Pedestrian accident settlement amounts in Connecticut

Getting hit by a car while you're on foot isn't a fender bender, and Connecticut law treats it differently in ways that change what a claim is worth. There's no meaningful "average" pedestrian settlement, because the number turns on a few state rules: how fault gets divided, how long you have to file, how much coverage the driver was required to carry, and whether anything about the crash lets your damages multiply. Here's how those rules actually read in Connecticut.

Connecticut is a pure tort state with no cap on pain and suffering

Connecticut repealed its no-fault auto law under Public Act 93-297, effective January 1, 1994.¹ Since then the state has run a straight tort system. There's no mandatory personal injury protection, and no statutory injury threshold you have to clear before you can sue. If a driver hit you, you pursue that driver and their insurer directly for medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.

That shapes settlement value, because Connecticut sets no cap on compensatory damages in an ordinary negligence case. Economic losses and noneconomic losses like pain and suffering are both uncapped, and the state has never enacted a medical malpractice cap either. Punitive damages work differently here than in most places. Under the common-law rule from Vandersluis v. Weil, punitive damages in a negligence case are limited to the plaintiff's litigation expenses, essentially attorney's fees minus taxable costs.² The only statutory two-times-compensatory cap on punitives lives in the product liability statute, § 52-240b, and it doesn't reach an ordinary car-versus-pedestrian claim.³

You have two years, with a three-year hard stop

The deadline comes from Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-584. A pedestrian injury claim has to be brought within two years from the date the injury "is first sustained or discovered or in the exercise of reasonable care should have been discovered," and in no event "more than three years from the date of the act or omission complained of."⁴ For most crashes the injury is obvious the same day, so the working deadline is two years from the collision. The three-year outer limit is a backstop for harm that shows up late. Miss it and the claim is gone, however strong it was.

Fault gets split by percentage, and jaywalking doesn't end your case

Connecticut follows modified comparative negligence under § 52-572h. You can recover as long as your share of the fault "was not greater than the combined negligence" of the people you're suing. In plain terms, a plaintiff who is 50% or less at fault recovers; one who is 51% or more recovers nothing.⁵ Your award is then cut by your own percentage. If a jury values the case at $200,000 and finds you 20% responsible, you take home $160,000.

Pedestrian claims have their own wrinkle here. Drivers in Connecticut owe a firm duty to yield. Under § 14-300(c), a motorist has to slow or stop for a pedestrian in a marked crosswalk, and Public Act 21-28 (effective October 1, 2021) widened that duty to cover a pedestrian who steps to the curb and signals intent to cross by raising a hand or moving into the crosswalk.⁶ A driver who breaks that rule faces a fine of up to $500, and the violation is strong evidence of negligence in your civil case.

Crossing mid-block isn't fatal to a claim. It's an infraction under § 14-300b with a $50 fine,⁷ but it doesn't bar you from recovering. It just feeds the comparative-fault math. The insurer will argue you were partly to blame for crossing outside a crosswalk. The honest answer is that your percentage reduces the settlement rather than erasing it, unless the driver can push your share past the 50% line.

Where the money comes from when the driver is barely insured

Connecticut's minimum liability limits are low. The requirement is 25/50/25: $25,000 of bodily injury coverage per person, $50,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage.⁸ Those minimums are fixed by statute (§§ 14-112(a) and 38a-371) and did not change for 2026.⁸ A serious pedestrian injury, say a fractured pelvis or a brain bleed, can burn through $25,000 in hospital charges before you've missed a day of work.

That's why uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage often decides a Connecticut pedestrian settlement. Under § 38a-336, every auto policy has to include UM/UIM equal to the driver's own liability limits, with a floor of 25/50, unless the named insured signs a commissioner-approved informed-consent form to buy less.⁹ Here's the part people miss: you don't have to be in a car to use it. If you own an auto policy, or live in a household covered by one, that UM/UIM coverage usually follows you when you're walking. So if the driver who struck you carried only the state minimum, or fled and was never identified, your own policy's UM/UIM can be the coverage that actually funds most of the settlement.

When the settlement can multiply

Two Connecticut statutes can lift a pedestrian recovery above the ordinary compensatory figure. Under § 14-295, a jury may award double or treble damages when the plaintiff proves the driver "deliberately or with reckless disregard" violated one of the listed traffic laws, among them § 14-227a (driving under the influence), reckless driving, and the handheld-phone ban, and that the violation was a substantial factor in the crash.¹⁰ A drunk or phone-distracted driver who hits someone on foot is a textbook § 14-295 case.

There's a second target when alcohol is in the picture. Connecticut's Dram Shop Act, § 30-102, lets an injured pedestrian sue a bar or package store that served liquor to a visibly intoxicated adult who then caused the crash. Recovery under the act is capped at $250,000 per injured person, with no cap when the sale was to a minor.¹¹ It sits on top of whatever the driver's own policy pays.

Documenting the crash and getting help

The official report comes from the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, which posts a free preliminary Accident Information Summary and sells the full report.¹² That report, the officer's notes on fault, and any citation for failing to yield are the backbone of a strong claim, and you can pull yours through Connecticut's crash reports portal.

If personal property was wrecked when you were struck, that loss is recoverable under the same two-year negligence deadline in § 52-584,⁴ and a damaged vehicle can support a separate diminished value claim. Because so much of a Connecticut pedestrian settlement rides on comparative-fault percentages and on stacking the right coverage, it's worth having a lawyer look at the file before you accept an insurer's opening number. You can start with the legal directory.

This article is general information about Connecticut law, not legal advice. For guidance on your specific situation, talk with a licensed Connecticut attorney.

Sources

1. Connecticut General Assembly, Public Act 93-297 (1993), An Act Concerning Automobile Insurance Reform. https://www.cga.ct.gov/ps93/Act/pa/1993PA-00297-R00HB-05176-PA.htm

2. Vandersluis v. Weil, 176 Conn. 353, 407 A.2d 982 (Conn. 1978). https://law.justia.com/cases/connecticut/supreme-court/1978/176-conn-353-2.html

3. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-240b, Punitive damages in product liability actions. https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_925a.htm#sec_52-240b

4. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-584, Limitation of action for injury to person or property caused by negligence. https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_926.htm#sec_52-584

5. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-572h, Negligence actions. Doctrines applicable. Liability of multiple tortfeasors for damages. https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_925.htm#sec_52-572h

6. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-300, Crosswalks. Regulation of pedestrians and motor vehicles at crosswalks (as amended by Public Act 21-28). https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_249.htm#sec_14-300

7. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-300b, Pedestrian use of crosswalks and roadways. https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_249.htm#sec_14-300b

8. Connecticut Insurance Department, Auto Insurance (minimum limits under Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 14-112(a) and 38a-371). https://portal.ct.gov/cid/consumer-information-center/auto-insurance

9. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 38a-336, Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_700.htm#sec_38a-336

10. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-295, Double or treble damages for personal injury or property damage resulting from certain traffic violations. https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_248.htm#sec_14-295

11. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 30-102, Dram Shop Act; liquor seller liable for damage by intoxicated person. https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_545.htm#sec_30-102

12. Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, Accident Information Summaries portal. https://accidents.despp.ct.gov/