the JB accident settlement

[jgeorge322]

you can sue anyone for anything. this country is so ridiculous.

you can sue anyone for anything. this country is so ridiculous.

I hear you and its not perfect, but its up to the judges to decide what cases get to a jury and the threshhold for a prima facie case isnt difficult to keet.

Its the system we have. Ultimately, I am fine with this guy’s family getting a little money. It ahouldnt necessarily be at JBs expense but thats why we have insurance and Im sure JB is glad this got settled out of court, the family got some money to help them, and he can try to move on from it.

There’s a lot bigger issues with the tort system than this. We can talk about asbestos litigation if you want to hear some stuff that will make you want to throw up.

 

[Cuse181]

This is great . This explains my high insurance rates despite perfect driving record

Someone’s gotta pay for the ambulance chasers

 

[Eric15]

So JB wasn't found to have done anything wrong, yet still had to settle?

JB didn't do anything criminally wrong, but the threshold for civil liability is much lower. As Capt. said, JB was technically speeding going 10-12 mph over the limit (which everyone does). But that's enough for a civil case. JB was just very unlucky in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was in a major accident where my car was totaled in 2006 in that same exact spot on 690. It's an unsafe stretch of road.

 

[HOFCeluck]

JB didn't do anything criminally wrong, but the threshold for civil liability is much lower. As Capt. said, JB was technically speeding going 10-12 mph over the limit (which everyone does). But that's enough for a civil case. JB was just very unlucky in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was in a major accident where my car was totaled in 2006 in that same exact spot on 690. It's an unsafe stretch of road.

But what were the conditions like that night? 10-12 mph over the limit doesn’t exit in a vaccuum.

I never knew that about his speed. That’s crazy if true.

 

[Cheriehoop]

The titled owner is liable, if the car is used with consent of the owner. Insurance follows the car, no matter who is driving.

So beware when letting someone drive your car or even giving someone a lift if there’s an accident. It’s a tough time to find out about the laws afterwards.

 

[Todoubled23]

guys, so this is how this works. first off, the insurance company settled, not jb. jb obviously has a lot of insurance on his vehicle.

second, plaintiff attorneys sue people they shouldnt all the time. Syracuse could probably be sues if it owned the car, but that’d be a weak case, or if jb injured the guy during the course and scope pf his employment. I believe jb was off duty so syracuse probably didnt have liability but the insurance company just would settle for everyone.

Third, the way this works in ny, if a claimant is 99% at fault but another party is 1% at fault, you can collect 1% of the damages from the other party. In some states, a claimant is barred from recovery if they were more than 50% at fault.

I believe JB was slightly over the speed limit. It was icy, the argument is he should have been going slower and then he could have avoided the accident. You can get an expert to say that. Once you have that expert evidence, theres enough to get to a jury.

Fourth, juries are wildly unpredictable. They are made up of buffoons like you. So a jury might find JB at fault because they feel bad for the dead guy or they know jb has deep pockets.

Last, once again, this was an insurance decision. Its costly to take cases to trial and like i said, hard to predict what a jury will do and a claimant can collect even if they are the majority at fault for the injuries.

My best guess, they paid the estate between $100k and $250k. Based on what i know, jb had good arguments, the guy shouldnt have tried to cross oncoming traffic and certainly should have been more careful doing so, and this is onondaga county— is a jury here really going to slam the goat? Doubt it.

Final point - death cases arent worth a lot in ny. The case would have been worth a lot more if the guy survived but was a parapalegic or something. Then the medical bills are crazy. The damages here were probably some wage loss, maybe some conscious pain and suffering, and loss of consortium for wife and any kids.


Sorry to be blunt - someone lost their life - but this is how the system works.

Also see post 9 in the below. Confidential settlement as predicted.

https://syracusefan.com/threads/jim-boeheim-and-syracuse-university-sued-by-victim’s-family-over-2019-fatal-crash.156407/#post-3592241

I have accepted this part many years ago.

 

[Eric15]

But what were the conditions like that night? 10-12 mph over the limit doesn’t exit in a vaccuum.

I never knew that about his speed. That’s crazy if true.

I believe it was cold and icy.

 

[dan7800]

Let this be a lesson to us all about having a drink or two and then driving. Imagine if had just finished a glass of wine before driving. This would have been an entirely different situation.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

But what were the conditions like that night? 10-12 mph over the limit doesn’t exit in a vaccuum.

I never knew that about his speed. That’s crazy if true.

I think the estimate was 65 in a 55. It’s 690. Everyone does it.
There may also have been a second suit against the driver of the car the deceased was in. That accident put him in harm’s way.

 

[HOFCeluck]

I think the estimate was 65 in a 55. It’s 690. Everyone does it.
There may also have been a second suit against the driver of the car the deceased was in. That accident put him in harm’s way.

If it’s nighttime and the weather sucks, I can tell you right now I’m not driving ten miles an hour over the speed limit.

February in Syracuse I’m more likely to be driving ten miles UNDER the speed limit.

 

[PoppyHart]

How accurate/reliable are the estimates/predictions as to how fast a car was traveling at the time of an accident, or the moments preceding impact (assuming the person was in the process of braking)?

Are these findings refutable?

 

[SuFTW]

I served on mock trials for a large "injury attorney" law firm. As much as JAB was not at fault, one could easily be convinced that if he was not "speeding" under those conditions that no accident would have happened, no matter what action the plaintiff put himself in. I might be able to see 10%.

I was on those same roads that night prior to the accident. I got off the Thompson Rd exit as I was staying up at Carrier Circle. The conditions were horrible. It was one of those nights that you drive in the middle lane and hope you don't need to use your brakes until you have slowed down for your exit.

I think it would be easier to be convinced that even if JB was driving the limit at 55 mph, it would be extremely difficult to see someone standing in the road, wearing dark clothes and be able to avoid the accident. There were no streetlights in that stretch of road.

 

[Toga]

I thought it had been determined JB was going 10 mph over the limit in not the best of conditions.

 

[tbonezone]

settling is often much cheaper than litigating for years. just saying. doesn't mean you admit to guilt. you just want it over.

 

[SuFTW]

I thought it had been determined JB was going 10 mph over the limit in not the best of conditions.

Speed yes, road conditions for his AWD SUV not clear. The car that crashed was I believe was something like a mustang or charger, but not entirely positive.

 

[Sbucketball]

How accurate/reliable are the estimates/predictions as to how fast a car was traveling at the time of an accident, or the moments preceding impact (assuming the person was in the process of braking)?

Are these findings refutable?

The police do accident reconstruction when there's a fatality and typically measure speed by having an expert look at skid marks. There may be other ways to measure speed too. I'm not sure how they measured JB's speed.

Everything and anything is refutable in litigation.

 

[HoustonCuse]

guys, so this is how this works. first off, the insurance company settled, not jb. jb obviously has a lot of insurance on his vehicle.

second, plaintiff attorneys sue people they shouldnt all the time. Syracuse could probably be sues if it owned the car, but that’d be a weak case, or if jb injured the guy during the course and scope pf his employment. I believe jb was off duty so syracuse probably didnt have liability but the insurance company just would settle for everyone.

Third, the way this works in ny, if a claimant is 99% at fault but another party is 1% at fault, you can collect 1% of the damages from the other party. In some states, a claimant is barred from recovery if they were more than 50% at fault.

I believe JB was slightly over the speed limit. It was icy, the argument is he should have been going slower and then he could have avoided the accident. You can get an expert to say that. Once you have that expert evidence, theres enough to get to a jury.

Fourth, juries are wildly unpredictable. They are made up of buffoons like you. So a jury might find JB at fault because they feel bad for the dead guy or they know jb has deep pockets.

Last, once again, this was an insurance decision. Its costly to take cases to trial and like i said, hard to predict what a jury will do and a claimant can collect even if they are the majority at fault for the injuries.

My best guess, they paid the estate between $100k and $250k. Based on what i know, jb had good arguments, the guy shouldnt have tried to cross oncoming traffic and certainly should have been more careful doing so, and this is onondaga county— is a jury here really going to slam the goat? Doubt it.

Final point - death cases arent worth a lot in ny. The case would have been worth a lot more if the guy survived but was a parapalegic or something. Then the medical bills are crazy. The damages here were probably some wage loss, maybe some conscious pain and suffering, and loss of consortium for wife and any kids.


Sorry to be blunt - someone lost their life - but this is how the system works.

Also see post 9 in the below. Confidential settlement as predicted.

https://syracusefan.com/threads/jim-boeheim-and-syracuse-university-sued-by-victim’s-family-over-2019-fatal-crash.156407/#post-3592241

This is going to sound bad, but it is a real question just because you piqued my interest: could JB sue the deceased person’s estate for damages associated with mental anguish (or whatever it would be called) because the person was partially at fault in the accident and JB now has to live with having been part of a person losing their life?

 

[CuseFaninVT]

The police do accident reconstruction when there's a fatality and typically measure speed by having an expert look at skid marks. There may be other ways to measure speed too. I'm not sure how they measured JB's speed.

Everything and anything is refutable in litigation.

Could they also access the onboard computer of JB’s vehicle? Or is that just a TV detective thing?

 

[atlanticuse]

The titled owner is liable, if the car is used with consent of the owner. Insurance follows the car, no matter who is driving.

see: University of Georgia, 2023.

 

[atlanticuse]

Could they also access the onboard computer of JB’s vehicle? Or is that just a TV detective thing?

There is a "black box" in the car that is accessible via OBD-II port. Some cars (i.e. Nissan GT-R) have multiple or deeper information to see whether an owner is doing something stupid (i.e. multiple launches).

With modern vehicle telematics and cloud connectivity (via LTE/5G), cars now can report GPS positions and a "cookie crumb" trail. Owners can use apps or in-car to ring-fence the car, as well.

If you look at the aforementioned University of Georgia situation, they were able to pull max speed (104MPH) from the vehicle "black box" and final speed was "memorialized" as the speedometer was frozen at impact (somewhere around 84MPH).

 

[jgeorge322]

This is going to sound bad, but it is a real question just because you piqued my interest: could JB sue the deceased person’s estate for damages associated with mental anguish (or whatever it would be called) because the person was partially at fault in the accident and JB now has to live with having been part of a person losing their life?

A few things:

1. In some states you need a physical manifestation of mental trauma, not sure what ny is.
2. If he had a compensible claim, you have to think how collectible a judgment would be.
3. You obviously recognize this but the pr would be horrible for Jb

But possible

 

[Sbucketball]

Could they also access the onboard computer of JB’s vehicle? Or is that just a TV detective thing?

Yes, a lot of cars now have accessible black boxes and some have other programs that can track driving data. I think they were originally for R&D for manufacturers but they are looked at sometimes in accidents now.

 

[Willy75]

Speed yes, road conditions for his AWD SUV not clear. The car that crashed was I believe was something like a mustang or charger, but not entirely positive.

Pretty sure a GMC Acadia suv.

 

[two3zone]

I think the estimate was 65 in a 55. It’s 690. Everyone does it.
There may also have been a second suit against the driver of the car the deceased was in. That accident put him in harm’s way.

It may have been 45, don’t think it turns to 55 until after Midler which is even crazier because many people aren’t going below 65/70 through there.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

How accurate/reliable are the estimates/predictions as to how fast a car was traveling at the time of an accident, or the moments preceding impact (assuming the person was in the process of braking)?

Are these findings refutable?

Accident reconstruction by the Sherriff/SPD/DA/NYSP. You can always get your own expert to refute.