Liability Issues in Multiple Impact Accidents in Florida
In a recent auto accident that resulted in serious injuries and a death in Florida south of Jacksonville, there were multiple vehicles involved and two impacts which resulted in a trial where liability was a hotly contested issue. The crash occurred when the victim approached an intersection with a stop sign. Rather than stopping, she went through the stop sign because she was going to make a U-turn. She made the U-turn but sideswiped a vehicle coming from the other direction. That impact pushed her pretty far down the road until she stopped in the middle of the road. Several seconds later, a semi truck came along and crashed directly into the victim without slowing down or attempting to avoid the vehicle. The victim ultimately died from her injuries.
In an accident with multiple vehicles and more than one impact, liability for the ultimate injuries or death can be a complex issue. In this case, the wrongful death lawyer for the family for the victim who died in the crash would minimize the victim's failure to stop at the U-turn and the initial accident and claim the death was caused by the negligence of the semi truck driver who should have stopped or avoided the victim's vehicle that was stopped in the road for several seconds before the impact. The defense attorney will claim that the victim was negligent by failing to stop prior to the U-turn and hitting the first vehicle which resulted in the victim being stopped in the road in the first place.
These issues of liability can be difficult in multiple impact accidents in a personal injury or wrongful death case. However, even where there is an initial impact or initial negligence by the victim leaving the victim in a vulnerable position, all drivers, particularly semi truck drivers, have a duty to look out for other vehicles and avoid potential accidents regardless of what the other driver is doing or has done if a hazard arises. Since the semi truck driver did not apparently do anything to avoid the victim's car stopped in the road for a period of time, the semi truck driver shares liability for contributing to a serious accident that perhaps could and should have been avoided.
