Liability for personal injury and death is on the at-fault driver
The determination of “liability” in a vehicular accident in Georgia involves the process of determining which of the drivers, if any, have legal responsibility due to being partly or totally at fault in causing the accident. Those drivers who are at least partly at fault may also be compelled to pay personal injury compensation to the victims of the accident. When the cause of the accident is clear-cut against a driver, those injured are sometimes said to have a strong case of liability against the wrongdoer.
Where the fault of one of the drivers is not apparent and evidence of fault appears to be nonexistent, then it is sometimes said that liability against that driver is weak. It will not apparently be difficult to determine liability in an accident with fatalities that occurred on Sunday, Dec. 16, in Baldwin County, at about 12:45 p.m. The accident occurred at the intersection of Ga. 243 and Ga. 112.
The Georgia State Patrol reported that a Macon, Georgia couple died in the crash. The victims were a man and a woman, both 71, who were in a pickup truck traveling on Ga. 243. At that time, a 30-year-old male who was operating a tractor trailer south on Ga. 112, ran the stop sign at the intersection, authorities report. He was traveling through the intersection when the pickup crashed into the left side of the tractor trailer, causing it to overturn onto the pickup.
The couple in the pickup were killed in the crash, according to the Georgia State Patrol. Going through the stop sign was the substantial cause of the accident. Liability for personal injury damages is therefore strong in favor of the deceased couple and against the driver of the tractor trailer. The rig was owned by the Howard Sheppard Co., and it appears that the driver was the company’s authorized employee. In that situation, the negligence of the driver will be imposed on his employer by the legal concept of respondeat superior.