Tow Truck Driver Kills Veteran in Fiery Truck Accident Crash
The family of a military veteran has filed a personal injury wrongful death lawsuit against a tow truck driver and the company they worked for after their loved one was killed in a traffic accident. According to the lawsuit, the tow truck driver was not paying attention when he rear-ended another vehicle and caused a 9-car pileup. The 27-year-old military veteran was killed in the crash, which caused several of the cars to start on fire. Thus far, no other plaintiffs have stepped forward to file suit against the tow truck company.
Elements of negligence
In this case, the tow truck driver rear-ended another vehicle. While it’s a myth that all rear-end accidents are the fault of the driver who did the rear-ending, it is true that the vast majority of cases involving rear-end accidents are caused by drivers who simply failed to pay attention to the road. In the case of large commercial trucks, these trucks can’t stop as quickly as typical commuter vehicles. Drivers, especially of big rigs, must slow to a halt and therefore, need to pay added attention to the road so that they can anticipate stops. Rear-end accidents involving large commercial trucks are common on U.S. highways. These accidents can often turn fatal. When they occur, they are almost always the fault of the truck driver who failed to stop in time.
Such accidents occur most frequently in work zones and when traffic has slowed down. The driver of the commercial truck fails to react in time causing a rear-end chain-reaction accident that leaves several people injured and causes a significant amount of property damage.
Wrongful death lawsuits involving commercial trucks
When a member of the public is killed by a large commercial truck, the family can file a wrongful death lawsuit against the trucking company alleging that they are responsible for the death. Such lawsuits can recover damages for the loss of financial support to the family, the victim’s pain and suffering, and the family’s emotional grief at the loss of their loved one.
The family must be able to establish that the truck driver was negligent and therefore liable for the crash. This is achieved by establishing that they violated a rule of traffic or otherwise failed in their duty of care to operate their truck safely.
In the case mentioned above, the most likely scenario is that the truck driver was not paying attention to traffic that had stalled in front of him. He failed to stop in time, striking another vehicle and causing a chain-reaction collision that left 9 cars damaged. This, in turn, caused a fire which did significant property damage to the other cars and may have caused further injury. It is likely that the tow truck company is liable for this accident.
Talk to a Tampa, FL Truck Accident Injury Attorney Today
If you have lost a loved one in an accident involving a large commercial truck, call the Tampa auto accident attorneys at The Matassini Law Firm. We can help investigate the accident and prove that the driver was negligent, recovering damages for your lost financial support and emotional grief. Call today to learn more.
Source:
kvia.com/news/2023/11/16/family-of-veteran-files-wrongful-death-lawsuit-against-driver-and-towtruck-company-after-fiery-9-car-crash/
