There is no chart in Nebraska law that tells you what a pedestrian injury claim is worth. The number comes out of three things: how the state assigns fault, how much insurance is actually available to pay, and what kinds of losses Nebraska lets you collect. Get those right and you can estimate a realistic range. Get them wrong and you can sign away a claim for a fraction of its value.
In 2024, drivers struck and killed 19 pedestrians on Nebraska roads, about 8 percent of the state's 251 traffic deaths that year.1 People who survive serious pedestrian crashes are governed by the same rules those fatal cases are, and those rules are specific to Nebraska.
How Nebraska decides who pays
Nebraska is an at-fault, or tort, state. It has no no-fault insurance law, so the driver who caused the crash is responsible for your medical bills, lost wages, and other losses, and their liability insurance is what pays.2 There is no mandatory personal injury protection here. If you own a car, any medical payments coverage on your own auto policy is an optional add-on that Nebraska does not require, though it can pay your bills quickly no matter who was at fault.2
For someone on foot, that means the money usually comes from the driver's bodily injury liability coverage first, and from your own coverage if the driver's is not enough.
The 50 percent fault rule is the biggest lever
Nebraska uses modified comparative negligence with a 50 percent bar. Under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-21,185.09, your damages are reduced by your share of fault, and you recover nothing if your fault is equal to or greater than the combined fault of everyone you are suing.3 A pedestrian found 20 percent responsible for a $200,000 injury collects $160,000. A pedestrian found 50 percent responsible collects nothing.
Fault for a pedestrian usually turns on where and how you were crossing. When signals are not controlling an intersection, a driver has to come to a complete stop and yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk, and cannot pass another car that has already stopped to let someone cross.4 You have duties too. You cannot suddenly leave a curb and step into the path of a car that is too close to stop,4 and if you cross outside a crosswalk you have to yield to traffic.5 Drivers still owe every pedestrian due care, which Nebraska defines to include leaving at least three feet of clearance and giving an audible warning when it is needed.6 Insurers read these statutes closely, because every percentage point of fault they pin on you cuts what they owe.
The insurance limits are often the real ceiling
Nebraska's minimum liability limits are 25/50/25: $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury, plus $25,000 for property damage, under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-509.7 LB793, a bill that would have raised those minimums to 50/100/50 in 2027, was indefinitely postponed in April 2026, so the older figures still control.7 A serious pedestrian injury easily costs more than $25,000, and a driver carrying only the minimum may not have other assets worth pursuing.
This is where your own policy can matter more than the driver's. Every auto liability policy issued in Nebraska must include uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage of at least $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident, and a driver is not allowed to reject it outright, under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 44-6408.8 If the person who hit you had no insurance or only the state minimum, the UM/UIM coverage on your own auto policy, or on that of a relative you live with, can apply even though you were walking. In many Nebraska pedestrian cases, the practical settlement is whatever you can stack from the driver's limits plus your own UM/UIM.
What Nebraska lets you collect, and what it will not
On the compensatory side, Nebraska puts no cap on an ordinary injury claim. You can pursue past and future medical expenses, lost income, lost earning capacity, and pain and suffering without any statutory ceiling. The $2.25 million cap people sometimes hear about comes from the Hospital-Medical Liability Act and applies only to medical malpractice, not to a pedestrian crash.
What Nebraska will not give you is punitive damages. It is one of the few states that bars them completely. The Nebraska Supreme Court grounded that rule in the state constitution in Miller v. Kingsley, 194 Neb. 123, 230 N.W.2d 472 (1975), because Neb. Const. art. VII, § 5 directs penalties and fines to the public schools rather than to an injured plaintiff.9 So even if the driver was drunk or looking at a phone, your recovery is measured by your actual losses, and a jury cannot add anything on top to punish the driver. Nebraska's handheld ban makes reading or typing a text while driving illegal, and although it is only a secondary offense under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-6,179.01, a violation can still be evidence of the driver's negligence in your claim.10 If a bar over-served the driver, know that Nebraska's dram shop statute lets you sue a seller only for serving alcohol to a minor, not an intoxicated adult, under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 53-404.11
The deadlines that can end a claim
You have four years from the date of the crash to file a pedestrian injury lawsuit in Nebraska, under the catch-all injury provision of Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-207(3).12 The same four-year clock covers damage to personal property you had on you, such as a phone or a bicycle, under section 25-207(2).12 Four years sounds generous until an insurer runs out the calendar, and once the deadline passes a court will almost always dismiss the case no matter how strong it was.
One trap catches pedestrians hurt by a badly designed crosswalk or a government vehicle. If a city, county, or the state is a defendant, the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act requires a written claim to the governing body within one year and suit within two years, under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 13-919.13 Those windows are much shorter than the ordinary four years, so a claim against a public body needs attention early.
Putting a number on it
Because there is no lookup table, the value of a Nebraska pedestrian claim is built rather than found. Start with your total documented losses. Subtract whatever share of fault an insurer can attach to you under the 50 percent rule. Then measure the result against the coverage actually on the table, the driver's limits plus any UM/UIM you can reach. Clear liability and strong medical records push the figure up; disputed fault and thin insurance pull it down.
The police crash report is where the fault analysis starts, and you can get yours through our Nebraska crash report guide. Because insurers count on injured pedestrians not knowing these rules, it is worth having a Nebraska personal injury attorney look at the file before you accept any offer.
This article is general information about Nebraska law, not legal advice.
Sources
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Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Fatality Facts 2024: State by state (Nebraska). https://www.iihs.org/research-areas/fatality-statistics/detail/state-by-state
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Nebraska Department of Insurance, Important Auto Insurance and Types of Coverage. https://doi.nebraska.gov/important-auto-insurance-and-types-coverage
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Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-21,185.09. https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=25-21,185.09
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Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-6,153 (pedestrians' right-of-way in crosswalk). https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=60-6,153
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Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-6,154 (crossing at other than crosswalks). https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=60-6,154
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Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-6,109 (drivers to exercise due care with pedestrian). https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=60-6,109
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Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-509 (minimum liability limits). https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=60-509
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Neb. Rev. Stat. § 44-6408 (uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage). https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=44-6408
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Neb. Const. art. VII, § 5; Miller v. Kingsley, 194 Neb. 123, 230 N.W.2d 472 (1975). https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/articles.php?article=VII-5
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Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-6,179.01 (handheld device ban). https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=60-6,179.01
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Neb. Rev. Stat. § 53-404 (dram shop liability). https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=53-404
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Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-207. https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=25-207
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Neb. Rev. Stat. § 13-919 (Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act time limits). https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=13-919