A person hit by a car while walking in North Hollywood has a claim against the driver’s liability insurance, and often against their own auto policy as well. Under Vehicle Code 21950, a driver must yield to a pedestrian in a marked crosswalk or in an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, which covers most of the corners on Lankershim Boulevard and Magnolia Boulevard. The LAPD’s North Hollywood Community Police Station on Burbank Boulevard writes the report, the nearest emergency rooms are in Burbank and Van Nuys, and the claim runs on the same deadlines as a car crash: the SR-1 for the driver, six months for a public entity, two years for a lawsuit.
North Hollywood has more people on foot than most of the Valley. The NoHo Arts District along Lankershim and Magnolia fills with theater and restaurant traffic at night, the Metro station at Lankershim and Chandler is the end of the B Line subway and the G Line busway, and the apartment blocks between Burbank Boulevard, Vineland Avenue and Laurel Canyon send people walking to bus stops all day. The crashes that follow are predictable: a left-turning driver on Magnolia who looks for cars and not for people, a driver on Lankershim who passes a stopped car at a crosswalk, a pedestrian struck at night on Burbank Boulevard. This guide covers the law, the report, the hospitals and the insurance that pays the claim.
The crosswalk rule and what it does not cover
Vehicle Code 21950 requires a driver to yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing within any marked crosswalk or within any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection. Most corners where two streets meet have an unmarked crosswalk, so a person crossing Magnolia at a side street with no painted lines is usually still in a crosswalk. The same section tells drivers to slow down and take whatever care is needed for a pedestrian’s safety.
The rule has a second half. A pedestrian may not suddenly leave a curb and walk into the path of a vehicle that is close enough to be a hazard, and a person crossing outside a crosswalk must yield to traffic. Insurance companies use that half of the statute in every pedestrian claim: you stepped out without looking, crossed against the signal, wore dark clothing, looked at your phone.
Shared fault does not end the claim. Under pure comparative negligence (Li v. Yellow Cab), a pedestrian found partly at fault still recovers the share of damages the law allows, reduced by that percentage. The evidence that sets the percentage is the signal timing, the video, the witness statements and the point of impact, which is why the first hours matter.
At the scene on Lankershim or Magnolia
A person who has been hit usually cannot do what a driver would do at a crash, so this list is for the person with you, or for when you are able.
- Call 911 and stay where you are unless you are in the traffic lane. Let the paramedics examine you even if you think you can walk.
- Get the driver’s name, license, plate and insurance card, photographed if possible. If the driver leaves, get the plate, the color and the direction of travel and tell the 911 operator.
- Ask anyone who stopped for a name and cell number. People at bus stops on Lankershim see more than drivers do.
- Note the businesses with cameras facing the crossing, since storefront systems record over themselves within weeks.
- Photograph the crossing, the signal, the lighting and your position, or have someone do it that night.
Do not discuss fault with the driver, and do not say you are fine. Ask the officer for the report number before the ambulance leaves.
The police report: LAPD North Hollywood
North Hollywood is part of the City of Los Angeles, and collisions on its streets are handled by the LAPD. The North Hollywood Community Police Station is at 11640 Burbank Boulevard, North Hollywood, CA 91601, phone (818) 754-8300, and it covers North Hollywood along with Studio City, Toluca Lake, Valley Village, Valley Glen, Sun Valley and Universal City. Collision investigations for the Valley run through the LAPD’s Valley Traffic Division at 7870 Nollan Place in Panorama City, phone (818) 644-8000.
A copy of the report comes from the LAPD’s Records and Identification Division. The department releases collision reports online through the LexisNexis portal it uses, but asks you to allow a minimum of 45 days from the date of the collision before requesting online. Requests can also be mailed to the Records and Identification Division, Document Processing Unit, P.O. Box 30158, Los Angeles, CA 90030, with the request form and a $19 check or money order. Reports involving an arrest, a fatality or a juvenile must be requested by mail.
Read the whole report when it arrives. In a pedestrian case the diagram and the point of impact matter more than in a two-car crash, because they show whether you were in the crosswalk. The officer’s opinion on fault does not decide a civil case, and errors should be corrected through the reporting officer in the first month.
If the crash was on the 170 or the 101, including the ramps, the California Highway Patrol writes the report. The CHP’s West Valley Area office at 5825 De Soto Avenue in Woodland Hills covers most of the San Fernando Valley.
Getting medical care
A pedestrian has no bumper, no seat belt and no airbag, and injuries that seem manageable at the scene, a hip, a wrist, a headache, often turn out to be fractures and concussions. Go with the paramedics or be seen the same day.
Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center at 501 South Buena Vista Street, just across the Burbank line, has an emergency department. Valley Presbyterian Hospital at 15107 Vanowen Street in Van Nuys and Sherman Oaks Hospital at 4929 Van Nuys Boulevard also have emergency departments. For serious injuries, the paramedics may choose a trauma center farther away.
Tell the doctor about every symptom. Headaches, trouble concentrating and light sensitivity in the days after being struck are concussion symptoms, common in pedestrian cases because the head often hits the hood or the pavement. Our page on brain injury cases covers what that documentation looks like.
Who pays a pedestrian claim
The first source is the driver’s liability insurance. California’s minimum coverage under Vehicle Code 16056 is $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident, and a pedestrian claim with a fracture passes $30,000 quickly.
The second source is one many people do not know they have. If you or a relative you live with owns a car with uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, that coverage may apply to you as a pedestrian, because it follows the person rather than the vehicle. Insurers must offer that coverage under Insurance Code 11580.2. It is the main source of recovery in a hit-and-run and fills the gap when the driver carries the minimum, and those claims have their own notice requirements. Medical payments coverage on the same policy, if it was bought, pays medical bills regardless of fault.
The driver’s insurance company will call within a day or two and ask for a recorded statement. Nothing obligates you to be recorded by a company that insures someone else, and in a pedestrian case the questions are aimed at the second half of Vehicle Code 21950: where exactly you were, what the signal said, what you were looking at. Decline politely and talk to a lawyer first. An early settlement offer deserves the same caution, because signing the release closes the claim for good.
Once a claim is properly submitted, the Fair Claims Settlement Practices Regulations require the insurance company to accept or deny it within 40 days of receiving proof of claim (10 CCR 2695.7), or explain in writing why it needs more time.
If a bus, a city vehicle or the crossing itself was involved
Metro buses run all day on Lankershim, Magnolia and Burbank Boulevard, and the G Line busway ends at the North Hollywood station. When a Metro bus, a city vehicle, or a signal, crosswalk or street light the City of Los Angeles was responsible for is part of the crash, Government Code 911.2 requires a written claim to the public entity within six months of the injury, on the entity’s own form, before any lawsuit. Bus camera footage is overwritten well before then, so a preservation letter goes out in the first days. Our bus accident page and sidewalk injury page explain how those cases are built.
The deadlines and the courthouse
Under Vehicle Code 16000, the driver must file the DMV form SR-1 within 10 days when a crash causes injury or death. A pedestrian who was not driving has no SR-1 to file.
The deadline to file a lawsuit for personal injury in California is generally two years from the date of injury under Code of Civil Procedure 335.1. Where a minor is injured, Code of Civil Procedure 352 tolls that period, but tolling does not extend the six-month claim rule for public entities. When a pedestrian dies, Code of Civil Procedure 377.60 lists who may bring the claim, and our wrongful death page explains it.
If a lawsuit is filed, it goes to the Los Angeles Superior Court. Under the court’s Local Rule 2.3, an unlimited civil personal injury case is filed in the Central District at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse at 111 North Hill Street, and the court may later transfer it to a district courthouse such as Van Nuys Courthouse East at 6230 Sylmar Avenue, which serves the Northwest District. Most cases settle, but a filed case usually runs 12 to 24 months and includes a deposition.
How we handle North Hollywood pedestrian cases
Manoukian Law Firm’s office is at 9520 Topanga Canyon Boulevard, Suite 102, in Chatsworth, about twenty-five minutes from North Hollywood on the 118 and the 170. The files we see from the neighborhood are left-turn crashes at the signals on Magnolia and Lankershim, people struck at night on Burbank Boulevard, and hit-and-runs near the Metro station. Every file is handled by the attorney you hire.
The early work is practical: pulling the North Hollywood report, sending preservation letters for video, requesting the hospital records, finding every policy that applies, and taking over the insurance calls. Meetings happen at the Chatsworth office or by phone or video, and the firm helps clients in English, Spanish and Armenian. You can read more about pedestrian accident claims, or see the North Hollywood page for the neighborhood.
Key points
- Under Vehicle Code 21950, drivers must yield to pedestrians in marked and unmarked crosswalks, and most corners on Lankershim and Magnolia have an unmarked crosswalk.
- Shared fault reduces a claim without ending it, under pure comparative negligence.
- On North Hollywood’s streets the LAPD North Hollywood station at 11640 Burbank Boulevard handles the report; on the 170 and the 101 it is the CHP.
- Be seen the same day at Providence Saint Joseph in Burbank, Valley Presbyterian or Sherman Oaks Hospital, and report every symptom.
- The driver’s liability policy pays first, and your own household’s uninsured motorist coverage may apply to you as a pedestrian.
- Claims involving Metro or the City of Los Angeles require a written claim within six months; the general deadline to file a lawsuit is two years.
Frequently asked questions
Is there still a claim after crossing mid-block on Magnolia?
Usually, yes. Crossing outside a crosswalk gives the driver’s insurer an argument for shared fault, but a driver still has to keep a lookout and drive at a safe speed, and pure comparative negligence reduces the claim rather than ending it.
The driver fled. Who pays?
Report it to the LAPD immediately, with the plate or any part of it, and get examined the same day. If you or a relative in your household has uninsured motorist coverage on a car, that policy is usually the source of recovery, and it has its own notice requirements.
Does it matter that you were not in a car?
Not for the claim. A pedestrian’s claim against the driver works the same way a driver’s would, and your own auto policy’s uninsured motorist and medical payments coverage can apply to you on foot.
Should you go to the emergency room or an urgent care?
Go to the emergency room for a blow to the head, loss of consciousness, a limb you cannot put weight on, chest or abdominal pain, or bleeding that will not stop. For scrapes and soreness with no head strike, an urgent care creates the same-day record. When in doubt, choose the emergency room.
If you were hit while walking in North Hollywood or anywhere in the San Fernando Valley, we are glad to talk it through, whether or not you hire anyone. Call Manoukian Law Firm at (818) 818-5031 or reach us through the contact page. Consultations are free and there is no fee unless we recover for you.
