Drunk driver causes double fatality in Akron

On Behalf of | Jan 4, 2019 | Motor Vehicle Accidents

A drunk driver injured herself and left a young couple dead — and six children without their mother and father in Akron, Ohio — after a crash in a residential area of the city.

The drunk driver, a 26-year-old woman, was heading east on Lindsay Ave. at a high speed and failed to stop at a stop sign. She rammed an oncoming car with such force that it sent both cars off the road and over the curb. The car she hit traveled some distance from the point of impact, and both the passenger and driver of that vehicle were ejected.

The 34-year-old man who was driving the second vehicle died on the scene, while his 28-year old girlfriend died later at a local hospital. They had been on their way home from helping the man’s aunt move into her new home and relatives say that the young people were devoted to each other and their family.

The woman who caused the crash has yet to be charged, although it seems likely that she will face some significant consequences for her actions. One of those consequences may very well be a wrongful death lawsuit by the survivors of the two victims. Ohio law allows dependent children of those who suffer a needless death due to another person’s negligent or reckless actions to file a wrongful death claim.

Wrongful death actions are a unique type of personal injury claim because they compensate a victim’s close relatives — not the victim himself or herself. However, it’s presumed that some people experience significant financial losses (not to mention emotional ones) when certain members of their family die in an accident. Minor children, for example, lose the future financial support they’d receive from their deceased parents. They also lose the love and guidance those parents could offer as they grow.

If you lost a family member in a car accident that was caused by another person’s negligence, find out more about your legal options.

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