Metro bus, a Caltrans road? The answer sets your deadline and who you file against.
3Where the Coverage Is
The driver’s liability policy, your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, and any MedPay. No coverage anywhere is the single fact that can sink an otherwise strong claim.
4The Clock
Two years by default, six months the moment a public entity is in the picture. The shorter one controls.
Answer those four and you know most of what a first call with a lawyer would cover. Bring the answers with you.
First steps after a pedestrian crash in Beverly Hills
Do these in roughly this order. The first hour and the first week decide most of what a claim can become.
1Get medical care the same day
2Call police, get the report
3Photograph the scene
4Get driver and witness info
5Preserve nearby video
Get medical care the same day, even if you feel fine. Adrenaline hides head and soft-tissue injuries for a day or two, and the gap before your first visit is exactly what an adjuster uses to argue you were not really hurt. Then make sure police respond: an injury crash requires a report in California, and you want the report number.
At the scene, photograph everything: the crosswalk, the signal, where the car came to rest, the sightlines, and any vehicle parked tight to the crosswalk inside the 20-foot daylighting zone. Get the driver’s information and the names and numbers of witnesses before they scatter. Do not give the driver’s insurer a recorded statement before you have talked to a lawyer; their adjuster opens with friendly, open-ended questions for a reason.
Preserve video fast. Wilshire, Rodeo, Canon, and Santa Monica are lined with business, traffic, and doorbell cameras, and many systems record over in about 30 days. One local wrinkle worth naming: if you were hurt stepping into the street for a photo, a documented problem on Canon Drive, where the city’s own spokesman has told people to stop lying in the road for pictures, you may still have a claim, but preserve every piece of evidence, because the insurer will lead with your conduct.
Why Alpha Law PC
Alpha Law PC is a Beverly Hills personal injury practice, and every pedestrian case is handled by founder Alexander Khoubian, not passed to a case manager. He has been licensed to practice in California since 2020 (State Bar No. 330918) and has been named to Super Lawyers Rising Stars every year from 2022 through 2026. He studied at UC San Diego and earned his law degree at Southwestern Law School, where he won the CALI and Witkin awards and finished in the top 20% of his class.
Before opening the firm he trained at Carpenter, Zuckerman & Rowley, an established plaintiff’s trial firm, and earlier worked defense-side on workers’ compensation, which is where you learn how carriers decide what a claim is worth. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, and the Beverly Hills Bar Association.
You can check the license yourself. The State Bar of California publishes every attorney’s record, and No. 330918 is public. The office is at 9701 Wilshire Boulevard, a short distance from most of the intersections in this article.
Related practice areas
Pedestrian accident questions Beverly Hills residents ask
Usually yes. Crossing outside a crosswalk does not bar a claim in California. Your recovery may be reduced by your share of fault under pure comparative negligence, but the driver still owed you a duty of care, and being partly at fault is not the same as having no claim.
Two years from the date of the crash in most cases. As little as six months if a government entity was involved, a city crosswalk or signal, a public bus, or a Caltrans road, because a government claim must be filed within 180 days. The shorter deadline controls, so identify any public entity early.
Your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is usually the answer, and it protects you on foot even though you buy it as a driver. In a hit-and-run, that same coverage often applies. Many people have it without knowing.
Often your own MedPay coverage ($5,000 to $10,000 on most auto policies, paid regardless of fault), your health insurance, or treatment on a medical lien where a provider waits for payment until the case resolves. Which one you use affects what you ultimately recover.
Not before you get advice. You are not required to give a recorded statement to the other side’s insurer, and their adjuster is trained to lock in a version of events and injuries that helps them, not you.
It depends on the injury and, just as much, on the insurance available, which is often the real ceiling. A serious pedestrian injury can exceed a minimum-limits policy quickly, which is why finding every layer of coverage matters. Any lawyer who quotes a number before reviewing the file is guessing.
California injury cases are typically handled on contingency: the fee is a percentage of the recovery, and there is no fee if there is no recovery. Ask any firm for its exact percentage and how case costs are handled if the case does not win, because that answer varies.
Talk to a Beverly Hills pedestrian accident lawyer
If a driver hit you while you were walking in Beverly Hills or anywhere in Los Angeles, two things work against you from day one: the deadline and the insurer’s head start. Both get worse while you wait, and evidence like camera footage disappears on its own. Alexander Khoubian will review what happened and tell you plainly whether you have a claim worth bringing.