Enjoy the music and the video - "Cars - the Winter Olympics" and LEARN, friends!
The first snow of the year that I saw in Michigan's lower peninsula was two days ago, on December first. And within just minutes of observing the meager, almost microscopic flakes accumulating on the windshield of my car - sure enough, I was nearly T-boned by an out of control, whirling 4 by 4!
Born and bred in tropical south Florida - and never having even seen snow until I first visited Michigan in my twenties - it never ceases to amaze me! Every winter, without fail, natural born Michiganders, from Detroit, to Traverse City to Grand Rapids, and all points in between - are slipping, sliding, doing donuts and pirouettes as soon as the slightest dusting of winter snow hits the streets - and in their beloved SUVs, no less!
Don't get me wrong. I don't mean to embarrass my Michigander brethren, but, truth be told - Michigan's treacherous winter road conditions have never even phased this Florida boy. No, the RLG Firm didn't send me to one of those high-priced defensive driving courses. I've developed my own 'secret weapon'. I call it SLOW DOWN.
So, it's no wonder that the Montcalm County Sheriff's Department has had it's hands full for the last few days. The first automobile accident happened when Shawn Patrick Cramer, 42, of Belding, lost control and slid into another vehicle driven by Bobby Jo Wellman, 24, also of Belding. Ms. Wellman was injured in the crash and transported to the hospital.
Cramer's 5 year old daughter was riding as a passenger in has car and may also have been injured in the crash.
Clearly, Ms. Wellman has a claim for compensation if the other driver caused the accident. What many find surprising is that, if Mr. Cramer's daughter was injured in the accident, Mr. Cramer's insurance carrier may be obligated to pay money damages to the child - even if her father is responsible for her injuries. That is a revelation to many accident victims because, in the past, a legal principle called "family immunity" barred negligence claims by one family member against another. So, the myth persists. Fortunately, that doctrine has been abolished.
Next, Sheriff's Deputies were rushing to the scene of yet another automobile accident. That collision happened when Kay Elizabeth Brown, 47, of Belding, lost control, crossed the center line and collided with a car driven by Susan Diane Palumbo, 46, of Greenville. Palumbo was hospitalized for serious injuries.
Meanwhile, back at insurance company headquarters, insurance lawyers are feverishly sorting through reams of appellate court and supreme court decisions - looking for ways to deny the accident victim's claims.
The stock defense in cases like these, of course, is the "Act of God" principle. And we don't mean the kind they teach us in Sunday school.
Every negligence claim requires proof that the person accused of causing the accident either did something incorrectly or failed to do something that was required. If the event which caused the accident was a 'freak of nature', rather than a personal lapse, however, then one of the components of the negligence claim may be absent. And the law says that if even one element of the claim is absent, the entire claim must fail.
These days, insurance defense lawyers prefer to call the defense the "Sudden Emergency Doctrine" - apparently because the term 'Act of God' suggests an event completely beyond human control. That's a steep mountain to climb in a case like this - where a Michigan driver slid on a snowy road, because it just might occur to a judge or jury that, perhaps the negligent driver could have and should have SLOWED DOWN.
'Sudden emergency' is more forgiving, and therefore more helpful to the insurance defense lawyer, in that the phrase seems to imply that, though the negligent driver may have had some control, changing conditions are largely to blame.
The key for the personal injury lawyer is to keep the jury's eye on the ball - by focusing on the law: This is Michigan. It's winter. Snow and ice are more than foreseeable - those conditions are virtually guaranteed. Every driver must adjust his driving to the prevailing whether, traffic and road conditions. Failure to do so is negligence - plain and simple.
Enjoy the video - "Cars - the Winter Olympics".
Icy conditions lead to multiple accidents in Montcalm County, Sentinal-Standard, December 3, 2010
