Help! Rec. Lawyer in L.A.; For Family Vehic. Homicide

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jack Kelly @ Aug 15 2006, 03:05 PM) [snapback]303690[/snapback]</div>

This is so tragic. Her irresponsibility has forever changed the families of both men plus her own. I'm sure her parents are putting themselves into financial peril to raise bail money they'll never see again. Plus lawyer's fees to defend her. They'll have a much more difficult time with a lawyer and so there will be a financial burden there as well. And your niece's family now have no husband and Father. The family of the poor samaritan is also suffering.

I'm wondering if her Dad's position will work in her favor. I'm thinking not. Fair or not, you'd expect a policeman's family to know better. Driving drunk? Hit and run? She so should have known better. Of course being that drunk of course she wasn't thinking. Plus probably really scared of what her Dad would do to her. Expired license? I suppose thats only a small bit better than a suspended license. Still, its not like her parents didn't know when her birthday was. My parents were well aware of when my license expired and I never heard the end of it until I could prove I had renewed it. Nagging is part of parenthood. (Please correct me if I'm wrong, then adopt me.) If it can be proved she's been drunk before or driven while drunk before, it will be much worse.

I find it difficult to believe that killing two men, leaving the scene and the rest only total 13 years. And there's no reason she shouldn't be tried as an adult, she's old enough and knows better.

I'm glad someone on Priuschat could help you. This is a wonderful community of knowledgable, compassionate people.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jack Kelly @ Aug 8 2006, 04:53 PM) [snapback]299883[/snapback]</div>

Jack, I am truly sorry for your family's loss. One of my sisters was killed by a drunk driver last year, and our experience was that (because the woman who killed her was rather poor) the only monetary compensation was from my sister's uninsured/underinsured bodily injury coverage. Fortunately, my sister had significantly above the minimum required--but that in no way compensates for her death. FWIW her insurance company paid the maximum of the policy limits with no questions asked (death being the ultimate "injury"). If the drunk driver had had higher policy limits than my sister (which of course she didn't), then my sister's family would have collected that higher amount.

If there is no money to be obtained from the other driver personally (or parents) in a civil suit, you don't need a lawyer to get money from the driver's (or your niece's) insurance company (although since they weren't "in" the car when it happened, it may be different than in my sister's case). When you hear of multi-million dollar insurance settlements, I believe it's generally against businesses (and they carry MUCH higher limits on insurance policies than individuals).

I