This section of my website is going to address a car wreck involving my son and his girlfriend. My hope is that by telling you about the ordeal I went through, including a lawsuit just to get the car fixed, it will provide you with insight and practical knowledge on how to get your car repaired after a car wreck in Kentucky.
NOTE: I’m going to spread this example across several pages, so we can focus on specific issues. At the end of each page, I’ll provide a link to the next page.
So first, let me describe the facts of the wreck as they clearly illustrate, why you should not have to file a lawsuit just to get your car fixed.
There are three times in the law wherein you can pretty much guarantee you will be at-fault for the car wreck:
- If you turn left in front of someone and;
- If you hit someone in the rear of their vehicle and;
- If you hit a stopped vehicle.
In my son’s case, both #2 and #3 applied.
Chapter 1: Facts of the Wreck
Throughout my career, I have seen a lot of injuries from car accidents including surgeries, death and loss of limbs. As a result, I research the safety and crash test results of the vehicles I buy. In this case, I put my son in a 2015 Toyota Camry, that I purchased from a friend’s mother, with only 24,000 miles on it.
Well, the car did what it should have and took the hit well. My son and his girlfriend left my house at midnight on a Saturday to pick up an order from McDonald’s. They are standing still at a red light when a 2019 Jeep Compass pushes a Jeep Grand Cherokee, that was also stopped waiting for the red light, into my son’s Toyota Camry which is then pushed into a Ford Mustang.
The commonsense point of view, which is the Jeep Compass that started whole chain reaction is at-fault for the car wreck, and that would be totally correct! However, let’s put this in legal terms, to recover on a personal injury claim or a car damage claim, arising from an automobile wreck, you have to show that the other party was negligent.
Proving Negligence
Negligence has four elements, and you have to prove all four elements to recover on a claim arising from a Kentucky car wreck. Those elements are: a legal duty; breach of that legal duty; causation and; damages. In my son’s case, all those elements were met against the at-fault driver, the Jeep Compass. The driver had a legal duty to keep his vehicle under proper control, he breached that duty or failed in that duty when he allowed his vehicle to collide with another vehicle, that breach of duty caused the damages to the vehicles and their occupants.
If you want to understand car wreck law in Kentucky, I just gave you a slam dunk case wherein the other driver was at-fault under all circumstances. In other words, liability for this car wreck was clear cut and could not be disputed by a reasonable person.
Click here to continue to the next page.
