Fatal Rollover Accidents

Attorney Michael Grossman Explains Your Legal Actions After Losing a Loved one in a Fatal Rollover Accident

Rollover accidents are among the most frightening auto wrecks that a person can experience. One second you’re driving along and everything is fine, and the next second a tire defect causes a blowout, and your car is airborne and spinning wildly out of control. Due to the nature of the wrecks, rollover accidents can often end in the death of the driver of the car, the passengers, or pedestrians who happen to be nearby.

Often times, rollover accident fatalities are considered wrongful deaths because the rollover accident was caused by the negligent actions or inaction of another party. When this is the case, the victims’ family is entitled to pursue compensation, but the legal process in a rollover accident is much different from a normal car wreck. In order to make sure all responsible parties are made to pay for the loved one they’ve snatched from you, you need to find a skilled and seasoned fatal rollover accident attorney whom you can trust and rely upon.

Without the proper legal representation, your insurance claim is liable to be rejected by the insurance company, as rollover accidents can be blamed on the driver due to poor maintenance of the tires. Moreover, you need an attorney who understand the subtle complexities that differentiate rollover accidents from other fatal auto wrecks.

Why Rollover Accidents are so Different

When it comes to rollover accidents, there are far more possibilities of what parties may have actually caused the accident than with a standard passenger car wreck. If a rollover accident occurred as a result of a defective tire, then the manufacturer of the tire will likely be liable, but the maker of the tire is only one party who may to blame for the fatal rollover accident. Rollover accidents can occur for a variety of reasons, including:

• Improper installation or mounting of the tire.
• Improper maintenance of the tire.
• Installation of a tire that was not intended or suitable for the vehicle.

When it comes to any particular rollover accident, the finger of blame can be pointed at any party or parties that played a role in design, manufacture, selection, installation or maintenance of the defective tire. Moreover, there can problems with the design or assembly of the rest of the vehicle that can make rollover accidents worse. Thus, when people die in rollover accidents, these failures in the vehicle’s design can be blamed in part. These glitches include:

• The vehicle lacks sufficient roll resistance in the design of its suspension, either when loaded or static.
• The vehicle lacks sufficient compressive strength and rigidity of the carriage to withstand a rollover accident.
• The vehicle’s safety equipment fails.
• Some other seemingly innocuous part of the vehicle fails, causing harm to the occupants. For instance, the glove compartment flies open, turning everything inside it into a lethal projectile.

While none of these latter factors actually can cause a rollover accident, they can result in the death of the vehicle’s occupants.

Selecting the Correct Tire if Far More Critical than Most People Realize

A pneumatic tire might appear just like a circular hunk of rubber, but it’s actually a remarkably sophisticated piece of machinery. The tire is comprised of several different layers of different materials that have been designed and assembled layers of material that have been brought together for the purposes of absorbing friction and heat. If any of the components break down, then the whole system fails, leading to a potential rollover accident.

Among mechanics, the tires are often called the car’s fifth spring because they lend a hand to the suspension system in absorbing the shocks and demands of the road. While the shock absorbers in your car’s suspension system are comprised of leaf or metal coil springs that have a fixed spring rate, the tires depend upon proper assembly, selection, mounting, and upkeep in order to maintain their normal ability to act as a “good spring.” When the tires begin to wear down or were never adequate for the car in the first place, then they don’t perform their proper function as shock and heat absorbers and a blowout or rollover accident becomes far more likely.

Additionally, the biggest point of concern when it comes to tire functionality is at the contact patch – the small point, about the size of a shoe, where the tire flattens out to meet the road. Since this is the spot that is constantly rubbing against the road, this contact spot bears the greatest strain from heat. It’s the same concept of thermodynamics as if you bend a paperclip to and fro repeatedly. The clip heats up dramatically. When you combine this heat at the contact patch with that generated by the pressurized air inside the tire and any in the surrounding atmosphere, the tire must be functionally properly to avoid a heat-induced blowout. The importance of the contact patch requires that tires be manufactured properly and adequately tested before being mounted onto your car.

What Makes a Rollover Accident Fatality a Wrongful Death?

In order to hold another party responsible for a rollover accident, you must be able to prove that the death was caused in whole or in part by that party. This requires proving three required elements:

• Duty – the defendant owed you some form of legal duty. In all interactions, every party owes a reasonable amount of care not to do harm to others. When it comes to rollover accidents, the duty can be a number of things: the proper design and assembly of the tires, proper selection and mounting, adequate maintenance, safe driving, and sufficient design of the vehicle to withstand a rollover.
• Breach – the required duty was ignored. For instance, if the tire was not adequately tested before being approved for use on a given vehicle.
• Causation – the breach of duty resulted in the rollover accident and the death of the victim. Carrying this analogy a step further, the inadequate testing leads to a tire being mounted on a vehicle for which it was not suited, causing a blowout, the rollover of the vehicle, and the death of the victim.

When it comes to rollover accidents, identifying all of the liable parties can be challenging, for it’s often the case that multiple parties have done some form of negligent act to contribute to the death of the victim or victims. Only a well-seasoned rollover accident attorney has the experience to know how to investigate the vehicles and the accident to identify all of the parties who caused the death of your loved one. If defective products are the cause, then you have a product liability wrongful death lawsuit on your hands.

Recoverable Damages in a Fatal Rollover Accident Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Right now, you and your entire family are stunned and shocked by the loss of your family member. At Grossman Law Offices, we know that your pain and grief are paramount and thinking about monetary compensation can seem to reduce the value of your loved one’s life to a mere dollar sign. However, we also understand that time only heals your emotional scars. Your family has also sustained enormous financial wounds in the funeral, medical, and repair bills it has had to pay, while losing the financial contributions provided by your deceased family member. When the head of household dies in a rollover accident, the family will be floored financially. In order to eventually figure out a way to rebuild your family and your life, you must first be able to bounce back economically.

The family members of fatal rollover accident victims have the right to seek two forms of compensation: wrongful death damages and survival damages, but both of these damages are pursued in one single, comprehensive lawsuit. In the state of Arkansas, the family must also name a personal representative of the estate to represent the entire family before moving forward with any legal proceeding.

Wrongful death damages were created to allow the surviving members of the immediate family – spouse, children, and parents – to be compensated for both the financial and emotional suffering they’ve incurred. Wrongful death damages can be sought for:

• Funeral bills.
• Mental and emotional anguish.
• Loss of familial love and companionship.
• Loss of the monetary support supplied by the victim before his or her death.

Survival damages, on the other hand, can only be sought by the closest living relative of the deceased, starting with the spouse and then inherited by the children, parents, and finally siblings of the deceased. Survival damages gives this person the ability to pursue the compensation that should be due to the deceased for his or her suffering and losses as a result of the fatal rollover accident. Survival damages can include compensation for:

• Medical expenses charged to the deceased before he or she died.
• Damaged property.
• Physical pain and suffering caused by the accident.
• Emotional and mental trauma caused by dying.

Quantifying these damages is not easy and requires the knowledgeable touch of a fatal rollover accident attorney with significant experience dealing with similar cases. Certain damages like funeral bills are easy to prove in court, but other non-economic damages like pain and suffering are far more subjective in nature. Moreover, pain and suffering can fluctuate widely depending upon the person involved in the accident. When a race car driver is involved in a rollover accident, he or she has been trained to deal with such occurrences. However, a young child experiencing the same accident will be struck with far more emotional trauma as a result. In order to calculate these damages correctly and maximize your ability to recover compensation, then you must have a time and trial-tested fatal rollover accident lawyer like those at Grossman Law Offices.

For 20 years now, our attorneys have been helping grieving families in both Texas and Arkansas deliver justice and secure compensation after they have had family members wrongfully killed. We’ve taken on every major insurance carrier in the United States, and we’ve won many millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts. Due to our long history of victories, the insurance companies and defense lawyers often present our clients with fair settlements without a trial. We’ve spent years investigating rollover accident cases, and we will make sure all liable parties are identified and brought to justice. To find out how we can help you after you’ve lost a loved one in a rollover accident, call us now for a free consultation at 1-855-589-5645. You don’t have to go through this trying time alone. We can help. Call today, and you can get your questions answered and discover how we can help.