Death in Red Light Case Nets $1.25 Million
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Cases involving violation of a stoplight are sometimes very difficult. If there is a collision at an intersection governed by a stoplight, there is often a dispute about which driver had the green light.
If both drivers claim they had the green light, it is virtually impossible for the investigating officer to determine which driver is telling the truth. For that reason, it would be unusual for an investigating officer in such a situation to charge either driver for violating a red light.
These type cases usually come down to which driver is telling the truth. This conflict in statements is particularly difficult to resolve because, in most cases, each driver actually thought that they did have the green light.
There is usually no scientific evidence that can be introduced at trial which would shed light on which driver had the green light. Sometimes reconstruction experts are hired to investigate the accident scene to determine if there is any physical evidence at the accident scene such as gouge marks, skid marks, or other physical evidence which would shed light on which party was at fault.
Because of the difficulty of proving these cases, and the uncertainty of the outcome of a trial when this issue is involved, these cases are rarely settled for full value.
An example of this is a case involving the death of a 25-year-old lady who was killed after her vehicle was struck in the driver's side door by the defendant at an intersection. The dead woman's estate claimed that the defendant ran the red light at the intersection. The defendant, on the other hand, denied negligence and claimed that the dead woman ran the red light.
The case was settled for $1.25 million.
It is always difficult to determine the full value of a case involving the death of a human being. In this case, the lady was survived by an 8-year-old son. While $1.25 million is a lot of money, it is a small amount to compensate for the death of a mother.
This settlement almost certainly less than would have been expected had the driver been clearly at fault.