Auto Accidents

April 13, 2016

Maine Storefront Crash Results in Injury

A driver was recently critically injured following a three-car crash that ended with one vehicle slamming into the front of the Gothic building in downtown Belfast, an hour south of Bangor.

According to The Bangor Daily News, officers believe an older man in a Sedan with Massachusetts plates was speeding down the hill on Maine Street around 1 p.m. when he suddenly crossed into opposing traffic and slammed into a van at a five-way intersection. He then drove straight into a parked vehicle and then into the front of a building. The parked vehicle was also sent flying up over the curb, just in front of the Bangor Savings Bank.

The occupants of that parked vehicle – which included a toddler in his car seat – were not seriously injured. Continue reading

March 31, 2016

$124M Car Accident Injury Judgement for Defective Audi Seats

by Peter Thompson & Associates

A defective auto part cost a young boy his bright future, prompting the Texas jury deciding his car accident injury lawsuit to award $124 million in damages to his family.

The 7-year-old suffered severe and irreversible brain damage, as well as blindness and partial paralysis as a result of the rear-end collision. The boy was seated in the backseat, behind his father, who was driving. His father had stopped for a school bus. The car behind him failed to stop.

But while the boy’s younger brother, who was seated next to him in the back, emerged from the crash relatively unscathed, this young man suffered severe injuries. That’s because upon impact, the father’s seat collapsed backward, causing the father’s head to collide with son’s at high force. The result was that the boy almost died. Continue reading

March 25, 2016

Maine Car Accident Lawsuit Reaches Supreme Judicial Court

by Peter Thompson & Associates

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court was faced with a number of interesting personal injury liability questions of first impression in the recent case of Murdock v. Thorne.

For instance: Does a motorist who waves forward another driver have a duty to ensure it is completely safe for the driver to move ahead? Further, does a driver in the outer lane of a four-lane road approaching stopped traffic and a driveway on the right have a duty to anticipate traffic turning into his lane when vehicles in the inner lane are stopped short of that driveway for this purpose?

To answer yes to both questions would be to substantially expand the scope of potential liability for motorists. But the state high court wasn’t ready to do that just yet. Justices didn’t completely foreclose on the possibility, but rather concluded the case at hand wasn’t ripe for such a decision. They dismissed the appeals and told litigants they could appeal again once all other relevant matters were resolved by the lower court. Continue reading

March 15, 2016

Maine Car Accident Blamed on Vehicle Defect

by Peter Thompson & Associates

An auto accident in Waterville is being blamed on a mechanical failure.

According to the Kennebec Journal, the problem had to do with the front end of a Volkswagon Jetta. The 31-year-old driver reported he was operating the vehicle on North Street when he suddenly described feeling in the steering wheel as if he’d struck a pothole. He swerved and struck a large white van head-on.

Inside the van, the 62-year-old driver and two passengers sustained minor injuries. One was transported the hospital. Incredibly, the driver of the Jetta wasn’t seriously hurt.

Police investigators reported there was no pothole in the area. However, they came to the conclusion that a mechanical failure in the vehicle was responsible for the collision.

Both vehicles had to be towed from the scene. Continue reading

March 11, 2016

Maine OUI Accident Lawsuit Prompts Tougher Criminal Charges

by Peter Thompson & Associates

Drunk driving accidents and the devastating injuries and deaths they cause are 100 percent preventable.

Maine legislators believe this as well, which is why criminal penalties for causing an accident while drunk are severe – especially if someone is seriously hurt or killed. Maine Revised Statute 29-A, Section 2411 spells out penalties for OUI offenses, aggravating factors and penalties. Generally, if you are in an accident that results in a major injury or death, you will be facing a felony and a long-term license suspension.

But how does that help the victims, whose lives have been irreparably affected? Other than ensuring the at-fault driver is off the road, it really doesn’t. The only way to recover damages is to pursue a claim for damages against the driver (and by proxy his insurance company). If the driver doesn’t have insurance or the coverage is paltry, victims may recover through their own uninsured/ underinsured motorist coverage policy. Continue reading

December 20, 2015

Insurance Coverage for Intentional Tort With a Vehicle

by Peter Thompson & Associates

The Bangor Daily News recently reported the arrest of a 22-year-old man on a charge of elevated aggravated assault after he allegedly intentionally struck a Bath Iron Works employee who was walking to his job.

It was a Wednesday morning, and the victim would later say the driver made some offensive comment to him just before he barreled into him with his vehicle. The force of impact caused victim to be propelled over the hood and windshield of the car before rolling over the roof and falling hard off the rear. The driver then reportedly fled the scene. Victim, despite serious injuries, managed to walk the rest of the way to work, where the incident was reported and he was rushed to a nearby hospital.

Authorities searched for the vehicle based on victim’s description, and later found the car in a wooded area owned by suspect’s family. Suspect was inside the resident and later arrested. At the time of the incident, he was out on bail for a previous DUI arrest. Continue reading

October 8, 2015

Rain-Slicked Roads a Hazard to Maine Motorists

by Peter Thompson & Associates

A series of massive rainstorms over Maine recently set a daily rainfall record in Portland, with nearly 6 inches of water. In nearby Searsport, the precipitation reached almost 10 inches a day.

The storms made headlines as they caused flooding throughout the state, cut off roadway access and in some cases, reached as high as the windows of passing vehicles.

This kind of weather, which is treacherous to anyone caught driving, may seem an anomaly. However, as the Bangor Daily News reported, these kind of “extreme” rain and snow storms are likely here to stay. That assertion is according to a 2012 study that revealed the frequency of these “extreme” events has increased dramatically. What used to happen once year is now happening two or three times, a 74 percent increase. As one meteorologist put it: The severe storms our grandparents experienced once a year when they were young are now happening every six- to- seven months. Continue reading

September 29, 2015

Triple Fatal Maine Auto Accident Puzzles Investigators

by Peter Thompson & Associates

The driver was a 33-year-old mother-of-two from Dayton with a bad traffic history and a few criminal charges on her record. The front seat passenger was a 45-year-old carpenter and father-of-four. The back seat passenger was a 20-year-old who liked hanging out at local skate parks and doing tricks on his BMX bike.

It’s not clear what they were all out doing together at 11 p.m. the night they all died in a crash on Gould Road in Dayton, about a half hour southwest of Portland. Family members would later say they had never heard of the others involved. Investigators did learn they were all Facebook friends, but it’s still not apparent what their connection was or why they were out together.

What they do know is this: Not one of them had a valid driver’s license. All were suspended. What’s more, someone in the car was drinking. Troopers who responded to the scene could smell it. However, it’s unclear at this point whether the driver was impaired, and investigators won’t know for sure until the toxicology reports come back. That’s when they’ll be able to say whether alcohol played a role in the crash, too. Investigators have also surmised the driver was speeding, as evidenced by the fact she was not able to safely negotiate the turn, which she should have been able to do had she been traveling the speed limit, which is 45 mph. Continue reading

September 8, 2015

Report: Maine Residents Consuming More Alcohol

by Peter Thompson & Associates

A new report from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism suggests adults in Maine are drinking far more than in years past.

Per capita consumption of alcohol among those over the age of 21 has risen since the late 1990s. In fact, according to an analysis of the data by The Bangor Daily News, consumption of alcohol has increased to levels not since since the 1970s.

Maine-based purchases of alcohol show a steady increase of alcohol consumption in the form of beer and spirits. However, wine consumption has remained relatively flat in recent years. From 2012 to 2013, there was a 1.7 percent increase in per capita consumption of alcohol. This was on par with the national increase of 1.5 percent. The data also shows Mainers prefer beer to anything else. Continue reading

August 31, 2015

Maine Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed in Fatal Crash Involving Student, Teacher

by Peter Thompson & Associates

A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed by the family of a teacher killed, her two young children seriously injured, after a 17-year-old high school student allegedly crossed the center line in his parents’ vehicle. He struck the teacher’s car head-on in Berwick.

The estate of the elementary school teacher is being represented by her father and a family friend on behalf of the minor children, ages 4 and 7 at the time of the crash. Named defendants include the 17-year-old driver and his parents.

The lawsuit was filed just before the statute of limitations deadline. In Maine, plaintiffs have two years from the date of a person’s death in which to file a wrongful death action. Personal injury actions, meanwhile, can be filed up to six years after the injury occurred. Continue reading