Investigators believe that a cab driver suffered a heart attack immediately prior to a fatal crash in Atlanta.
The single-car wreck took place near the intersection of Spencer and Vine in northwest Atlanta. When first responders arrive on scene, they discovered a male driver inside a cab that had smashed into a retaining wall. The driver, whose name was not released, was transported to a local hospital where he was subsequently pronounced dead. As there were no skid marks, police speculate that the driver completely lost consciousness.
Police are unsure whether the heart attack was associated with a long-term health condition or a sudden and unexpected event.
Conditional Breaches
Even if a person is legally allowed to operate a motor vehicle, getting behind the wheel may still constitute a breach of the duty of reasonable care.
Medical conditions are a good example. In many cases, even if a person’s license is suspended due to a medical condition, the driver may still receive a limited license that allows travel to and from work, to and from the doctor’s office, and other such trips.
Alcohol impairment also falls into this category. People are not legally intoxicated unless they have a BAC of .08 or above, or have completely lost the use of their normal mental and physical faculties. But a driver is impaired with a BAC of as little as .02, and any inhibition can cause a momentary loss that has severe consequences for injured victims.
Finally, there is the matter of fatigued driving. No state law directly addresses this issue, but a person who did not sleep well the night before driving or recently changed work shifts is every bit as dangerous as an intoxicated driver.
Third Party Liability
When a commercial driver causes a car crash, the employer is generally liable for damages along with the tortfeasor (negligent driver). But in the wake of the state’s 2005 tort reforms, the amount of liability is something of a question mark.
Cavalier Convenience v. Sarvis is one of the leading cases in this area. That case involved an intoxicated teenage driver, and the plaintiff also sued the alcohol provider, pursuant to the dram shop law. The defendant tried to exclude apportionment based on a strict interpretation of the new law, but the Court of Appeals rejected that approach. Instead, their resolution focused on a more holistic reading of the statute, along with relevant policy concerns.
Georgia is one of 14 pure several liability states that apportion liability based solely on proportional fault. Most states are modified joint and several liability jurisdictions that have cutoffs at a certain percentage of fault.
For prompt assistance with a personal injury claim, contact an aggressive Fayetteville car crash lawyer. At the Wade Law Office, we do not charge upfront legal fees in a personal injury case.
