When you are riding in a car with a friend, do you worry about how safely that friend is driving? For many people in Louisiana, it does not even cross their mind that if their friend crashes his or her car, they may find themselves suing their friend for careless driving. In some of the most tragic cases, however, the surviving family members may be the ones to sue the negligent driver if their relative dies in the car accident.
In this story, the relatives of a 19-year-old Lake Charles man may be considering a wrongful death lawsuit after the young man was tragically killed in a car accident. He had been riding in his friend’s car along Interstate 10 outside of Lake Charles in Sulphur. The Sulphur Police Department is continuing to investigate the accident, but it seems that the friend drove the car off the freeway, crashing into a clump of trees.
Emergency medical responders and members of the police department were on the scene at about 11 p.m. earlier this month after receiving information about an accident. The Sulphur Daily News reports that when law enforcement arrived, the 19-year-old friend’s vehicle was flipped over in the shoulder. Sadly, police were not able to revive the passenger and he died at the scene of the accident.
Police believe that the driver started to drift off the interstate at mile marker 21 and when he hit the tree line, the car overturned. The officers do not suspect alcohol played a role in the crash.
While the investigation is ongoing, it seems that the driver played some role in the fatal accident. The family of the deceased passenger may not be thinking about filing a lawsuit right now, but it is important that anyone who has lost a family member in car crash speak with an attorney as soon as possible to preserve their legal rights.
Source: Sulphur Daily News, “Sulphur Police investigate fatal crash on I-10,” Jan. 8, 2012
