Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Court holds cities liable in police-chase crashes

The_Jazz · 05-05-2006, 12:34 PM

I think you folks are missing the courts point here - it doesn't matter that the cops broke off the chase 20-30 prior to the collision. What matters is that there are two guys injured by the pursuee, who has no insurance or assets to pay for the damage that he's caused. He's going to be in jail for the next few years and unable to pay the medical bills for the injuries he's caused. The people of Nebraska have decided that accidents resulting from a pursuit are at least partially the fault of the pursuing police agency (which is most definitely not the case in the rest of the country).

Let's put it in these terms - your brother and his friend are injured in similar pursuit with similar injuries. These are both young guys without families but with lower paying jobs. They have health insurance but it only pays up to $250,000 in benefits and then stops (not that uncommon), which each of them blow through in the first 2 weeks in the hospital. Because of the extensive burns, they have to be in rehab hospitals for months and they won't be back at work for at least a year, if they can ever go back at all. After a year the medical bills are $750,000 apiece, which leaves $500,000 unpaid. From what I gather, the feeling on this thread is that the two injured guys are just screwed and have to pay the difference themselves, even though there's a clear mechanism to collect, and the pursuee freely admits that he thought that he was still being pursued. Given that one of the injured guys is your brother, how do you feel about it now? Still think that the city shouldn't pay? Or are you still standing by your guns and basically saying that your brother (and most likely your folks since they're good people) are going to be destitute because of the medical bills?

These are the questions that I deal with all day, every day. If you agree with the last question, I have a list of insurance defense attorneys that want you on their jury since you're the exception to a hard-and-fast rule.

05-05-2006, 12:34 PM	#11 (permalink)
The_Jazz Asshole Administrator Location: Chicago	I think you folks are missing the courts point here - it doesn't matter that the cops broke off the chase 20-30 prior to the collision. What matters is that there are two guys injured by the pursuee, who has no insurance or assets to pay for the damage that he's caused. He's going to be in jail for the next few years and unable to pay the medical bills for the injuries he's caused. The people of Nebraska have decided that accidents resulting from a pursuit are at least partially the fault of the pursuing police agency (which is most definitely not the case in the rest of the country). Let's put it in these terms - your brother and his friend are injured in similar pursuit with similar injuries. These are both young guys without families but with lower paying jobs. They have health insurance but it only pays up to $250,000 in benefits and then stops (not that uncommon), which each of them blow through in the first 2 weeks in the hospital. Because of the extensive burns, they have to be in rehab hospitals for months and they won't be back at work for at least a year, if they can ever go back at all. After a year the medical bills are $750,000 apiece, which leaves $500,000 unpaid. From what I gather, the feeling on this thread is that the two injured guys are just screwed and have to pay the difference themselves, even though there's a clear mechanism to collect, and the pursuee freely admits that he thought that he was still being pursued. Given that one of the injured guys is your brother, how do you feel about it now? Still think that the city shouldn't pay? Or are you still standing by your guns and basically saying that your brother (and most likely your folks since they're good people) are going to be destitute because of the medical bills? These are the questions that I deal with all day, every day. If you agree with the last question, I have a list of insurance defense attorneys that want you on their jury since you're the exception to a hard-and-fast rule. __________________ "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin "There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush "We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo