City responsible, pays $1.8 million in wrongful death settlement to survivors of motorcycle accident victim
We have written with some frequency on our Las Vegas accident and injury news site about what families can do to pursue civil action after the preventable loss of a family member to another individual’s negligence or wrongdoing. Common examples include lawsuits that would be filed on behalf of surviving family members of mine workers lost in a Nevada mine collapse, or the parents of a child killed due to the malfunction of an unsafe toy or defective baby car seat. This week, the tragic story of a man killed while driving home sheds light on another type of Nevada wrongful death scenario.
In this sad case, a 58-year-old husband and father was killed when his motorcycle struck the rear of a sedan that had turned left in front of him on a portion of the Pacific Coast Highway. The driver of the sedan — a young woman of 17 years of age — had mistaken a green light at the traffic signal for forward-moving traffic as a right-of-way for her to make a left from the highway onto a smaller street. The motorcyclist — also seeing a green light — acted with right-of-way as well and was unable to swerve away from the motor vehicle accident that killed him.
In cases where a person is killed in an automobile crash that is not his or her own fault, other entities are pursued for wrongful death action. Where there is evidence that a vehicle malfunction is to blame, legal action may be brought against the car manufacturer for unsafe product liability. Where another driver was at fault, a civil suit may target that person’s wrongdoing. But in this case, a young, inexperienced driver made a reasonable interpretation of a dangerously ambiguous situation. The lawsuit pursued by the surviving wife and child of the deceased motorcyclist placed the blame on municipal traffic officials for failing to invest in traffic controls that could have prevented this and two subsequent accidents. The intersection in question had been the site of a large number of accidents out of proportion with the level of traffic it gets.
If you have lost a loved one in a Nevada motorcycle accident or other car crash, contact us today to learn about your legal options. No two cases are the same, but what all families deserve is the chance to have their wrongs righted and their lives set back on track. Call us today for an appointment.
