Driver Seriously Injured in 18-Wheeler Accident in Houston, Texas
According to KPRC Houston, a man was injured in an accident with an
18-wheeler in Houston, Texas. The incident occurred around 1:30 a.m.
Thursday, January 19 when police believe the man ran a red light at
Richey Road and the North Freeway feeder and struck the rear of a
tractor trailer. The investigation into the accident is ongoing and
police believe the driver may have been intoxicated.
Commentary If the
initial police reports are accurate and the man ran a red light, it may
be difficult to develop a strategy towards compensation. However, if the
police concretely determine that the driver was intoxicated, there is a
chance another party could be partially liable in the accident. It
should be noted that a third party investigation is needed to
corroborate with the police reports, if potential remedies are to extol
themselves. Regarding another liable party, a bar or
restaurant could be partially at fault for the accident if they were
found to serve an obviously intoxicated individual. Again, this is only
possible after a concrete determination of intoxication is made. If it
is, the driver's actions would need to be traced to well before the
accident. It is illegal to serve alcohol to a patron who is obviously
intoxicated (the standard in Texas), so the investigation would be
tasked with taking the depositions of bartenders and servers and
gathering evidence like credit card receipts or in-house security
footage. This is all necessary for two key reasons. First, a simple BAC
reading showing a person was above .08 is not enough to reach a level of
obvious intoxication. They must be viewed as a clear danger to
themselves and to others. Secondly, bars and restaurants each have a
very powerful defensive maneuver at their disposal, which is called safe
harbor. A safe harbor defense asserts that the bar or restaurant did
everything they could to follow TABC guidelines, such that the accident
was the sole responsibility of the driver. In my experience, many firms
are not able to overcome this maneuver because they are not able to
investigate an accident deep enough.
We appreciate your feedback and welcome anyone to comment on our blog entries, however all visitor blog comments must be approved by the site moderator prior to showing live on the site. By submitting a blog comment you acknowledge that your post may appear live on the site for any visitors to see, pending moderator approval. The operators of this site are not responsible for the accuracy or content of the comments made by site visitors. By submitting a comment, blog post, or email to this site you acknowledge that you may receive a response with regard to your questions or concerns.
If you contact Grossman Law Offices using this online form, your message will not create an attorney-client relationship and will not necessarily be treated as privileged or confidential! You should not send sensitive or confidential information via the Internet. Since the Internet is not necessarily a secure environment, it is not possible to ensure that your message sent via the Internet might be kept secure and confidential.
