Who Is Liable for a Pedestrian Accident in Encino?

Arya Firoozmand, Esq. — Founding Partner

Local Encino Injury Attorney · UCLA Law

Arya Firoozmand is the founding partner at L&F Brown. He grew up in Woodland Hills and knows the 101/405 interchange and Ventura Boulevard through Encino firsthand. He graduated from El Camino Real High School and UCLA Law School and has spent his career representing injured clients across the San Fernando Valley.

After a pedestrian accident in Encino, one of the first questions you face is: who is responsible? The immediate answer is almost always the driver who hit you, and in most cases, the driver bears primary liability. But in some Encino pedestrian crashes, other parties share responsibility too. Understanding all of them is important, because it directly affects how much compensation you can recover and from whom.

This article breaks down the most common liability scenarios in Encino pedestrian accidents, from Ventura Blvd crosswalk collisions near Balboa Park to crashes near the busy Sepulveda Blvd corridor and everything in between.

Why Liability in Encino Is More Complicated Than It Looks

Encino sits at the intersection of several high-risk pedestrian environments. The Ventura Blvd commercial corridor sees dense foot traffic daily, with shoppers, transit riders, and residents navigating crosswalks along a road that was built for vehicle speed, not pedestrian comfort. The stretch near Balboa Park and Lake Balboa draws pedestrians onto streets that were not always designed to safely accommodate them.

The road infrastructure throughout Encino reflects decades of auto-centric planning. Crosswalk markings fade on heavily used Ventura Blvd segments. Signal timing at some intersections does not give pedestrians adequate crossing time before the light changes. Sidewalk conditions along older commercial stretches can be uneven or obstructed. Each of these conditions can introduce liability beyond the individual driver.

The combination of fast-moving commercial traffic, an aging road grid, and high pedestrian use near community anchors like Balboa Park makes the liability analysis especially important here. Injuries in these crashes tend to be severe, and the question of who is responsible often involves more than one party.

Driver Liability: The Primary Defendant

In most Encino pedestrian accidents, the driver who struck the pedestrian is the primary defendant. California Vehicle Code Section 21950 requires drivers to yield the right of way to pedestrians crossing in marked crosswalks and in unmarked crosswalks at intersections. Drivers who fail to yield, who are distracted while navigating Ventura Blvd commercial traffic, who are speeding through the Balboa Park area, or who run red lights at Sepulveda Blvd intersections, are violating that duty of care.

That violation does not automatically mean 100 percent fault for the driver. California uses a comparative fault system, but it establishes the legal duty and the breach that form the foundation of your claim. LAPD's West Valley Division investigates pedestrian crashes on city streets in Encino. If the incident occurred on or near the US-101 or I-405, California Highway Patrol has jurisdiction and their report controls. Knowing which agency investigated matters for obtaining the right documentation.

Driver liability also extends to impairment. If the driver was under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the crash, the liability analysis becomes more favorable to the pedestrian, and punitive damages under California Civil Code Section 3294 may be available on top of compensatory damages.

California Comparative Fault: You Can Be Partially at Fault and Still Recover

California follows a system of pure comparative fault. Even if you as a pedestrian bear some responsibility for the accident, you can still recover damages. Your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault, but it is not eliminated.

Common pedestrian behaviors that insurers use to argue comparative fault include crossing against the signal, crossing mid-block without a crosswalk, wearing headphones, or looking at a phone. These arguments deserve serious attention, not because they end your recovery, but because they affect how much you receive.

If a jury determines you were 25 percent at fault and your total damages are $600,000, you recover $450,000. That is still a substantial recovery, and an attorney who challenges the insurer's comparative fault arguments aggressively can protect your share.

If you were crossing in a marked crosswalk on Ventura Blvd, particularly at a signalized intersection with a pedestrian signal head active, the driver's comparative fault argument is much harder to sustain. You had the legal right of way under CVC 21950. Surveillance footage from nearby businesses and witness testimony from that stretch of the corridor can reinforce that position.

Our Encino pedestrian accident attorneys know how to challenge unfair comparative fault allocations and protect your percentage of recovery.

Government Liability: The City of Los Angeles and Dangerous Crosswalk Design

This is the liability theory that pedestrian accident victims most often miss entirely, and it has one of the shortest legal deadlines in California.

If your accident was caused or contributed to by a dangerous condition of public property, a faded crosswalk, a signal with inadequate pedestrian crossing time, a broken curb cut, or a crosswalk location that is inherently hazardous, the City of Los Angeles may share liability. Encino is part of the City of Los Angeles, and the city owns and maintains the public roads, sidewalks, signals, and crosswalk infrastructure throughout the area.

Claims against the City of Los Angeles are governed by the California Government Claims Act. Before you can sue the city, you must file a government tort claim. The deadline to do so is six months from the date of your injury. Missing that deadline almost certainly bars your claim against the city permanently, regardless of how strong the evidence of government fault might be.

Ventura Blvd in Encino has segments with documented pedestrian hazards. If there is a history of pedestrian accidents at a particular crosswalk and the city was aware of it but failed to improve conditions, that is evidence of government liability. Your attorney can request traffic engineering records, prior accident data, and maintenance logs through public records requests to the City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation.

Because the six-month deadline runs simultaneously with your recovery from injury and your focus on medical care, many pedestrian accident victims miss it without ever knowing the clock was running. If there is any possibility that a government property condition contributed to your accident on Ventura Blvd or anywhere else in Encino, tell your attorney immediately.

Property Owner Liability: Sidewalk Defects and Unsafe Conditions

In some Encino pedestrian accidents, a defective sidewalk, broken curb, or improperly maintained adjacent property contributed to the crash. California law imposes a duty on property owners to maintain their premises in a reasonably safe condition, and in some circumstances, that duty extends to the sidewalk abutting commercial property.

If you tripped on a cracked sidewalk near a Ventura Blvd business and fell into traffic, or if an overgrown hedge from a private property obscured a driver's sight line at an intersection near Balboa Park, the property owner may bear partial responsibility. These claims require investigation of property ownership records, prior complaints or citations, and the specific circumstances of the accident.

Jaywalking Scenarios: What Pure Comparative Fault Means for You

Jaywalking on Ventura Blvd is common. Pedestrians cross mid-block routinely in Encino's commercial corridor, sometimes because marked crosswalks are spaced far apart or because crossing at the intersection feels slower. Under California Vehicle Code Section 21954, a pedestrian crossing outside a crosswalk must yield to vehicles. But the driver still has a duty to exercise due care to avoid striking any pedestrian in the roadway.

A jaywalking pedestrian who is hit by a car in Encino is not automatically barred from recovering. They may be found 30, 40, or even 50 percent at fault. But if their damages are $400,000 and they are 40 percent at fault, they still recover $240,000. California's pure comparative fault system means there is no threshold of fault below which recovery is cut off entirely.

Insurers will push hard to assign maximum fault to a jaywalking pedestrian. An attorney pushes back with evidence of vehicle speed, driver distraction, road conditions, and the driver's ability to have avoided the collision regardless of where the pedestrian was crossing.

What Compensation Covers

When one or more parties are liable for your pedestrian accident in Encino, the recoverable damages include:

Medical expenses: Emergency treatment at Encino Hospital Medical Center at 16237 Ventura Blvd, surgeries, hospitalizations, specialist care, physical therapy, and projected future medical needs. In serious pedestrian accidents, future medical costs frequently exceed past costs by a wide margin.

Lost wages and earning capacity: Past wages missed during recovery and future reduced earning capacity if your injuries are permanent or long-term.

Pain and suffering: Physical pain, emotional trauma, anxiety, PTSD, and loss of enjoyment of life. California places no cap on these damages in personal injury cases.

Wrongful death damages: If the pedestrian accident was fatal, surviving family members may have a wrongful death claim against all responsible parties.

Encino pedestrian accident cases involving serious injuries have resolved in the range of $300,000 to over $900,000, with cases involving multiple defendants or catastrophic injuries sometimes exceeding that range.

Act Quickly, Especially on Government Claims

Liability in an Encino pedestrian accident is not always obvious at first glance. The driver is typically identified, but government responsibility and property owner involvement require investigation. Evidence disappears fast: crosswalk conditions get repaired, surveillance footage gets overwritten, witnesses move on. The six-month government claims deadline adds urgency that cannot be ignored.

The sooner you speak with an attorney, the better your chances of identifying all responsible parties and preserving the evidence needed to hold them accountable.

L&F Brown represents pedestrian accident victims throughout Encino and Los Angeles County. Learn more about how we serve the community at our Encino personal injury page.