Parents of the M5 runway crash "victims" are lawyering up

[jkarolyi]

Recent news...the parents are lawyering up:

http://www.ocala.com/article/20080205/NEWS/802050347/1025/NEWS

I'm sorry, but those passengers knew what they were getting into...why else would you go to a runway in a 500hp M5 at three in the morning? I feel awful for the parents of the passengers, and it's tragic that a stupid decision resulted in their deaths. But their child's death rests 100% on their adult child's decision to go for a joyride. Case closed. The back seat passengers didn't even wear seat belts, not that it would have done much good in this case.

More details of the crash here:

Five young men killed in 2008 BMW M5 on private airstrip

[gprsh924]

+1

My friends and I have done plenty of dumb stuff in our cars, and we always know whats going to happen...hell most of the time the passengers are egging the drivers on.

[trekkor]

I couldn't see the article linked.
Who exactly would you sue? The parents of each kid in the car?

I don't get it...


KT

[gprsh924]

No the parents of each of the passengers are going to sue the parents of the driver for wrongful death.

[trekkor]

They might want to review the thread on the BMW forum first.
I thought they were all stoked up to do this together?


KT

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by trekkor

I couldn't see the article linked.
Who exactly would you sue? The parents of each kid in the car?

I don't get it...


KT

The article doesn't specifically say any lawsuit is pending--just that one of the dads has retained the services of a law firm. He's also quoted as laying blame upon the parents of the kid driving the car. (Oddly, he's not quoted as laying any blame on himself for raising a kid without enough sense to wear a seatbelt or not do something stupid like get into a 500 HP car in an empty dark runway at 3 am. But I digress.)

At least he's not hinting at filing suit against BMW, the private community where this happened, or John Travolta.

[DavidB911]

After seeing what happened to these kids I see why my parents only had and let me have slow cars. Shoot, I got in enough trouble with a 100 hp car.

Can't they just let the loss of the children be enough?? There is always a chance of injury/death when you get in a car no matter how fast it can go. Would they be suing also if their son was killed going to school??

[livi]

Great stuff. Can´t wait to see how an awful tragedy unfolds into legal absurdity. Only in America.

[911teo]

It is all really sad. The tragic death of 5 kids first and now this.....

Markus we are catching up in Europe with these screwed up lawsuits... Did you read about the guy in Spain that after he hit and killed a cyclist he sued the family of the deceased for damages to his car?

[Sapporo Guy]

lolo, they could always sue the owner of the runway for not putting up "warning" signs in bright neon lights

[Tobra]

How do you justify suing the parents of an adult? Perhaps they were minors, or had some sort of diminished capacity(clearly)

[NICKG]

well the car was not his..so they may have legal right to sue the owners of the car. That is why leasing was changed in NJ/ny a few years ago. (a woman sued Honda as they were the "owners" of the car she was hit by and won big $$)

[onewhippedpuppy]

This is America, where nothing is ever YOUR fault. Didn't you guys get the memo?

[Jims5543]

Daddy has lots of Money, a quick google search indicates he is a big dog on Wall street. The "victims" parents are going to cash in.

[Sapporo Guy]

ahhhh yes, the land of gold mountain.

i do think the Chinese had it right from the beginning !

[fxeditor]

Originally Posted by Sapporo Guy

lolo, they could always sue the owner of the runway for not putting up "warning" signs in bright neon lights

Don't think for a moment they didn't ask the lawyers about doing that!

[Buckterrier]

Originally Posted by Sapporo Guy

lolo, they could always sue the owner of the runway for not putting up "warning" signs in bright neon lights

JESUS, don't give them any ideas!!! And to tell you the truth it wouldn't surprise me one bit if the community, JT, the runway, the whole lot gets sued. In fact I'd bet on it.

[jkarolyi]

Don't forget to also include BMW for making an uncontrollable high horsepower beast without warning people of its dangerous consequences. Porsche was sued for the 930 turbo in the 70s and recently the Carrera GT death at a track event. They settled in both cases and had to pay out. Mark my word, BMW will be listed on these lawsuits.

If these suits are like the one with the Carrera GT, the settlement will work something like this: partial liability of the teenagers for making a poor decision (no $ there), partial liability for the parent loaning the kid the car (big $ from father or his insurance), and a small partial liability of BMW for making a vehicle beyond the capabilities of an average driver (some $ but not as much as the father will pay). This was the argument that Porsche paid out with the Carrera GT.

There might also be some liability put onto the owners of the runway for not adequately fencing it or making it too easy to drive onto. The track venue's insurance for the GT crash had to pay up as well. The strategy in these type of suits is to get as many deep pockets attached as possible so a settlement won't cost any one entity enough to want to bother fighting the suit.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Yep. Parents who can afford an M5 are an easy target. You have to assume they have deep pockets (or at least somewhat deep) in order to afford a car like that in the first place. Might as well paint a bullseye on yourself.

Probably should have been predicted.

[widgeon13]

They will probably sue the Federal Gov. (FAA) as well for lack of adequate security around an airfield that long.