Auto Accidents
| Crashworthiness Issues in Automotive Products Liability Cases |
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| In order to succeed in a products liability action against the manufacturer or seller of a motor vehicle, a plaintiff has to show that the vehicle as sold contained a defect that created an unreasonable risk of death, personal injury, or property damage when used for its intended purpose and that the defect caused an accident or similar occurrence, such as a vehicle fire, that resulted in the loss for which the plaintiff seeks to recover damages. Automotive products liability cases may involve allegations that a car or truck was defective in some aspect of the way in which it was designed, in the manner in which its parts were manufactured and assembled into a complete vehicle, or due to a failure to warn the purchaser or user of the vehicle of some danger inherent in its use and operation. Cases involving the doctrine of crashworthiness (which is sometimes referred to as enhanced injury or second collision) constitute a subset of those cases in which it is alleged that a design defect in a vehicle was the cause of the injuries complained of. More... |
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| Transporting Hazardous Materials on Roadways |
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| Without trucks products could not get to the neighborhood store. But traveling the roadways with the artichokes and widgets are shipments of hazardous cargo, like flammable liquids, biomedical waste, and radioactive materials. When a truck containing molasses overturns on a highway, the resulting cleanup can be sticky. When a truck containing dynamite overturns on a highway, the cleanup is very risky. More... |
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| Coverage For Employees Operating Vehicles Within the Course of Employment |
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| Vehicles are very important for the conduct of business. From making deliveries to taking employees on sales calls, employers often make vehicles available to employees to use in the course of their employment. Corporate insureds can obtain fleet insurance for motor vehicles from their automobile insurance company. That insurance generally covers injury, damage, or theft of owned or leased vehicles. It also provides coverage to the corporate insured if its employees are involved in an accident while driving a fleet vehicle on company business. A fleet insurance policy will cover a number of vehicles in one policy that are owned or leased by one corporate insured. More... |
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| Assigned Risk Coverage |
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| State assigned risk plans basically operate by creating a pool made up of those drivers who would otherwise not be able to obtain necessary insurance coverage and apportioning the responsibility for providing coverage on the members of that pool among the insurers who write motor vehicle policies in the state. As a consequence of the unique and higher-risk nature of the assigned risk business, state laws covering assigned risk plans often contain detailed provisions concerning application for, participation in, and termination of assigned risk coverage. More... |
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| Limit of Liability Clauses in Auto Insurance |
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| Limit of liability clauses, otherwise called limits of liability clauses, generally provide that an insurer's total liability to a particular claimant arising out of a specific occurrence will be limited to an amount set forth in the policy, despite the specified limits of any other coverage or coverage on any other vehicle. More... |
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