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OT: Four Teens Die in Car Accident Near Gretna

I think it would be interesting if the lawsuit actually made it to court. Does the county have liability insurance? Would the insurance companies provide the county with legal representation? What happens when the kid rumored to supply the alcohol gets called to the stand? You can only plead the 5th to protect yourself and no one else. I suppose the kid could perjure himself figuring that the court couldn't convict him or her.

did i miss the part of the story where these girls were held against their will and forced by someone to consume alcohol

i mean, ok, maybe the parents could sue sarpy county because living in gretna is ****ing boring and there's nothing for kids to do on on a late tuesday june evening other than underage drinking and speeding around on rural roads that aren't perfect straight lines? #affluenza
 
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What exactly does this road look like that makes it so dangerous?
Driving from east to west you will crest a hill and the road angles slightly to the left (south). Since the crash sight is on the south side of the road it looks like the driver overcorrected. At 90 mph I would think the car would be a little airborne also.
 
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Investigators determined that the Ford Fusion was eastbound on Platteview Road when it left the roadway and struck the end of a guardrail. That happened just west of 180th Street and Platteview Road.

The vehicle continued down into a ravine and caught fire.



If you do not know wtf you are talking about, like the post above this, please do not post. ty
Mistakes happen all the time. I would have found a thousand ways to make a correction to someone else's post.
 
If the person(s) who obtained the alcohol for those girls doesn’t come forward within this court proceeding the case will not find all who must be held accountable.
 
I am not an attorney but unfortunately have been around some of these unfortunate situations. From what I have seen and obviously each situation is different, where the alcohol was obtained is irrelevant. Was alcohol involved and did it contribute to the tragedy? The question is about the road correct? The parents know the defense is going to bring up BAC levels and estimated speeds, the attorney prepared them for that.

I have seen parents just say forget it, what's done is done and others try to get everything they can, not necessarily money. In one case, the county awarded some money, how much I have no clue, because the road was not properly maintained and the grader left ripples that caused the driver to lose control. On another a girl was driving a friends car and just barely went off the road and went up a guide wire to a pole and the wire flexed and flipped the car over. The family of the girl that died only wanted the county to make certain there were no guide wires going against traffic which they eventually did. On the first case I mentioned, some other friends lost a daughter at exactly the same spot in the road. If you drove it you would not be impressed by anything unusual but two girls and boy were killed there. I feel for the families and unfortunately this isn't going to be over for a long time.

Someone asked if there was liability insurance and attorneys. In all three cases, the answer was yes. There was a local attorney who was the designated "county attorney" but the county can decide to hire someone else as this is beyond the scope of what they are paid a retainer for. In some of these cases, the county elected to have their insurance company pay out instead of racking up crazy attorney fees and go to court. That is just how these went, I don't know about that area of the world.
 
It seems the lawsuit should be directed at the person that bought the alcohol or possibly the drivers insurance company.
I'm guessing the driver's (parents of the driver) insurance liability coverage limits were exceeded. Especially if they had liability limits of only $100k/$300k.

No idea their coverages, but folks, carry high liability limits + an umbrella policy.
 
I'm also curious how much time and money these parents are putting in searching for the adults that gave them the alcohol, to begin with. Or do they already know the answer?
 
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I'm very familiar with the road and if it is unsafe and in need of redesign, then I'd say a high percentage of every rural highway in Nebraska will need rebuilt. It's 100% typical (rolls with the terrain) and is in better shape than many I drive on. I'd say the road is nothing more than a pleasant drive at my normal 5mph over the limit. It'll probably get settled because no insurance company wants to risk their policy limits with this type of case.
 
As a claim adjuster I would be shocked if the Ins company settled this. In fact I'll bet $$$ they don't. Now I also don't know who is being sued. If somebody who self insures is being sued maybe....but if an actual ins company is being sued forget it.
 
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As a claim adjuster I would be shocked if the Ins company settled this. In fact I'll bet $$$ they don't. Now I also don't know who is being sued. If somebody who self insures is being sued maybe....but if an actual ins company is being sued forget it.
Are talking about the county's insurance or the parents of the driver?
 
How many thousands or 100s of thousand have driven that road without an accident? Or are there lots of accidents there? I dunno.
I drive platteview Rd often. It can easily be driven at 65 to 70 mph without risk of losing control. Yes there is a hill and a slight curve there. But the road is no different than many two lane black top roads, and even highways, around the state.
 
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https://www.ketv.com/article/four-gretna-teens-killed-monday-night-crash-sarpy-county/28077717

This article has a more in-depth report about the BAC of all the occupants.

Driver was .09 BAC. 16 years old.

90+ mph in a 55.

Sounds like they are investigating where the party was and who was involved in serving minors, etc.

100% avoidable, but still extremely sad.
A sober 16 year old girl in almost every case can't handle a car going 90 mph period. its dangerous no matter what. small amount of alcohol turns devastating.
 
Are talking about the county's insurance or the parents of the driver?

I did a pretty piss poor job in that reply didn't I? In my head I was following along but after reading it and putting myself in others shoes it didn't make much sense. As I stated, I am not 100% sure who is suing who and don't care to look....My response was directed towards posters who think the county can be sued because the the road design, etc etc etc., and that they might just pay up. They won't.

On a related note: In some states an Ins Co can deny this claim because the driver intentionally wrecked that car, or at least they can make a case for it. I don't deal with a lot of Nebraska claims so I'm not sure if we are one of them.

In some states like California, you can buy insurance with limits so low you (15K per person, 30K total) Bodily injury) it will barely cover an Aspirin at a hospital . Spread that out over 4 people....you get the idea.

No idea who is seeking what here but there are never a shortage of lawyers who will tell you whatever you want to hear to get you to sign on the dotted line the throw whatever they can at the wall to see if it will stick. I don't think anyone has a claim here but I also know it will go legal and everyone will argue about it anyway.
 
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The parents are suing 1. Sarpy County (trying to set aside $5M cap) 2. Ford Motor Company, and 3. guardrail manufacturer. If there are others I don't know. Clearly looking for deep pockets. The liability coverage on the vehicle is irrelevant.
 
The parents are suing 1. Sarpy County (trying to set aside $5M cap) 2. Ford Motor Company, and 3. guardrail manufacturer. If there are others I don't know. Clearly looking for deep pockets. The liability coverage on the vehicle is irrelevant.
This is a sad situation for the parents but if that's who they are suing what a joke. Neither Ford, sarpy county, or the guardrail manufacturer poured alcohol down the drivers throat and caused them to drive 90mph. Every single person in the vehicle made the decision to get in the vehicle with someone they knew had been drinking. It's sad personal responsibility isn't a thing anymore.
 
And let's not forget the literally hundreds of thousands of dollars raised throughout the community already in the pockets of the parents. I understand people wanted to do something to help, but it was crazy how many fundraising events took place over the past few years. And this is a comment on our society, not the girls or their families - but I don't believe the same outpouring of support would have occurred if the victims hadn't been pretty, popular, young ladies.
 
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This is a sad situation for the parents but if that's who they are suing what a joke. Neither Ford, sarpy county, or the guardrail manufacturer poured alcohol down the drivers throat and caused them to drive 90mph. Every single person in the vehicle made the decision to get in the vehicle with someone they knew had been drinking. It's sad personal responsibility isn't a thing anymore.
I think it's safe to say you won't be on the jury! And I agree with you to a certain point. However, I'm probably in the tiny minority of believing that products liability and negligent design cases are a necessary evil in the world to keep government and companies (who will always design to the lowest bidder and highest profit) somewhat honest. Have you ever been on a road and thought "who the hell designed this?" and we know vehicle manufacturers have a long history of leaving dangerous designs on the road to avoid recalls. It's a balance, but yeah on the face of it this looks like a slap in the face to reality.
 
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And let's not forget the literally hundreds of thousands of dollars raised throughout the community already in the pockets of the parents. I understand people wanted to do something to help, but it was crazy how many fundraising events took place over the past few years. And this is a comment on our society, not the girls or their families - but I don't believe the same outpouring of support would have occurred if the victims hadn't been pretty, popular, young lad

Trainloads of money were raised. After the dust has settled, the question is where is that money being spent. Would people donate if the money was going to attorney fees vs scholarships? I understand people can do what they want with the money, but the optics don't look good. Rumor has it the golf outing last year, during covid, raised something like 90k. If you want a crusade to change a road, and I travel that road quite often, start a petition.
 
Nope...they were just all part of a group of friends who all did the same thing multiple times.

Parents who want to be “cool” are worthless.
My school has this issue as well. A few "cool" parents that let their kids and friends drink in their basement as long as they promise to not drive and just spend the night (which is when the sexual assault that gets laughed off happens)

My guess...all these parents are friends for the most part and they were all okay with it going on, probably even taking part in it at times, the cool mom doing a shot with the kids, shit like that.

So when this happened, there was no way they were going after the parents who had the "party" because it had been well known that it was "okay"
 
In Nebraska, what responsibility do parents have for the actions of their minor children?

I'm waiting for the Barths to trot out the #affluenza defense
It would be the insurance on the car, believe me they will or have already tendered the policy limits.
 
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What if the girls just like stole some beer from the fridge, or some truly’s. The BAC wasn’t like .24 or anything like they were chugging trash can punch.

shoot if my kid wanted to go to garage fridge and grab a 12 pack, I’m not sure I would notice immediately.

just saying, there are a lot of explanations on how they got the alcohol without making up wild accusations of “cool parent” syndrome.
 
What if the girls just like stole some beer from the fridge, or some truly’s. The BAC wasn’t like .24 or anything like they were chugging trash can punch.

shoot if my kid wanted to go to garage fridge and grab a 12 pack, I’m not sure I would notice immediately.

just saying, there are a lot of explanations on how they got the alcohol without making up wild accusations of “cool parent” syndrome.
I mean, there are three explanations

1. Stole it
2. Fake ID
3. Someone else got it for them

Maybe 4, they brew their own???
 
What if the girls just like stole some beer from the fridge, or some truly’s. The BAC wasn’t like .24 or anything like they were chugging trash can punch.

shoot if my kid wanted to go to garage fridge and grab a 12 pack, I’m not sure I would notice immediately.

just saying, there are a lot of explanations on how they got the alcohol without making up wild accusations of “cool parent” syndrome.
Jesus...
 
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