Articles Posted in Auto & Car Accidents

Columbia, S.C. , September 19, 2011 – A recent national report’s findings that South Carolina’s rural roads are the most deadly in the nation should serve as a reminder to transportation officials and motorists about the importance of proper road maintenance and responsible behavior behind the wheel, Columbia injury lawyer Bert Louthian said today.

The nonprofit transportation research group TRIP found that South Carolina had the highest percentage of deaths on rural roads in 2009, according to the most recent statistics. Nearly 900 people were killed on rural routes in the state.

“It’s a disturbing finding,” said Louthian, a personal injury and wrongful death attorney who represents clients throughout South Carolina who have been hurt or killed in car, truck and other motor vehicle accidents.

The family of a 14-year-old Bensalem, Pennsylvania girl who was killed in a 2004 hit-and-run crash while she was trying to cross a road has been awarded $2.9 million by a Bucks County judge. The case was decided without a jury.

The 21-year-old driver that struck the girl was driving with a suspended license and was found to be intoxicated at the time of the crash. The police did not charge him with DUI-related hit-and-run saying that road condition and other factors, not his drunkenness, caused the crash. The driver, however, was sentenced to three to six years in a state prison for the accident, and is currently in jail.

The family of the deceased brought a civil trial against the driver and the owner of the vehicle the man was driving. According to PhillyBurbs.com, the judge awarded the plaintiffs $697,749.92 in wrongful death damages against both defendants; $1.5 million in survival action damages against both defendants; $600,000 in punitive damages against the driver; and $150,000 in punitive damages against the car’s owner.

Two women, who suffered permanent injuries after an automobile accident with an assistant district attorney in Los Angeles who was driving drunk, agreed to a $1.2 million settlement in a civil lawsuit against the woman. The two women had already been awarded more than $1 million in compensatory damages by a jury.

The assistant DA had a BAC of .26, more than three times the legal limit, and admitted that she knew she was drunk. She decided to drive anyway in hopes that she would get home without getting caught. In the April 2010 accident, she rear-ended the two women near Long Beach, CA resulting in one woman suffering back injuries, facial scars and lost teeth, and the other suffering from back injuries.

The women had sought $2 million, but agreed to the settlement to avoid a second trial and to get immediate payment.

A settlement was reached over a February auto accident in Whiteford Township, Michigan where three people were killed in a head-on crash. The family of one of the deceased, the driver of a Jeep, will be paid $250,000 by the husband of the driver of a Ford F-250 pickup that lost control on an icy road and crashed into the Jeep.

Both drivers were pronounced dead at the scene. A passenger in the Jeep was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The family that filed the lawsuit agreed to settle the suit for the $250,000 limit on the insurance policy. Their attorney subsequently agreed to limit his attorney fees to $20,000, as opposed to a third of the settlement that is standard practice.

The family of two children that died in November 2006 in a head-on collision on Highway 12 near Fairfield, California has been awarded $29.2 million by a Solano County jury. The driver of an SUV crossed the center line and slammed into the oncoming passenger car leaving the two children dead, one child paralyzed from the waist down and the mother, and driver of the car, in the hospital for 2 months recovering from her injuries.

The driver of the SUV was traveling close to 80 MPH and attempted to pass two vehicles in a no-passing zone. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison. He was found 65% liable in the case, but due to his limited insurance coverage the state will pay the majority of the award.

The state was found 35% responsible in the case for unsafe conditions on the roadway. Since 1994 there have been 100 crossover collisions, and more than 40 deaths on the same stretch of road as this accident, according to the victim’s attorney. Caltrans had identified the road as hazardous in the late 1990’s but did not improve the roadway until 2007.

A lawsuit has been filed by an East Texas woman against Austin A. McWhorter, Lon McWhorter and Mac’s Carnival and Attractions after a trailer carrying carnival equipment detached from its Ford truck and hit her vehicle on May 14, 2009.

The woman was a passenger in a 2008 Dodge Ram when the incident happened. The lawsuit alleges the defendants were negligent in failing to use safety chains, failing to control the vehicle and for entrusting the truck to an unlicensed, incompetent or reckless driver, among other things.

Damages for medical expenses, physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, disfigurement, loss of earning capacity, interest and court costs are being sought by the plaintiff.

NewsandSentinel.com reports a Parkersburg, West Virginia family has been awarded $1.68 million by a jury for injuries suffered in a 2009 auto accident.

The family of a 17-year-old who died in a vehicle accident in Enfield, Connecticut last year has filed a lawsuit against the driver, and the driver’s father, Democratic State Rep. Matthew Conway, reports CTnow.com.

In what court officials say is the largest settlement in Outagamie County, WI court history, The Post Crescent reports the family of a 4 year old girl will receive a $20 million settlement.

Georgia’s WTVM reports the family of a 20-year-old who died as the result of a fatal church van crash has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the maker of the 1986 Dodge van.