Philly area husband and wife each lose leg in motorcycle crash

A Philadelphia area couple riding on a motorcycle each lost a leg in a motorcycle accident that happened when a car failed to stop at a stop sign and hit them as they passed through the intersection.  The car was being driven by an illegal immigrant from Poland who did not have a driver's license.  She was driving a car that was owned by another person.  She was ticketed for failing to have a valid license, failing to stop at a stop sign, and careless driving.

One issue that comes up in cases like this is whether there will be insurance coverage available for the victims of this motorcycle accident.  The law in Illinois is that when you are driving a car with the permission of the owner, you are covered by their insurance.  Hopefully, the owner of the car that this woman was driving carried liability insurance.  Otherwise, these people may have to make an uninsured motorist claim on their own automobile insurance.

If there was an exclusion that keeps the driver of the car from being covered, the other option is to pursue a negligent entrustment claim against the owner of the car.  In this kind of car accident claim, you must show: that the driver was not fit to operate the vehicle, that the owner knew this, that the owner allowed them to operate the vehicle, and that the lack of fitness to operate the vehicle cause the injury.  This theory has its greatest application in drunk driving accidents, but can also be used for unlicensed drivers.

This family will end up with thousands of dollars in medical bills and untold hardships down the road.  I hope that they hire an experienced motorcycle accident lawyer to help them recover as best they can.

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Labels: car accidents motorcycle accidents