Driver kills boy, sues family for 1 million dollars

[Rednog]

So the family nice enough to not press charges against the driver who killed their son (and injured his friends) is getting sued by the driver for 1 million.

There are no words.

I'm sorry what?
Please indicate to me where the family didn't do anything post accident...maybe you missed the part where they are suing her for damages, and they have no right to press charges because the police cleared the woman of any wrong doing and the fault lies with the kids. The parents instead turned around and tried to sue the pants off the woman and rake her over the coals, the only thing to do was to file counter suit.
So yea there's plenty of words that almost everyone in this thread should be reading before they go off on thread that was basically created to pull in views.

 

[tangoprime]

This took place in Canada, and they have their own universal health care system. I apologize if this gets in the way of the standard US bashing.

Really?
In that case, I must do another 3 minute google search.

(3 minutes later)

Here's the gist of it:

"Cameron has launched a routine lawsuit against the driver, mainly for medical and funeral costs on behalf of the boys and their families. He alleges Simon was speeding and may have been intoxicated and talking on her cellphone."

If there are no medical bills to pay then why make it part of the case?
Also, the allegations have been dismissed by the police and they have pretty much stated that mostly the kids were at fault here so it's kind of a false allegations case as well.

My point was really the bolded part of my comment, the assumption that this was in the United States for some reason followed by comparison of the UK, Poland, and US, when this was clearly not in the United States. *I* didn't say that there were no medical bills, I was simply refuting your claim that this has anything to do with the healthcare system in the US, since, y'know, it happened in Toronto.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

Suing the family is still a dick move.

She's counter suing because the family sued her first, even though the police didn't hold her at fault.

 

[Vivi22]

If you hit a kid and kill them, it's kinda YOUR fault isn't it.

It really depends on if the dead kid did anything negligent which would have been a direct cause of his death. I'm not saying he did, but just because you hit someone with your vehicle does not automatically mean you're guilty of a crime.

 

[Ninmecu]

"A South Simcoe Police report shows Simon admitted that she was driving at 90 km/h in an 80 km/h zone on the two-lane road.

As a Canadian driver who lives in the same region, I can inform you that driving 10 km/h over the limit is standard operating procedure unless in heavy traffic conditions. I've had people up my ass for dozens of kilometres for having the gall to drive the speed limit in heavy rain. It's pretty bad on grey days with lots of rain because the most popular colour choice on cars here is various shades of grey, so they're impossible to see without daytime running lights.

I was going to say the same-though I live a hundred or so KM to the east of Ottawa. 10km/h over speed limit is laughable. You can call it "speeding" from a legal standpoint but the reality is that's paltry, I've seen(And been in vehicles with) people driving 30-40 over speed limit.(Not saying it's smart, just pointing out the fact that 10km/h is not 10Mile/h)

On topic:

Having read all of the comments and doing a few minutes due diligence after my intial "Dafuq?" reaction. The majority of you amuse the everliving hell out of me. For a forum that seems to try and shoot any sjw's on sight, you guys just take a sensationalistic title at face value and create suppositions based on that. Nice. I've been on roads of similar size/shape in similar county terrain, fact is they don't put lights or anything of that nature on those roads, all you've got is, at best, your brights. If the teenagers in question were riding around without proper reflective clothing or anything of that nature, they're at fault. It sucks that one of them is dead, but face the facts, the driver is not at fault and in fact has, in my opinion, a right to sue for compensation for her mental stability. The fact that we've got a distinctly biased "He said she said" when the police investigators didn't press charges just further lends a lack of credibility to grieving parents, whom, let's face it, aren't exactly going to be paragons of unbiased opinions on the matter.

In short, Sensationalistic title is Sensationalistic.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

I'm not sure that the family should be suing the driver for funeral expenses, when the driver was not charged at all, and the kids were clearly being very irresponsible. That being said, the driver sure as hell shouldn't be suing the kids and their families for $900k. That's just ridiculous.

It is interesting that the driver's husband, who is also a police officer, was driving right behind her at the time of the accident. That'd be a pretty handy way to cover up any wrong-doing on her part (there are rumors she had been drinking beforehand). I know families of officers in the US tend to have the law on their side. I imagine that is pretty standard around the world.

 

[HardkorSB]

My point was really the bolded part of my comment, the assumption that this was in the United States for some reason followed by comparison of the UK, Poland, and US, when this was clearly not in the United States.

I really wanted to find out what the case was really about so I didn't even read where it happened (3 minute search
I know that Canada has a universal healthcare system of some sort so when I saw that they were suing the driver for medical bills, I thought of the US since from what I know, it's quite common to do that there, given their healthcare situation.

My bad, it happens.

 

[Vykrel]

Now i don't know how the law is in the united states, but over here in germany people are responsible for their driving.
A car is a weapon and highly deadly, if your driving one, your responsible 100%.
If your hitting or killing a person with your driving it's YOUR FAULT. It's not the dead persons fault.
If your riding your bike not safely, then your endangering yourself.
If you drive irresponsibly then your breaking the law.
I am just baffled that i even have to explain this.

that sounds downright silly. you realize that just because you hit someone doesnt mean you were driving recklessly, dont you? there is such a thing as irresponsible pedestrians.

you know why cycling at night is discouraged? because it is unsafe. you know why it is recommended you wear bright clothing and wear reflectors if you ARE cycling at night? so you dont get hit by someone who CANNOT SEE YOU IN TIME TO STOP.

and do you really think that biking dangerously only endangers yourself? it causes accidents. what if she managed to swerve out of the way at the last moment and avoided hitting these kids, leading to a different outcome in which only she died? would it still be 100% her fault?

now, im not saying she is completely absolved of any wrongdoing, but dont act like the outcome was entirely on her.

 

[TheMigrantSoldier]

I remember hearing about how some guy tried to sue a family after a girl and her tricycle had the nerve to be in the way of his car. He withdrew the case, though, not out of decency but fear. I used to think that maybe it was just an exaggeration and an urban legend. Guess not.

I mean the driver got away with killing another person (unintentionally or not). It amazes me how people love to tempt fate.

 

[x EvilErmine x]

Hmmm

1) Source link is Fox news, a well known bastion for impartial and non sensationalist news who always deliver ALL of the facts about a story.

2) She is counter-suing, basically she is suing because the family is suing because she was not charged by the police.The aim is not to get a pay out but to stop the victims family's lawsuit.

3) The cyclists had no hi-vis clothing, nether did they have lights or even extra reflectors. They were wearing dark couloured clothing and cycling on an unlit country road in the middle of the night. So they did nothing to help them selves stand out and be noticeable to drives.

All in all,

Click bait fox new story is click bait? Check. Moral outrage and unjustified hate? Check. Jumping to conclusions without knowing all the facts? Check.

It's tragic that kids are dead but there is no justification for the witch hunt that this story is becoming.

 

[Lazy Kitty]

Am I reading this right? First she murders a kid and then she sues the family?
Seriously, if this works, the judge and jury deserve to be nailed to a cross and left to die and rot, somewhere along the side of a busy road for everyone to see.
The driver deserves it already.

 

[Chemical Alia]

I understand that it would be traumatic to accidentally kill someone.

But I don't see why there is always money being attached to these experiences. It's always money..

Also, what lawyer would ever take this case, surely its nigh impossible to bring a jury round to your side on this one?

Back when I was in high school, my little cousin who was 10 at the time was walking home from school one day with his mom. They was a group of students/parents crossing the street when one of the school buses drove in reverse on accident and hit them. Two little kids ended dying instantly, including my cousin, and my aunt was injured as well.

Afterwards, they learned that the driver wasn't even the actual driver, but his elderly mom. There were no back-up beep equipped on the school bus as per the law, and the whole thing was pretty negligent all around. My aunt and her husband still chose not to sue anyone, neither the school district (tax payers), nor the driver. They felt the driver and his family had gone through enough, themselves. It's something that my high-school self didn't really get at the time; it seemed like they should have been entitled to a lot of compensation for that tragedy.

I have no doubt that that lady went through a lot of emotional distress over the accident, but to seek compensation at the expense of the family, who are undoubtedly suffering even more is completely without compassion.

Also, whenever someone sues the city, police department, school, etc. for a huge amount of money over a tragedy, I always feel it's a little shitty for the taxpayers who are going to be taking up responsibility for that money. Even when it's obviously deserved, it just never sits totally well with me.

 

[CaptainMarvelous]

If, however, you're driving along a highway, someone jumps off a bridge into your path and you hit them, is it 100% your fault? ...no. No, it is not. It's not even 10% your fault.

Uhh.. yes it is? If you don't even react then you weren't paying due care and attention to begin with. Because the only way they're going to be able to jump into the path of your car is if you're either a) gridlocked in which case, yeah, you aren't at fault in the same way you aren't if someone headbutts your parked car or b) not paying attention to the guy STANDING ON A BRIDGE LIKE HE'S GOING TO JUMP INTO TRAFFIC

It's not 100% your fault but it's more than 10. Just about every traffic accident I can imagine the lowest you can get it is 40-50% the driver's fault.

 

[DANEgerous]

If you are the driver I have to say even given your best case scenario you do not deserve a damn thing, I do not care if the kid was head straight at you on a black bike in all black with black face on you still can not sue for emotional trauma. While this is not even close to that extreme it does sound like an unavoidable accident where the child had very low visibility on a main road and he is expected to watch for traffic,he is not off the hook just because he was young and or on a bike. It sounds mostly like she hit the kid who was ridding his bike in a highly unsafe manner an no one is at fault this is a tragic accident no claims are awarded.

 

[Colour Scientist]

Am I reading this right? First she murders a kid and then she sues the family?
Seriously, if this works, the judge and jury deserve to be nailed to a cross and left to die and rot, somewhere along the side of a busy road for everyone to see.
The driver deserves it already.

She didn't murder anyone.

I swear, do people even read these threads?

 

[The Bucket]

Im not even going to open the article, almost all of the big "crazy lawsuits" stories are exaggerated and twisted by page grabber trash news sites