[kpaul]

rosegarden is nuts..Good stuff Sean.

I disagree this is pratical stuff. Hopefully this generates constructive help for everyone. It's a good topic hopefully people can contribute what they know. I speak from having caused an accident back in my young and irresponsible days, that I wish someone would of told me a couple of thing like:

1. $100,000 liability insurance is not enough.

2. Even though you only have a cetain amount of insurance they can garnish your wages at 10% until your judgement is paid off.

3. While turing left on on a green light be more cautious.

4. You can be sued anytime after the accident up to a legal limit (3 years i think). Even though the other person was not wearing a seat belt and cited I was still at fault and liable..... Most people think its like football i.e. offsetting penalities...

 

[boomgarden]

Re: Lawsuits for dummies: I speak from experience and my wife is a paralegal

Understand. I was writing from the perspective of my personal standards, not legal ethics. Even though I make my living as a lawyer, I just do't feel that it's right to file a lawsuit in a situation like this, where there's really no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the driver. Of course, this whole scenario may not have happened at all, in which case we're wasting valuable bandwidth.

But, my perspective is this: it sounds like, in your case, it was fairly clear that you were on the hook for an error in driving. By acting quickly, the lawyers may have preserved evidence and prevented a tolling of the statute of limitations (by all means, a huge consideration). I'm a little skeptical of the authenticity of this story, but from the description there's no indication that the driver did anything wrong--in fact he might be the one with a cause of action. I don't feel that it's right to sue people and quite possibly screw up their lives to satisfy one's personal curiosity.

Anyway, this is just a personal opinion--it's not a judgment of the legal ethics of doing this and it is most definitely not legal advice.

 

[4940]

My wife is not a paralegal, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night

If this story is true, and I have my doubts, it would seem unlikely that the state troopers wouldn't have done some sort of evidence gathering at the scene. I have yet to come across a serious accident here in Kalifornia where skid marks and other indicia weren’t gathered. Also contributing to my doubts about the veracity of this story is the fact that $10,000 in cash exceeds the limits at which government agencies seize all of the money under our current asset forfeiture laws, and make the rightful owners of the money prove that it was garnered legally. VWW

 

[g-bear]

Like everybody here, I ride a motorcycle. Like everybody here I drive a car (or truck). Like everybody (I would think), if a motorcycle is still on the street in the dark it' s very likely that I hit it. Sorry, but I don't find that absolutely strange. I have hit objects in the middle of the road in the dark, and my friends have thought I had hit a kid or something like that.

 

[Nplateau]

The world would be a better place without lawyers.



Some good points, otherwise.

 

[LonGene_Leonard]

The police are not idiots

The police see these types of accidents frequently. Maybe it was an accident. The guy who hit your friend probably feels bad. But these things happen.

Motorcycling and track days are risky. But there are things we can all do to protect our selfs. Your friend may have stopped for a break in the wrong location. I see this on occation in North Carolina. A young kid on a sport bike will stop under an Interstate bridge in the pouring rain to put his rain gear on. My girlfriend almost hit a guy two years ago. The kid was doing what I described above. Not a smart move. Had we hit and killed him, I'm sure we would have been sued. LUCKY KID!

I would think that the front end would be damaged had the bike been moving. The truck would have bumped the bike and it would tumble.

If you are describing the scene correctly, it sounds as if bike could have been stationary.

God bless you. I hope eveythings works out for you....

LonGene GSXR-750

 

[40037]

That may be the reason but that's no excuse. Perhaps the program needs a rewrite. It is poor economics if it loses readers.

 

[tomhorn]

Whether or not the bike was "still or moving" is irrelevent. The driver of the pickup hit the bike. He had a responsibility to see to it that something like that didn't happen, even on the interstate.

 

[IceWorm]

I agree with the attorney, the story is either bogus, or the facts at hand are essentially correct and the biker may be at fault. Either way he is also correct that the editors dropped the ball in presenting the story without including any verifying information.



Now for the facts. Who in the heck rides at 1 in the morning on I-20 with ten grand in his pocket and no ID. Think about it, "He was killed so bad that they had to cremate his body and they could barley get a fingerprint of him so he could be identified." They could not identify him from a drivers license, license plate, bike registration, credit card, proof of insurance card? Common. He was identified by a fingerprint. So, was he a felon? No way that bike would have been stuck under the front of that truck if it had been moving with the flow of traffic. Guess what, Interstates and Freeways have minimum speed laws too and they are there for a reason.



No doubt that anyone could take the opposite point of view form me and make an argument and feel they are just as correct, because we have no independent evidence of what actually happened, if anything.

 

[33129]

In this era of identity theft, I'd not trust a driver's license, vehicle registration or license plate as proof of ID. Also, there are many thousands of us out here who have prints on file and have never done a day in the big house. And, what does it hurt to offer advice to someone to seek help from the AMA or talk to a good attorney. I'd also check with any police friends or friends-of-friends who have done accident reconstruction to see what information they might be able to volunteer.

 

[jungkvist]

Personally, I though the whole thing sounded pretty fishy, but you never know how a person thinks or writes, especally if they happen to be stressed.



I figured the best thing to do was to ask the most simple question that could be easily answered (What was the location?)...Then, offer my condolances and wait.



As far as making it a Banner-Story...Hey, it gave us something to B!tch about.



Tune in next week...For the next installment of The MOron Tabernacle Choir’s, Pi$$ing in the Wind, concert series.



Until then goodnight!

 

[seruzawa]

Re: My wife is not a paralegal, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night

Once again KBucket, without any real legal training of his own, calls someone who is fully trained in the area a "dummy".

Any bets as to how long it takes boomgarden to quit attempting to debate politely with Kbucket?

KBucket..... the gift that keeps on giving.

We should send KBucket to Fallujah as a "negotiator". After a few days of his "Islam for Dummies" lectures the terrorists will be begging to surrender.

 

[CRPilot212]

In this era of identity theft???



At least some form of identification would be useful for determining a possible "who is it" without waiting for the medical examiner to come back with a finger print and a database search. Based on your paranoid logic, we should have DNA scanners at any point where accurate identification is required and all current forms of identification are therefore, null and void. The dude was riding a Harley down the highway, not ordering bling bling off of Ebay with a stolen credit card. I do agree that the story seems a bit far fetched and lacking of some serious information that would be useful in aiding the author in their quest for useful information.

 

[seruzawa]

This reminds me of an incident back in the 80's when my boss's stepson was killed by an octegenarian who fell asleep the wheel and ran onto the shoulder of I-15 in Idaho where the boy and his friend were pulled completely off the road, changing a tire. The police didn't even issue a ticket there either. My boss and his wife went up to Idaho to try to convince the local DA to file charges, but the DA completely refused.



The octegenarian was a big wheel with the Mormons in Idaho and the DA was also a member. And so it goes......



Anyone who believes our legal system is the least bit concerned with truth or justice.... well, I've got some WMDs I can sell you cheap.

 

[IceWorm]

Thanks for helping me make my point. I guess in the best possible light the police wanted to make sure that the guy on the bike was actually the owner, but surely if they had a registration and or drivers license there would be faster ways to find that out. One gets the feeling from reading the story that the police first concern was to figure out who this guy was, and that would indicate a lack of personal identification. Combine that with a big wad of money in his pocket, fingerprint ID, and not returning all the money and I am thinking this smells a lot like a drug dealer. Speculation? You bet! That is all we can do without information.



Another fishy thing. She said he was going to Atlanta to be a tree climber? Remember she is his girlfriend and I would guess she has spent a fair amount of time around him. Did he refer to himself as a tree climber? I have a couple of good friends who do tree work and I have never heard them use that term, in fact I have never heard anyone use that term.

 

[paul_from_Minnesota]

PLease accept my words of being sorry for your loss.



For just a moment, let's assume that the guy was parked at the side of the road (who stops in the middle of the road? You'd get hit!). Why weren't his lights on? (was he on a reliable cycle?) And can I assume that he wasn't wearing appropriately reflectorized apparel? If they are drunk or asleep what would it take?



I am not bragging or spouting here, but my Aerostich has a wide reflective strip on the back that people have told me is almost obnoxiously bright at night. This is also at the bottom of my pants. Could this help in this situation?



The story sounds fishy but really, anything can happen and you should be able to ride I-20 at 1 in the morning with $10,000 in your pocket. May be stupid, but I should be able to do it without fear of the bad guys. We need to remember that it is the bad guys we should blame and punish, not the good guys!



paul from Minnesota

 

[smokingtz]

Sorry for your loss.

On another note, why is there a link from the word "motorcycle" to Harley rentals from a story of a fatality? Poor taste MO.

 

[kpaul]

Law for lawyer impersonators (BMW4play) and idiots.

Hey I am only sharing my experience and my wifes. Take or leave it. But to assume that the state patrol did everthing correctly like BMW is folly. According to that logic the South Dakota state patrol was correct to let Jaklow drive recklessly on numerous occasions. Lawyers and paralegals have to look at things from a pessimistic Murphy's law perspective. You have to go in assuming things weren't done right....

 

[kpaul]

Lawyers a necessary and valuable part of our great legal system.

The world would be a better place without lawyers. .Really ???? I thank god I live in country where there is a legal system that disputes can be settled peacefully in court, as opposed to having a socialist burearcrat decide or a monarch decide or the force of gun decide who is right and who is wrong.

 

[47867]

If I actually thought this happened, I would feel the need to be compassionate. However, I think this is one of those mass-generated email stories that floated in. Because it has now been posted on our website, it now has some sort of de-facto legitimacy "Must be true, I read it on Motorcycle.Com". Be careful posting this stuff... know the source at the very least. It is getting hard to filter these sort of things since the Meriam-Webster Corp removed the word "gullible" from its latest dictionary edition.