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Now I've heard everything. The Tampa Bay Times is reporting that in a case of unmitigated chutzpah, a convicted DUI defendant has filed a negligence claim against a deceased car accident victim's family requesting compensation for his alleged suffering.
The defendant was found to have been under the influence of narcotics when hit smashed his car into the rear of the victim's car in 2007.
The defendant had prior to the filing of his lawsuit pled guilty to three counts of DUI manslaughter. He received a sentence of 12 years in prison. The children of the victims begged him to apologize but he failed to utter a word. He is speaking now, claiming he was not responsible for that fatal Florida car accident and that he wants to be compensated for his pain and suffering, medical bills, mental anquish, and loss of capacity to enjoy life.
His lawyer has filed suit against the victim, the driver of the car that he slammed into and killed, claiming the car accident was the decedent's fault. He makes the claim that the Florida Highway Patrol investigation was biased against him .
A relative of the victims is speaking out and finds it "ridiculous" that someone that caused an accident and admitted guilt in his criminal case could now claim that that his victim caused the accident.
The police investigation of this matter found that the defendant was driving between 75 and 85 mph when his truck plowed into the back of the decedent's car. The driver of that car died at the scene of the accident. His wife died during surgery that same day. A third victim was removed from life support as week after the accident. The investigation found that the defendant had Cocaine and Xanax in his system at the time of the car accident.
The defendant has a documented history of being a menace on the road. He was charged with DUI two times before this accident. In one of those incidents, a police search of his car found the intoxicant GHB, a "date rape" drug. He served 17 months in prison after pleading no contest to selling GHB.
The defendant claims that the decedent-driver was on medication at the time of the car accident and negligently, abruptly changed lanes causing the Florida car accident. The Tampa Bay Times story quoted the lawyer representing the victim's family as saying that there "seems there is no end to the pain" that he "is willing to inflict on this family,"
What this defendant and his lawyer have yet to apparently take account of is that there is an overwhelming presumption in Florida and most states that the driver who strikes a second vehicle in the rear is 100 per cent at fault for the accident. When this presumption is coupled with the fact that drugs were found to be in his system at the time of the accident and the fact that he pled guilty in the criminal case, I would say that this defendant's chances of being compensated for his alleged suffering are as good as a major snow storm ever striking Fort Lauderdale.
