Car owner gets sued after lube tech kills mechanic with his car at dealership

Wolf359 said:
That might be workman's compensation. The guy died on the job so you collect from workman's compensation.

www.findlaw.com

Death at Work: Workers' Comp or Wrongful Death Claim? - FindLaw

Prosecutors charged Bumble Bee Foods and two managers after a worker was cooked to death in an industrial oven along with six tons of tuna. Plant Operations Director Angel Rodriguez and former safety manager Saul Florez could face 3 years in prison and the Bumble Bee could pay $1.5 million in...
www.findlaw.com www.findlaw.com
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Did you know you can sue Workers Compensation ?
 
FOX 2: "You must be suing the dealership?"
"We can't because of a legal standard that is involved," the lawyer said.
That's because the accident happened at work and involved two employees and you can't sue the boss in that situation.
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If anything, the family of the victim should be filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the person tying to drive the car. They might also be able to sue the dealership for letting an employee try to operate a potentially dangerous machine (the car) that he had no experience or training operating while on the job. It's completely ridiculous trying to sue the car owner for someone else's actions. Any physical damages done to the dealership (if there were any), should be covered by the dealerships insurance because the accident happened on dealership property by a dealership employee.
 
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Puhdantic said:
Someone on another place brought up an interesting thought.

The insurance may handle this, but won't this end up increasing the guy's rates? Looks like he still might get shafted one way or the other..
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Just like if someone stole your car and crash & kill others in an accident. It "may" increase but it really depends. In the end depends on lawsuit outcome the dealer may end up paying for it or the owner auto insurance may sue the dealer's insurance for this.
 
alarmguy said:
Makes sense to me, car was involved in an accident, killed someone, doesnt matter who was driving it.
I think people mistake the words "car owner being sued" as personal. When you own a car and it kills someone the car can not be sued. The person INSURED gets sued.
In case you do not know, if you lend your car, lets say a neighbor, and he kills someone with your car, YOU get sued and your insurance company handles it.

I see nothing wrong with this lawsuit.
1. Car owners car kills someone
2. Attorney sues car owner which I am sure is very upsetting as I am sure the owner is already knowing someone was killed.
3. Car owner insurance company handles it
4. Car owners insurance company pays whatever a jury or judge awards.
5. Car owners insurance company, after paying the damages can go after someone like the auto dealer or anyone else.

This is why you carry insurance.
It is not going to be tossed out of court, its a legitimate claim.
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Totally varies by state. Blanket statement much?
 
ZeeOSix said:
If anything, the family of the victim should be filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the person tying to drive the car. They might also be able to sue the dealership for letting an employee try to operate a potentially dangerous machine (the car) that he had no experience or training operating while on the job. It's completely ridiculous trying to sue the car owner for someone else's actions. Any physical damages done to the dealership (if there were any), should be covered by the dealerships insurance because the accident happened on dealership property by a dealership employee.
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First rule of lawsuit, you only sue someone who has money to pay or settle. Say you win, then what? you cannot collect anything and is wasting everyone's time.

Which is why insurance is mandatory these days so there's always something to sue for.
 
PandaBear said:
First rule of lawsuit, you only sue someone who has money to pay or settle. Say you win, then what? you cannot collect anything and is wasting everyone's time.

Which is why insurance is mandatory these days so there's always something to sue for.
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The family might be able to sue the dealership for letting someone operate equipment they weren't qualified to operate. If so, the dealership's insurance may be the ones paying out up to whatever limits the dealership's policy covers.
 
Dinoburner said:
If the Jeep owner is covered for up to $ 500,000 and the settlement is 1,000,000 who pays the overage
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That's usually settled by the insurance. They may offer 500k if they don't go for more. But if there's a court judgement for 1 million and coverage is only 500k, then the owner pays the other 500k. This may be a good reason to get an umbrella policy. Those can be in the $200-$900 range or more depending on what insurance you already have and how much coverage you buy.
 
Dinoburner said:
If the Jeep owner is covered for up to $ 500,000 and the settlement is 1,000,000 who pays the overage
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It is going to be bargaining. As I mentioned you cannot collect what the other guy doesn't have, and if you spend a lot of time dragging it out you are wasting lawyer time for no gain. Lawyers aren't charity, they are not there to bring justice, just to make a buck.

Most lawsuits are settled and lawyers and judges bargain to get things done in a cost effective way in the end.
 
javacontour said:
I didn't get that it was about workmans comp, but that it was about the owner of vehicles are responsible through some Michigan legal principle called vicarious liability.


It has nothing to do with workman's comp, but that the owner of the vehicle is responsible.

I'd say the law needs an amendment that relieves an owner of vicarious liability if the vehicle is in the hands of a business such as a dealership, repair shop, valet, etc.

I can certainly see vicarious liability if you loan your car to a friend or neighbor or family member. Makes sense. When you place your vehicle in the hands of your dealership, it makes no sense.

But I didn't see this as being a quirk in the WC laws, but rather the vicarious liability statutes in MI.
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Workman's comps says an employee (or their principals) cannot sue a fellow employee for damages incurred in the workplace.
 
alarmguy said:
It’s more like the vehicle killed somebody and as the owner of the vehicle you are responsible which is why you carry insurance.
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The vehicle is a tool. Operator negligence caused harm. It was not being driven, it was being operated
in a facility. I see the business as being at fault. The Business has an under-trained employee performing a task he was unsuited for.

I had a similar incident when I was a young mechanic. I reached in to start a car that I had just tuned up and it lurched forward. It was a manual. The Neutral Safety Switch was not operational and I had left the car in gear. Luckily it didn't start, but it moved a foot almost hitting the front work bench. I leaned a life lesson that day.
- Ken
 
The owner is always liable for the actions of the driver is the claim…

Which then lets the theiving insurance companies charge premiums on cars that in situations like mine, there aren’t enough drivers for the cars we have.

It’s beyond stupid. Just an approach to steal from the public.

Insurance should be attached to the driver/operator. No operating vehicles without carrying your own insurance. Granted, this situation may result in “off road” use, since it was in a private place of business…. But it would be prudent for a place of business to then require licensed insured drivers to touch vehicles.

This just seems awfully stupid, due to stupid insurance regulations and other laws. And creates a ton of inconvenience and issues for the car owner.

The dealership doesn’t care because they’re absolved of risk/liability, which is just plain ridiculous.
 
ARCOgraphite said:
The vehicle is a tool. Operator negligence caused harm. It was not being driven, it was being operated
in a facility. I see the business as being at fault. The Business has an under-trained employee performing a task he was unsuited for.

I had a similar incident when I was a young mechanic. I reached in to start a car that I had just tuned up and it lurched forward. It was a manual. The Neutral Safety Switch was not operational and I had left the car in gear. Luckily it didn't start, but it moved a foot almost hitting the front work bench. I leaned a life lesson that day.
- Ken
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The person who died is already covered by workers compensation and family will be compensated.
The attorney is now going to make the vehicles insurance company pay.
It will be an interesting outcome but I strongly suspect the owners insurance company will be paying.
This is why you carry insurance, you don’t have to do anything your insurance company handles it all.

Someone can trip and fall on my property today at no fault of my own break their leg or become incapacitated and they will sue me I will do nothing more than make a phone call to the insurance company and they will handle everything.

Smart attorneys also know even if they can’t win a case and insurance company will settle rather than have the expensive of court and unknown outcome.

I didn’t know insurance companies were so loved in BITOG. This is the insurance company job and what you pay them for.
 
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alarmguy said:
The person who died is already covered by workers compensation and family will be compensated.
The attorney is now going to make the vehicles insurance company pay.
It will be an interesting outcome but I strongly suspect the owners insurance company will be paying.
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If i was the vehicle owner, i would also sue the shop, for another vehicle. Do you want to drive a vehicle everyday that you knew was part of another persons death?
 
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