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My 3-year old darted out in front of two illegally parked vehicles and was hit by a delivery truck that was driving a bit over the posted speed. My son remains in a coma. Who is liable?
This is a situation where there are so many possible parties that may be found to be at least partially at fault that it becomes difficult to weigh out all the factors.
Your son was of an age where he would not have necessarily understood the dangers of darting out into the street without looking for traffic. It can be argued that he should have been under the supervision of an adult, or at least an older child, and that whoever was supervising him is partially liable for not properly supervising him.
The owners of the two illegally parked vehicles may be partially at fault for creating a dangerous situation for your child by parking illegally. While the owners may not have foreseen that their illegal parking would cause an accident, they may be found to have taken the risk that such a thing would happen by ignoring the parking regulations in the area.
The driver of the delivery truck may also be partially liable for your son’s injuries. He was speeding, if only slightly, but maybe even that relatively small increase of speed prevented him from avoiding your son. Furthermore, it could be argued that he was not driving with enough attention to the road – that the illegally parked vehicles obstructing his view should have warned him that he needed to take particular caution to avoid an accident.
And finally, if it is found that the illegally parked cars had been parked for a long period of time, had been observed by local law or parking enforcement, and had not been removed, the city might be held liable for failure to correct an illegal situation that resulted in the injuries to your son. This is the least likely avenue of liability; however, as the argument would be that the city had some type of premises liability for those parking spots. This is not easy to prove in your case.
With so many legal options, you need your own attorney to sort out which parties may be liable and how your case should be structured to maximize your recovery. |
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