Legal Advice ?

[Noreaga+]

A female friend of mine recently was involved in an accident.. A truck in front her which was hauling lumber, had a piece of lumber fly off the back of the truck and hit the widshield/roof, completely smashinging the windshield where it hit, concaving the roof and sending a huge crack down the rest of the windshield, all of this right where her head was..luckily it did not penetrate past the windshield or she would have been dead.

Needless to say she is still shaken from all of this... Is there anything that can be done other than just recouping damages to the car? She is unhurt but I woudl like to think the recklessness of the truckdriver/company should be punished by more than just covering damages to the car.

Or is my way of thinking what is wrong with this sue happy country ?

 

[koolzie]

Hello,

I’m a lawyer and recently dealt with a case extremely similar to this.

A lawn service was driving down the road, lawn mower fell off the truck bed and landed on my client’s car. The blade of the lawnmower ended up 2 inches from his head. In his case, he was extremely shaken and still heavily hesitates to even put his car on the road. Your friend will have to prove without a doubt that she has sustained internal damages from the accident. If this can be proven, then she can sue for damages.

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Hope this helps.

 

[daringly]

In which state did it happen?

For your friend to recover her property damage, she just has to show the other driver was negligent, which can pretty much be shown by the fact that a piece of wood flew off.

She *might* be able to pursue "punitive damages" if she can show the driver were reckless, intentional, or "grossly negligent" depending on the state. For example, if this driver never secures his load and had 2 other cars damaged by flying wood on other trips, you might have a chance; or if he was so drunk when loading his truck that he forgot to use a tarp. Without something extra that pisses off a jury though, it is very difficult to win on punitive damages cases.

One other thing your friend can probably recover are rental costs during the time her vehicle is repaired.

Hope this helps.

 

[~Falco~]

Just screw your friend before the lawyers do.

 

[Noreaga+]

thanks for the replies, this happened in Michigan, recouping the costs of damage to the car is not a problem, police were on the scene as well as paramedics and a report was filed.. the driver just claimed a belt broke that was holding down the materials.

 

[wilheim]

Koolzie - welcome to the Rx. Thanks for the input. Hope to see you posting more in the future. I watched the movie "Rainmaker" (based on John Grisham book) last night which sheds a not so flattering light on the legal profession. Excellent cast (Da Vito, Voight, Damon) but a flop at the box office.



Best of luck, wil.

 

[jamesbong]

In addition to the actaul damages, she can sue for special damages (such as the cost of a rental car) and compensatory damages (such as pain and suffering). Punitive damages are unlikely to be awarded in this case because the nature of incident. Also, keep in mind that in order to prevail in the lawsuit, you do not have to prove "without doubt" as was mentioned in an earlier post. You only need to persuade the judge or jury by a preponderance of the evidence. This is a lesser standard of proof than in criminal court and it means that the facts appear more probable one way than the other.

 

[Noreaga+]

Well, this happened thursday, she is still shaken and is still avoiding driving, but she has told me she will never get on the highway again ( this is where the accident happened, she fears being next to or behind a trailer or semi now.. the lumber came off of one of those long trailers)

Will the truck drivers insurance cover cost of a rental or whatever costs she has to assume in not having a car for work until it is fixed, or does that have to be taken up in court?

 

[MadCapper]

of course she can get more...

emotional distress.

she can get a hell of alot more!! huge case man!!

 

[Noreaga+]

I dunno MC, I would be happy if you were right.. just getting some insight before I get on the phone monday morning

 

[Betguy]

don't forget "loss of consortium" if she is married because most likely she will never want to screw in the car again. If not married, then I'm with Falco... you better try to make it with her before the lawyers do... LMFAO!!! :105317756 Betguy :kicking:

 

[ppeter]

Unless she has actual bodily injury (including severe psychological injury), you have no personal injury case. It is simply a property damage case.

 

[quantumleap]

My advice would be to tell your friend to seek the services of an attorney. He/she can tell your friend what damages she can receive. This advice would be much more accurate than us hacks on an anonymous message board.

There's a reason lawyers can charge the outrageous fees that they do. It's because they are worth it.

 

[daringly]

Quantum -

for what it's worth, I practiced law for 9 years in Indiana in civil litigation before pursuing gambling full-time. I was almost exclusively in personal injury litigation (for both plaintiffs and insurance). I had about 30 trials, and have seen all sorts of weird things. I'd hardly call myself a "hack"

 

[TheGeneral+]

Welcome to TheRx.com koolzie