Filing Lost Wages After a Pedestrian Accident in Arlington

Written by Geoffrey Dashner. Read more about the author.

Getting struck by a car on foot changes everything fast. One day you’re walking to your car in a parking lot off Collins Street or crossing at a marked crosswalk near the Entertainment District, and the next you’re in a hospital bed wondering how you’re going to pay your bills while you can’t work. That gap between your last paycheck and your next one — if there even is a next one for a while — is called lost wages, and it’s one of the most concrete financial injuries a pedestrian accident victim can suffer.

At Dashner Law Firm | Arlington Injury & Accident Attorney, I’ve worked with injured pedestrians across Arlington and throughout the DFW Metroplex for years. The questions I hear most in the first meeting aren’t just about pain or fault. They’re about money: “I missed six weeks of work — can I get that back?” The answer is yes, in most cases, but only if you document it correctly and move at the right pace through Texas’s legal and insurance systems.

This post lays out exactly what you need to file for lost wages, how the claim process works, and what your legal options look like in 2026 if the insurance company isn’t playing fair.

What Do You Need to File for Loss of Wages After a Pedestrian Accident in Texas in Arlington?

This is the question I get asked almost every week. Here’s a direct answer.

To file a lost wages claim after a pedestrian accident in Arlington, Texas, you need four things working together: proof of the accident, proof of your income, proof that your injuries prevented you from working, and proof of the exact time you missed.

Proof of the accident starts with the police report. In Texas, any crash resulting in injury must be reported to law enforcement under Transportation Code §550.026. Get the report number from Arlington PD or the responding agency immediately. The at-fault driver’s insurance company will want this before they’ll take any wage claim seriously.

Proof of income is where people often stumble. If you’re a W-2 employee, gather your last three to six months of pay stubs. A letter from your employer on company letterhead — stating your hourly rate or annual salary, your average weekly hours, and the specific dates you were absent — carries significant weight. The insurance adjuster will scrutinize this letter, so it needs to be precise, not vague.

If you’re self-employed, the standard is different and harder. The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks income data that can sometimes support claims, but for independent contractors, freelancers, and business owners, you’ll need two to three years of tax returns (Schedule C specifically), 1099s, and bank statements showing consistent income. A letter from an accountant helps. I’ve seen adjusters try to deny self-employed wage claims simply because the claimant only submitted one year of returns. Don’t give them that opening.

Proof of medical causation is non-negotiable. A doctor must state in writing — not just imply — that your injuries made it physically impossible or medically inadvisable for you to work during the claimed period. If your physician releases you to “light duty” but your job requires heavy lifting, get a letter that specifically addresses your job requirements. Texas courts and insurance companies both pay attention to whether the restrictions match the actual work being claimed as missed.

Proof of specific dates missed means a timeline that connects the accident date to each day or week of absence. Work with your employer’s HR department to get a formal record of your absences tied to the accident. If you used PTO or sick leave while you were recovering, you can still claim that time — those were earned benefits you were forced to spend on injuries caused by someone else.

Once you have all of this, the lost wages claim gets submitted as part of your overall personal injury demand to the at-fault driver’s liability insurer. In Texas, the at-fault driver’s insurance is the primary source of compensation because the state follows a traditional fault-based system, not no-fault. If the driver was uninsured, you’d file under your own uninsured motorist coverage if you carry it.

What to Do in the First Hours and Days After a Pedestrian Accident in Texas?

The first 72 hours after a pedestrian accident either build your case or create problems you’ll spend months fixing. Here’s what I tell every client who comes in after the fact wishing they’d done things differently.

Call 911 immediately, even if you feel okay. Adrenaline masks pain. I’ve had clients walk away from a crash feeling fine and discover a fractured vertebra two days later. The police report generated at the scene is a foundational document — without it, the other driver’s insurance will dispute nearly everything. While you’re waiting for officers to arrive, photograph the scene, the vehicle, the driver’s license plate, and any skid marks or debris. Get names and phone numbers of anyone who witnessed the crash.

Accept emergency medical treatment. If paramedics arrive, let them evaluate you. Refusing treatment becomes a liability in your claim — insurers will argue your injuries weren’t serious if you walked away without medical attention. Get checked out at a hospital or urgent care center within 24 hours if you’re not taken by ambulance.

Within the first 48 hours, notify your own auto insurer even if you were on foot. Texas insurance policies sometimes include medical payment coverage (MedPay) or uninsured motorist coverage that can apply to pedestrian accidents. Check your policy or call your agent.

Don’t give a recorded statement to the at-fault driver’s insurance company without legal counsel. Their adjuster will call you, sometimes within hours, and will sound friendly and helpful. They’re gathering information to limit your payout. Under Texas law, you’re not obligated to give them a recorded statement, and doing so unrepresented is one of the most common mistakes I see injured pedestrians make.

Document every symptom as it develops. Keep a daily journal. The CDC’s injury data consistently shows that delayed-onset symptoms — particularly involving the spine and brain — are common in pedestrian accidents involving vehicle impact. Your journal becomes evidence of pain and suffering, which affects your overall compensation beyond just wages and medical bills.

How Long Does It Take to Settle an Insurance Claim After a Pedestrian Accident in Texas?

There’s no honest single answer here, but I can give you realistic ranges based on what I’ve seen in 2026.

A straightforward claim — clear fault, moderate injuries with a defined treatment period, a cooperative insurance company — can settle in three to six months. Once you’ve reached what medicine calls “maximum medical improvement” (MMI), meaning your injuries have stabilized and doctors can project your future needs, your attorney can send a demand letter. The insurer has a reasonable period to respond and negotiate.

Complicated claims take much longer. If your injuries are serious — traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage, multiple fractures — the medical picture may not be clear for six to twelve months. Settling before MMI is almost always a mistake. I’ve seen clients accept early settlements that seemed generous, only to realize six months later that their injuries required surgery or long-term care that dwarfed the settlement amount. Once you sign a release in Texas, that’s final.

If the case goes to litigation — meaning we file suit in Tarrant County District Court — the timeline extends further. Texas has a two-year statute of limitations on personal injury claims under Civil Practice & Remedies Code §16.003, but cases that proceed through discovery, depositions, and potential trial can take two to three years from filing to resolution.

The factor that lengthens claims most consistently isn’t complexity — it’s disputes over liability. If the insurance company argues that you were partially at fault for the crash, they’ll use Texas’s modified comparative fault rule, which reduces your compensation by your percentage of fault and bars recovery entirely if you’re more than 50% responsible. Fighting those liability disputes takes time.

How Pedestrians Sue Car Owners After an Accident in Texas?

If the insurance company’s offer doesn’t cover your actual losses, a lawsuit is the next step. Here’s how that process works in Texas.

You file a petition in civil district court — in most Arlington cases, that’s Tarrant County — naming the at-fault driver and, in some situations, additional parties. If the driver was operating a company vehicle, the employer may be liable. If a defective road design contributed, the city or TxDOT could be named. Identifying all responsible parties is something an experienced Texas pedestrian accident lawsuit attorney needs to analyze early.

After filing, both sides conduct discovery. That means exchanging documents, answering written interrogatories, and taking depositions. The driver gets deposed. Sometimes accident reconstruction experts are retained to dispute or confirm how the crash occurred. This phase takes months.

Most pedestrian cases in Texas settle during or after discovery, before trial. Defendants and their insurers usually prefer settlement to the unpredictability of a jury. But some cases do go to trial, and juries in Tarrant County can award significant damages — including medical expenses, lost wages, loss of future earning capacity, pain and suffering, and in cases involving gross negligence, potentially punitive damages.

One thing people don’t always realize: suing the car owner and suing the driver can sometimes be two different things. Texas’s “permissive use” doctrine can hold a vehicle owner liable for damages caused by someone they allowed to drive their car. If the car was owned by a parent, business, or another third party, that expands who you can pursue.

For hit-and-run situations — which unfortunately happen on Arlington streets — a Texas pedestrian hit-and-run attorney can help you pursue your own uninsured motorist coverage and work with investigators and surveillance footage to identify the at-fault driver. These cases are harder, but they’re far from hopeless.

Why You Need a Pedestrian Accident Attorney in Texas?

I’ll be direct about this: Texas personal injury law is not simple, and insurance companies know it better than most injured people do.

FindLaw and Justia both publish general information about personal injury law, and that’s a good starting point for understanding your rights. But reading about the law and navigating it against an insurance company with lawyers on retainer are two very different things.

A pedestrian accident attorney does several specific things that matter to your recovery. First, we investigate before evidence disappears. Skid marks fade. Surveillance footage from gas stations and businesses near the accident scene gets overwritten in days. We send preservation letters immediately to protect that evidence. Second, we calculate your actual damages — not just the easy numbers like medical bills, but loss of future earning capacity if your injuries will affect your work long-term, the cost of ongoing therapy, and the economic value of pain and suffering under Texas’s non-economic damages framework.

Third, we handle the insurance company so you don’t have to deal with adjusters while you’re trying to recover. Insurance companies are experienced at using claimants’ own words against them. Everything you say can and will be used to minimize your payout.

The American Bar Association has long noted that represented claimants typically recover substantially more in personal injury cases than unrepresented ones, even after attorney fees. In pedestrian accident cases, where the injuries tend to be severe because a human body absorbs a vehicle’s full impact, that difference in recovery is often dramatic.

At Dashner Law Firm | Arlington Injury & Accident Attorney, we work on contingency. That means you pay nothing unless we recover for you. There’s no upfront cost and no hourly billing. You can see what our clients say about their experience on our verdicts and settlements page, and learn more about our practice and what we’ve built over the years.

What Happens if Your Injuries Affect More Than Your Current Job?

This comes up more than people expect. A pedestrian who suffers a traumatic brain injury or severe orthopedic damage may not just miss six weeks of work — they may find that they can no longer perform the same job at all. That’s a different legal category called loss of earning capacity, and it’s separate from lost wages.

The NIH and Johns Hopkins Medicine have both published research showing that recovery timelines for moderate-to-severe pedestrian accident injuries frequently exceed six months and can involve permanent functional limitations. When that’s the picture, an attorney works with vocational experts and economists to calculate the projected lifetime income difference between what you would have earned and what you can now earn. That number can be substantial, and it’s fully compensable under Texas law if the negligence is established.

Cornell Law School’s legal database outlines the legal standards for these damages clearly if you want to understand the doctrinal basis. The practical takeaway: don’t assume that because you’ve been released from a hospital, your wage-related damages are capped at the time you actually missed. If your capacity to earn has been permanently reduced, that’s a claim worth pursuing aggressively.

Take Action Before Time Runs Out

Texas’s two-year statute of limitations sounds like a long time, but cases built early are stronger cases. Evidence deteriorates. Witnesses move. Medical records become harder to obtain. And the longer a claimant waits to consult an attorney, the more likely they’ve already said something to an adjuster that complicates their case.

If you or someone close to you was struck by a vehicle while on foot anywhere in or around Arlington, call us before you sign anything, before you give a recorded statement, and before you accept any settlement offer.

You can reach Dashner Law Firm | Arlington Injury & Accident Attorney at (817) 203-8018. Consultations are free. Visit our office at 4275 Little Rd # 205, Arlington, TX 76016, or contact us online to schedule a time that works for you.

We serve clients throughout Texas, from Arlington across the full DFW area, and we handle Texas pedestrian accident cases of all types, including hit-and-run crashes, uninsured driver claims, and cases involving serious or catastrophic injuries. If you’ve been hurt on foot, you have rights — and you have options.