4 women celebrating upcoming wedding killed when pickup truck strikes limo
[u]http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/07/19/4-women-killed-in-new-york-wine-country-when-suv-strikes-limo/[/u]
“just left nearby Vineyard 48”
It looks like Vineyard 48 is fairly close to Pelligrini and Pindar and Bedell - at least as the crow flies - they’re all down on Route 25.
Terrible story. I have driven on that road. Not very well traveled. The reports are that the limo driver was trying to make a U Turn. However, there is a median in the middle of the road, so it’s far from clear what really happened and whose fault it was, other than definitely NOT the victims, who once again did the right thing by hiring a limo when they might have too much to drink and were killed despite their precautions.
I know people who know people who are heavily invested in the whole limousine/concierge/restaurant/winery/hotel fraternity, and I hear that it’s a very tight-knit group, with a whole lot of “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch your back” relationships, to the point that serious money might change hands in order to push a sufficiently lucrative clientele in one direction or another.
So if you’re ITB, and if you’re thinking about developing a “relationship” with a sole proprietor limo driver, or with an entire limousine company, then you dadgum better make certain that you’re dealing with someone who would never do something so suicidally moronic as to attempt a U-Turn in a stretch, or who would allow his employees to do it, or who would hire the kinds of morons who might even contemplate doing it.
The trial lawyers are going to subpoena all of this stuff - and if they have emails and cellphone texts and cellphone calls which can prove a “relationship” between the limo driver [or limo company] and any employee at the winery - and assuming that there was a U-Turn involved, then this thing is gonna blow up big time.
The limo’s and winery’s insurance companies are going to be looking at a settlement in the tens of millions of dollars.
Did I hear someone say Schadenfreude?
Legions of bottom-dwelling scum-sucking schyster trial lawyers are going to be all over every possible angle of this tragedy.
And if that limo driver did attempt a U-Turn, then they’re actually going to have a nearly airtight case.
And those winery owners had better hope and pray that none of their employees had a “relationship” with the driver.
Haven’t you said that 3 times now.
Olympia, WA - are you ITB?
If so, do you have a formal written policy that your employees are forbidden to develop “relationships” with limo drivers, and that the first offense is an immediate termination of employment?
Honestly, if I were any of the winery owners on the route that day - either the ones who had already been visited, or the ones who were about to be visited - then I would be more than a little anxious about this.
Nathan, what is your interest in this other than as a spectator? Are you ITB?
Nathan is mentally unstable and prone to unhealthy fixation.
I’m just a bottom-dwelling trial attorney though so take what I say with a grain of salt.
I’ve not been to the location of the accident, and I have no way of knowing what actually happened in the accident other than what’s been reported. But so far, the one person who seems to have clear criminal and civil liability is the truck driver who (allegedly) was driving drunk. Based on what’s been reported so far, I don’t see a basis for liability on the party of a winery, but perhaps there’s much more that will come up as the investigation continues.
Bruce
I’m always amused by the antipathy toward personal injury lawyers, especially from my friends of the opposing political spectrum, until they need one. While I don’t do this type of work, I get weekly calls for referrals, including from my friends that were once critical of them, and in favor of tort reform, now all understanding of the important role served.
Sad story all around, not sure why we would let it devolve into bashing here.
We are Berserk!
Terrible tragedy. Truly unfortunate that Nathan picked up on it and decided to go on one of his mindless rants.
I think Nathan may have said it one too many times or doesn’t know how the civil courts work here, but I gotta agree on one thing. Despite legislation//decisions in some states, that U-turn is the primary collision factor. Drunk or sober, minding your own business, driving down the road at or near the speed limit and somebody in a 30 foot long car makes a U-turn in front of you, shit’s gonna happen and you can’t stop it.
Now deep pockets I’m familiar with and maybe that’s what Nathan is getting at or hinting to the attorneys who will be involved that there are deeper pockets than those of the limo driver and the company he works for if he’s not an independent. I have seen enterprising and aggressive attorneys take all avenues to identify and quantify the liability of those not “directly” involved in the event. The easy route is “was the truck driver over served somewhere?” Some states still have laws that pretty much say the DUI is the primary collision factor regardless of the circumstances and if you give the initial media reports any credibility, the truck driver was drunk and caused it.
The limo driver is not being charged with any wrongdoing.
When my daughter-in-law hired a limo for a trip very much like this, she didn’t call a winery asking for recommendations. Anyone suggesting this notion leaves me ![[scratch.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/4/42a16863a8714da3c1604419e3eb9206bb87aa50.gif "scratch"){kind=small}
These girls googled the information, and or used recommendations from friends that have used a limo previously. It makes me sad to know that 4 young woman lost their lives in anticipation of the upcoming wedding. News reports in the NY Metro area haven’t mentioned if the bride to be was killed or not. Edit > she’s alive. Also, the driver of the pickup truck that hit the limo has been charged with DWI.
May they rest in peace. What a shame.
the article in the Times has a diagram of the accident that indicates it was a legal U-turn.
Yeah, everybody hates personal injury lawyers till they need one. 