As reported by the Hernando Times, a local VFW commander and family man was driving his truck home and lost control, slamming the vehicle into a tree. According to the Florida Highway Patrol this single-car fatality is still under investigation, but preliminary notes show the accident to have occurred around 1 a.m.
It is not uncommon in single-car fatality crashes to learn that not all vehicles suddenly go out of control. If an investigation or reconstruction shows that a motor vehicle car crash is as a result of another driver or flaw in the road construction, design or engineering, than a Wrongful Death action could begin.
Often times, people ask, how you can make a financial recovery for a grieving family when a loved one dies at the hands of an unknown driver? Who do you sue? Simply put, this is exactly why when purchasing car insurance, one must purchase under or uninsured motorist protection or also called UM or UIM. For instance, in the above mentioned fact pattern, should it be learned that this driver was merely avoiding another driver who was traveling on the wrong side of the road, then by definition an action could be brought on behalf of the Personal Representative of the Estate of the deceased individual. Because we do not know the identity of the other driver, he is by definition underinsured or uninsured – in the injury legal community, we refer to this driver as a Phantom Vehicle.
In addition, there have been matters brought due to the lack of maintenance or the poor engineering of a road in a single car accident. These are more conventional legal actions, as the Florida Department of Transportation or the local County or Municipality will have hopefully have insurance for their roads and maintenance and engineering.