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Originally Posted by Ryan Coke
Do you feel every mistake you make in a day is negligent? If so, I understand your position, but to me people make mistakes all the time, most of them minor, and of the major mistakes most don’t have tragic consequences. I don’t consider all of those negligent.
Based on what I know, he made a simple mistake that had tragic consequences, he was not willfully, grossly, criminally negligent in my mind.
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If it causes someone else harm - a mistake by you is negligent on your part (in most cases at least). The driver was clearly negligent... it's to what degree should that be punished. Most accidents without intent are just dealt with financially - it's why we have insurance. Insurance may not cover all of it.... when you buy insurance, all you're really doing is buying (or transferring) your liability (a specific amount in most cases) for damages that your negligent for on to a third party provider (insurance company)... that's the one component of insurance that is required by law. (there are other component's to your policy - like covering yourself for loss - but that's not applicable here). You also don't need insurance - if you have the money, you can put up a bond with the government and self-insure, most just don't have the resources for that.
My point is this: The vast majority of losses from accidents are well under that limit (say 2 million)... so most policies only cover you for that... but if you were liable for someone else's losses that are more then your policy covers - they can then come after you for the difference. This truck obviously required more insurance then a regular car or truck does, but I'm almost certain that the amount of damages in this case would exceed all the insurance limits - so the driver and his company are liable for a great deal more - this accident will certainly bankrupt the company and certainly the driver... and depending on the structure of the business, the liability could flow through to the owners and their personal assets (owners house(s) and more) as well - all the lawyers will be working hard to get an in to those - this is why it so important to structure your business properly to limit your liability to those in the business only).
These people (driver, truck company owner) and their families will feel the financial pressure of this one accident in many ways for many years.