Illinois Truck Accident - Drunk Driver of Auto Dealer Vehicle - Insurance Coverage of Auto Dealership - Negligent Entrustment
After a traumatic motor vehicle accident in Illinois involving a large pickup truck and a smaller sedan with three severly injured passengers, the families of the victims desperately needed a personal injury lawyer and contacted us, we immediately cleared our schedule and traveled to the hospital in Illinois to visit the families.
Our investigation of the truck accident revealed that the driver of the pickup truck was drunk, had several bottles of liquor in his car, and was doing about 80 MPH when he struck the sedan that was coming to a stop to make a turn. The impact from the truck threw the sedan about 150 yards into a ditch and there were no skid marks from the truck evidencing that he did not even touch his brakes. The property damage to the sedan is severe and it is amazing that all of the passengers survived.
We now represent three of the passengers that were in the sedan. Two of the passengers have severe and debilitating injuries. The man in the back seat was trapped in the car for several hours and suffered degloving injuries (removal of the skin from the impact) to his face and has endured a severe and traumatic brain injury. The young girl in the back seat suffered a broken pelvis and broken neck.
When faced with a case such as this a lawyer's primary concern is insurance coverage and if there will be enough to fully compensate our clients, the victims. The sedan driver's insurance may be on the hook as she apparently stopped suddenly and may not have used her turn signal, the injured parties insurance may provide coverage under their medical payments ("Med Pay") coverage, under-insured motorist coverage, and uninsured motorist coverage. The interesting issue will be what insurance we can get to cover for the truck driver's negligence. The driver of the truck was clearly the most negligent and reckless, additionally, he is the son of a local car dealer and the truck had dealer plates on the truck. Therefore, the auto or general liability policy of the auto dealership should cover. Moreover there is a potential case of negligent entrustment of the vehicle by the parents or the dealership potentially allowing access to home owner's or umbrella coverage.
