Today, a truck caught fire outside my office window. I called 911. Fortunately, no one was hurt. You see them along the road occasionally, but it’s not every day that you see one outside your window!

First, get away from the fire.  Get everyone out of the car or truck as fast as possible.

Second, move far away from the car.  Remember that your car or truck has gasoline in it and can explode. Don’t stand close to the vehicle watching the fire. If the car explodes from the gasoline catching fire, you won’t have time to move to cover. So, get back from the car.  You can get another car or truck.  You don’t want to take the risk of injury.    In the case of the fire outside my office window, the police  had the entire block blocked off so that  no one would get hurt.

Third,  call for emergency help.  Give them good directions on your location.  They are trained to put out fires, but can’t put it out if you don’t give them good information on where you are.

Fourth,  don’t be tempted to go back into the car or truck to try to save your possessions.  It’s not worth the risk.  Be safe and wait for the fire department.

Fifth,  don’t be surprised by all of the smoke.  Car tires on fire put out a lot of smoke.  It’s another reason to stand far back from the burning vehicle.

Firemen and police are trained to deal with this type of emergency.  Think through in you mind what you would do to protect yourself and your family if you vehicle caught fire.  No trips to the hospital are a great outcome for what is a very dangerous situation.   Thankfully, no one was hurt with the fire that occurred today.

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I’ve written about  this before, if there is an injury case that is going to trial, there is insurance!!!   I read about a $3.5 Million verdict in Clanton in a wrongful death case involving a logging truck that did not stop in time.  The deceased driver was stopped waiting to make a turn when he was hit from behind. Someone made a comment about the verdict and wondered if there was insurance.  Take a look at one of the comments after the newspaper article.

No attorney is going to spend the money to hire experts and pursue a case like this if there is not insurance.  At the end of  case after a verdict is made by the jury, it has to be collected.  That is why there must be insurance to pursue a case like this to trial.

Someone also wondered what good the money did the family.  First, they have lost a major bread winner.  How will they pay for their home?  How will they have the things the children will need?  Most families today cannot do it on just one income.  There is also a recognition factor that an important life has been lost which a family needs to have recognized.  While there is not enough money in the world to make up for the loss of a life, it would be a terrible slap in the face if the value of that life were minimalized.  So at a deep emotional level a significant verdict says to a family that the jury recognized the person killed was a significant person, not a disposable item.

The is another aspect you should not forget. Experts in the case testified that the truck was traveling between 65-70 miles per hour on a road where the speed limit is 50 miles per hour. If a fair verdict is not returned by a jury, then your family, the jury’s family and mine are at risk on the highway.  A fair verdict makes sure it does not happen again.  Remember, the purpose of a wrongful death action in Alabama is to prevent it occurring again.  That’s why its a punitive damages statute where you cannot recover the lost earnings of the victim or return a verdict on what a good person he was.  The sad reality is that in that case a family’s husband and father was killed by a speeding logging truck.  This was a death that could have been prevented.  Punitive damages when awarded properly as was done in this case can protect you and your family from being the next victim of irresponsible drivers.

I cover wrongful death cases in my book.

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Rick Ebbinghouse helps people put their lives back together whose loved ones have been killed and also people who have been injured. This includes automobile accidents and wrongful death lawsuits in Birmingham and throughout Alabama.   He wrote the “Seven Deadly Sins That Can Wreck Your Alabama Injury Claim“  which he is giving away to help you avoid making costly mistakes.  Click here to order.

“Seven Deadly Sins That Can Wreck Your Alabama Injury Claim”

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