In June of 2019 4 teenage girls, ages 15 and 16, were killed in a car accident.

Now the parents have filed tort litigation against the County, claiming that the road is poorly designed where the accident occurred.

There were 5 girls in the car when the accident occurred, 4 died and 1 survived. According to published news reports, 4 of the 5 girls had been drinking, including the driver, who was reported to have had a 0.09 BAC, and the accident investigator reported that the car was traveling approximately 90 MPH in a 55 MPH zone when it hit a guard rail, left the road, landed in a creek bed, and burst into flames.

It seems to me that the primary cause of this tragic accident was the underage consumption of alcohol by the driver, such that she was legally drunk, and still would have been if she had been 5 years older and of legal drinking age. If you add the high rate of speed, the driver's limited experience behind the wheel, and her alcohol consumption together the cause of the accident seems obvious.

I've driven across the road where the accident occurred dozens, maybe hundreds, of times and the shallow "S" curve at the point of the accident didn't even register as being anything worthy of note when traveling around 55 MPH.

It seems to me that this litigation is an attempt by the parents of the dead teens to leverage the deaths for their financial gain.

What to you guys think?

Agreed, if she was going 90 in a 55 would think the suit wouldn't go far, but you never know.....

Very sad, but, I agree.....$$$! memtb

Parents are bitter over losing the lives of their children and I can understand this. By suing they can put the blame on someone else for their tragedy. They realize they were not very good parents otherwise their kids would not be drinking and driving at 15/16.
Its so much easier to blame someone else. Add in a attorney who wants a cut of the action and its a no win all the way around.

Terrible!

Glad I didn't work that wreck.

What is the political affiliation of the parents and do they support the BLM movement?

That is all that matters.

Natural selection at work. Cleaned up the gene pool a little. No way that law suit will win. The underage drinking and excessive speed will negate it. Plus in many places a teenage driver is limited on the number of passengers they can have in the car. That may come into play as well.

It should get tossed out.

^ Yep.

Probably not for financial gain but to get someone to co-sign on their blaming of someone... ANYONE else for what they recognize was largely their problem.

We need tort reform in this country rather desperately.

Ya mean like the Flynn persecution?

The rule of law is dead in American, there is no “should”, left in our court systems.

Some people ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS...

must find fault in others.

It truly seems to me that today victimhood has absolutely no negative connotations... and somehow a badge of honor for many.

‐-----------

Years ago there was a car talk episode where the brothers were berating a wealthy mother for buying her daughter a 150 mile per hour capable BMW for her 16th birthday.

------------

My son's first car was is a basic Ford Explorer with a small V8 and 6 spark plugs. He got the last two spark plugs when he turned 18.

Technically, he had 8 spark plugs but only six of them had tips

Still tragic no matter what. parents are hurting for sure. I couldn't guess if they have any recourse through the courts. Might just be the drivers fault for speeding and drinking. When I was young there were plenty of times I was drinking & driving and I could have wound up dead or injured. Lots of young folk still do it today. When I was 12 I lost my oldest cousin, who was 19 or 20, in a car wreck. He had been drinking and was speeding and lost control on a curve. He died and 2 or 3 passengers survived. I used to think of him once in a while when I was in that age bracket and driving around under the influence. It often, (but not always) slowed me down but there I was still driving under the influence of alcohol. Despite all the anti-DWI programs some young folks are still gonna do that stuff. It's terrible to see young lives snuffed out like that. They should bring back all those gory movies that kids once saw in driver education courses in high school.

Facts don't matter when an attorney can manipulate the facts into what ever he wants them to be. The parents are mad at someone and they found an accomplice to get revenge. It's lawsuit lottery time. The County will pay it off just to get it out of their hair.

kwg

I feel for the parents here.
But if it were someone else's children and they were presented with the same facts (BAC and high rate of speed), I can't help but think they'd see things very differently. And it's no wonder a large majority of our youth are convinced they can do no wrong when this is the sort of example that's being set for them.

Recently had a 9 year old girl die locally after being swept into the current while playing in the river unsupervised.

“The cops weren’t there fast enough”

“Why isn’t there warning signs”

“Why isn’t there a fence”

“Why are they quitting so early in the day while they should be looking for her body”

It’s the society we live in and it’s not going to get better.

I think I would be looking more into where their access to the alcohol came from than why the state had to build the road the way they did.

Well said.

I know someone who sued when his son was killed in a car wreck.
A police chase went around a road block and hit the boy head on.
The law suit was over the bad road block.

It was very unusual to win against the gov on traffic accidents.

Tragic accident. Any possibility of it being to a poorly designed or maintained road is negated by the bad decisions of the driver involving alcohol and speed of travel. No-go.

Ambulance chasers are part of the issue here.

Seems like no one is responsible for their action anymore unless they are a conservative.

There is some blame (at least some) that should allotted to the parents for not drilling better sense of conscious into their girls.


I can’t always be there and I hope my kids are always honest with me but we have an agreement, No more than you the driver and ONE friend in a vehicle.

Any and all ingrained asides can’t be considered to be abided by if there is alcohol is involved. Which is yet another partial failure of parenting in this situation.

sad sad sad

As for the litigation....what litigation? Driving is a privilege, it has risks even on blue bird days being sober.
But Jeeze who knows seems the right lawyer can get you the moon.

It doesnt matter if they were white.

Lawyers are looking for a payday.
Judges (lawyers) allow this [bleep].
Liberals are pushing it.

The suit said:
"that the road is poorly designed" .......... Sounds like something a shyster lawyer would say.

Well yes, ---- most country roads are poorly designed for nearly doubling your speed over the posted limit..... and driving that fast while drunk.
Even the German Autobahn is poorly designed for that.

Most cotton shirts are "poorly designed" to stop bullets too ................but if you shot yourself in the chest and died it's not the shirt makers fault.

But the shirt was not designed with stopping bullet in mind, and the road was probably designed to allow travel through the back country at safe speeds by the non-intoxicated public.

Ultimately, it the kids' fault for doing something stupid. Parents can only teach kids so much. At some point, they need to decide for themselves what decisions they make. I had the most conservative parents I knew when I was young. I was first in my class in high school. I lettered 12 times in sports. And I still did some stupid stuff that could have hurt or killed me. I probably did stupid stuff much less often than other kids with crappy parents but I still did stupid stuff on occasion. The one thing I am much more concerned with is the liberals in the school system and entertainment industry undermining the credibility and influence of parents on their kids.

This - costs too much to litigate, so the county will just pay.

Burden of proof will be on the parents to prove the road was negligently designed. They will have to get a civil engineer to come to court for them and swear it. They more than likely already have one lined up, prior to the suit. Road department will of course have its own expert witnesses.

Sounds like an uphill battle for the parents to me, unless there was something badly out of spec in that road design or road signage.

She was coming around the mountain about 90,
When the chain on her motorcycle broke;
She was found in the grass
With the muffler up her ***,
And her t**s were playing Dixie
On the spokes.

Shady ambulance chasing lawyers were able to persuade the family's into pursuing the claims. City will settle just to keep it out of court.

Phil

MADD
Mothers Against Drunk Driving

Mostly made up of 45 year old hags, who gave their little dolly [1] a new Camaro for her 16th birthday.
And six months later, the girl was out at midnight [2], drunk [3] , and wrapped the car around an oak tree and was killed.

Mom feels guilty and now she is on a campaign to try to assuage her guilt. The old hag is nuts, she is crazy, and she will remain crazy for the rest of her life.

[1] Sixteen year old kids are not mature enough to handle a hot rod car
[2] Sixteen year old kids should not be out at midnight. Nothing good ever happens after 11 pm
[3] There is a reason why it is illegal for tenth graders to drink

The 1st thing they'll do is some intense judge shopping to find one as crooked as they are. Any reasonable judge would throw it out.

Then you have DAMM.

Mad Mothers Against Dyslexia.

—————————-

Sad case all around but the county has attorneys on staff. Fight it in court if it’s not thrown out.

Design speed of a roadway is typically 10 MPH over the posted speed. No way this goes anywhere. Tragic for the girls and their families but 90 in a 55 posted plus alcohol will get them nothing.

Plenty of spots in our area that you would think would need guardrail but it technically doesn't meet warrants, have not been enough fatalities and therefore doesn't get it.

There’s something seriously fuggin wrong with you. Would you still think that if it was your daughter you Dik head? This was a tragic loss of life. Five teen girls made a mistake we’ve probably all made as kids. My heart goes out to the families.

Having said that, the accident lies squarely on the shoulders of the girls involved. Not the road designers, or the state. Still sad though.

I’ll edit to add that the responsibility may even partially rest with the parents who may not have taught them any better.

Who supplied the alcohol? Who supplied the car to a young inexperienced driver?

What’s your point? Doesn’t make it any less sad, and still doesn’t put the responsibility on the state, which is what the suit alleges.

ok, here y’all go, exact location looking west. Teens were traveling east, smacked a guard rail and flipped into the creek bed. Parents looking for a financial out as there was probably a clause in the insurance policy about payout if driver was drinking due to Nebraska’s zero tolerance law for teen drivers.

As soon as there is proof that alcohol is involved, the case is over.
(No pun intended)

I don't see how its the Countys fault?

The parents of the driver may well have a big legal problem put on their doorstep from the parents of the other deceased teenagers.

I don't think the parents of the dead teens are trying to leverage the deaths for their financial gain.

The parents are looking to hold someone other than their little girl responsible. Sad but not unusual.

Agree that the county is not responsible.

But, the parents of the other kids who were killed should be suing the parents of the driver.

Had it happen with a colleague. Her 17 yr old daughter driving and injured, younger sister seriously injured, her best friend killed. No alcohol involved. Families were best friends, too. Still got sued. Insurance company settled.

It's all just sad.

And who would expect the girls to have good judgment when it seems some of their parents don't have good judgment? "It's the road's fault my underage daughter got legally intoxicated, drove 35mph over the speed limit with a car full of distracting, screaming teen girls, likely with the music cranked up and everyone thinking this is the best time ever....until the evil road caused my poor daughter to lose control of the car, wreck, and kill three of her friends, along with herself!"

NO, reality and consequences to poor decisions just assert themselves eventually. There is no escape from this.

It's tragic, but it's actually YOUR fault as her parents. That's typically how the law sees it. If my daughter was a passenger in the car, I'd think about suing the parents of the driver.

[quote]

That says it all, right there.

L.W.

I believe that you mean "illegally".

What he said^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

What will Mommy and Daddy say when they discover that a bottle has been taken from their own cabinet? Is it still the county's fault?

Likely an ambulance chasing lawyer looking for his 40% cut.

That’s not the way I read the claim,

The claim reads, "As a result of the incident, all of the parents of these four minors — Bradley D. Barth, Army Barth, Wendy Pfeifer, Justin Pfeifer, Tonja Minardi, John Minardi and Julie Odermatt — have suffered injuries, will continue to suffer injuries and have incurred other damages and losses.

The document argues that the area of Platteview Road where the crash occurred and the guardrail the vehicle struck were both "improper," because:

It was defective and improperly and negligently designed, engineered, constructed or maintained.
It failed to warn drivers of its dangers.
It failed to prevent/mitigate crashes on Platteview Road
It created a dangerous condition and did not comply with practices, rules and standards
"Sarpy County's negligent, reckless, and/or willful actions and/or omissions were a cause of the incident," the document states.

Each family is seeking wrongful-death damages related to emotional distress, loss of financial support, loss of comfort, companionship, services, support, earnings, love, affection and more.

My point is it DOESN'T put responsibility on the State, and yes, it is sad. Why would you think I didn't think it was?

It sounds a lot like bad parenting. That in itself is always sad.

Judge to engineer testifying on behalf of the county "Do any federal, state or municipal road-building codes require that roads be built to be safely driven at twice the speed limit by a 16 year old, (il)legally drunk driver? No? Case dismissed! Costs to the county."

Rule of thumb in teaching if a kid gets hurt on a hiking trip etc....

The worst parents are the ones most likely to sue.

There is now an extensive memorial to the 4 dead girls just to the left of the picture on the edge of the creek.

Some guy who claimed to be a driving instructor wrote a letter to the Omaha World Herald comparing this accident to one that happened back in 1994 on a road that was popular among local teens because if you hit the apex of a hill fast enough you could go airborne. In the 1994 accident at the so called "State Street Jump", 3 young teens were killed, but the driver survived and was later charged and convicted of vehicular homicide. Similarities were that alcohol, speed, and poor judgement were involved, but the roads were very different. In the 1994 accident all 4 of the people in the car had been drinking, while in the 2019 accident 3 of the dead girls and the sole survivor had been drinking. One of the girls who was killed in 2019 hadn't been drinking, but being sober didn't keep her from getting into a car along with her impaired best friends.

If the car was traveling at 90 MPH when it hit the guard rail, that would be 64% over the posted speed limit. Driving 64% over the posted speed limit on a 75 MPH Interstate Highway would calculate to 123 MPH. Even on a rural Interstate Highway with gradual curves, an impaired drive with limited experience would be a danger to everyone around him/her if he/she was driving 123 MPH.

Or so it seems to me.

I wasn’t a guardrail inspector, but looks to me like that guardrail was probably up to standards. I’d just bet they were already in a WOS coming out of that curve and the guardrail was secondary issue when struck. And there wasn’t anyway it was gonna keep em out of the ditch.

But I did do speed zone surveys for 12 years. And if thats just a section of typical rural roadway, I see no real reason why it shouldn’t be a 55 MPH zone as that intermediate SL sign indicates. I’d even go as far to bet that the 85th percentile speed (if it was surveyed) is probably around 62-64 MPH!

Because I thought you were responding to defend the post I had responded to. I apologize if I misunderstood your meaning.

Ohhh...you're in big trouble now!

I just burned a black cat's whiskers and chanted an incantation. If you grow fur and a tail you know why.

I was deposed once on a case involving a fatality. I knew they were grabbing at straws when the deposed me as I was the lowest guy on the totem pole. The plaintiffs lawyer asked me if I would be surprised if the traveling public stopped at the stop bar at an intersection. I politely told him that there was absolutely nothing the traveling public could do that would surprise me. He did not like that answer. Kinda pissed him off.

aint that the truth.

Something very similar, back in the early '90's - almost the exact scenario.
Chrysler Corp, and NMDOT paid big bucks for kid's stupidity.

My personal opinion - when you leave the black stuff between the trees - you're on your own.
Age, drunkeness, and excessive speed just aggravate things.

I believe we all have had to sign the release waiver at birth for our actions. There are inherent risks when one gets out of bed in the morning. Unfortunately, stupidity is oft times rewarded with tragedy. I do not believe any of us have escaped that reality! Sad deal for families to endure this, but all the years I did SAR and water rescue, every single time someone was looking to place blame elsewhere!

Same conversation thousands of parents and people - mostly white, need to have to find “someone or something” to assign blame for their tragedy.

Parents or spouse of any shooting...Guns is the problem, not the individual who performed the action.

Son, daughter, spouse, family member, overdoses on drugs. Prescription Opioids caused them to seek out illegal street drugs that eventually killed them.

Daughter was drunk assed and accidentally kills herself and friends...It’s the roads fault.

Maybe people should look internally first and be more objective...My kid made a mistake that took lives. Maybe we as parents didn’t do enough to educate her to the dangers of drinking and driving...Maybe we did...Life is dangerous, for everyone.

Maybe we didn’t raise our kid with strong enough mental fortitude that when the prescription for pain meds ran out, you don’t hit the street looking for a bigger, better high. Deal with the small dependency, if there was any from a prescription for 20 pills. Millions of others have done it without issue.

A lot of people refuse to take responsibility for anything...And their kids are living proof of it participating in protests, riots, looting, and violence.

😎

This past Sunday afternoon I drove across Plattview Road from NE Highway 31 in the west to NE Highway 50 in the east and back again. When I was on my way back to the west, a couple of what appeared to be generic teenage boys passed me just east of the accident site at what I would estimate to be between 65 and 75 MPH, IOW significantly faster than I was traveling at around 58 MPH, I watched as they passed through that stretch of road without any issues and without slowing down, assuming that their brake light worked.

I find it interesting that the survivor has been photo-shopped out of the pictures that the parents of the dead girls are posting and have had laminated for display at the crash site memorial that has been erected.

I think that the parents want to fix blame onto anyone other than their exceptional daughters and they want to profit from it if they can.

Not just white people. How often do you hear the mother, never the father, of a dead black kid say that her son was a good boy who was getting his life together or that he only sold a little weed to provide for his family, he might be 24 with 6 kids by 4 different women, or that his criminal record was due of the bad crowd that he hung with, not because he was guilty of any "real" criminal activities.

Isn't it bad enough when kids die?

No need to kill the truth after.

Excellent point...I just had this conversation with my wife this morning...My question was “Why do blacks always say their dead son, brother, uncle, dad was the best dude ever, when they have a criminal record longer than my leg”?

Wifey’s take on it was they have grown up where incarceration is a product of their lives. They don’t see it as something to be ashamed of. If anything, it’s one less kid to worry about on the street, or mouth to feed.

Sounded plausible....😎

In the fall of my 14th birthday, I paid $25 for a Rambler American 440 that didn't run. My dad's idea was that I'd work on it, and work on it, slowly bringing it into running condition. Maybe when I was 15 1/2 or so.

It got flat towed to our place on a Saturday. Sunday afternoon, it was running - a bad condenser killed the points. Replaced both and bingo! Anyway, hijinks on Friday nights when the folks would go out dancing ensued. But always solo, always sober, always drove conservatively.

Since the statute of limitations has expired, you might want to ask your son how easy is it to swap plugs in an Explorer...

We all make mistakes, some more than others, and we mostly survive them.

I remember vividly the last time that I drove while impaired. In the summer of 1986 I was headed home from a party and nodded off at the wheel. My angel woke me in time to avoid hitting a bridge abutment on I-93 north of Boston. Talk about an adrenaline rush! I was scared straight and had well over 100K miles behind the wheel that night. I was 31 at the time. I didn't drive impaired very often before that night and not at all since. I figure that I used up my second mulligan that night and that tempting fate might not be prudent.

My Wife's Cousin bullseyed a huge dead cottonwood tree near Bradshaw, NE, in 1987. He fell asleep at the wheel, no alcohol or drugs in his system, and hit the only tree close to the road for at least a mile in either direction as dead center as it could possible be hit. He died at the scene of the accident and it took a lot out of his parents. His angel must have been on break, while mine was on duty and paying attention.

The state or county will settle out of court, not admitting fault. It will be money paid to go away.

Exactly !

kwg

The worst parents are the ones most likely to sue.[/quote]


Ironic but the worst parents have the best kids.

At rollerskating, my 9 year old daughter was helping scrape gum off
the floor. A mother ask what they were doing, I told her.

"Ewww! That's gross, she shouldnt have to clean that up, why would somebody do that".

"Well, when she saw them working on it, she volunteered. Someone has
to clean it up. And I'm sure some of the gum was accidental, most was
just spit out."

Mom, "Well, that's nasty, my girls aren't cleaning it up! They would never
do something like that! Thank God I have good kids!

Not really!


I have seen this play out so much, I have a line I love.

"Most people that "Have Good Kids",
don't!"


Good Kids come from parents who know their kids will screw up.
Look for it.
And address it in a manner that is remembered.

Many are so narcissistic that they just know, because it's their kid,
that they are perfect. Just like Mom!

In Northern California there is a place called Ruth Lake. There is a memorial there on the shore from a similar type of accident but they crashed into the lake. It’s very sad to see so many young people die.

After reading this entire thread, this is the only response worth quoting.

I hope those folks can make peace with that night.

Ironic but the worst parents have the best kids.

At rollerskating, my 9 year old daughter was helping scrape gum off
the floor. A mother ask what they were doing, I told her.

"Ewww! That's gross, she shouldnt have to clean that up, why would somebody do that".

"Well, when she saw them working on it, she volunteered. Someone has
to clean it up. And I'm sure some of the gum was accidental, most was
just spit out."

Mom, "Well, that's nasty, my girls aren't cleaning it up! They would never
do something like that! Thank God I have good kids!

Not really!


I have seen this play out so much, I have a line I love.

"Most people that "Have Good Kids",
don't!"


Good Kids come from parents who know their kids will screw up.
Look for it.
And address it in a manner that is remembered.

Many are so narcissistic that they just know, because it's their kid,
that they are perfect. Just like Mom!

[/quote]

I disagree that the worst parents have the best kids.

The worst parents that I've encountered have been abusive and/or substance abusers and many of their kids were as bad, or worse, than their parents. But good, better, best, bad, worse, worst are adjectives that are selected by someone passing judgement. I'm generally indifferent toward other people and their children as their very existence is of no consequence to me.

Yes. I have been teaching Drivers Ed (Classroom/Behind the wheel) for a long time. I teach 8-12 students behind the wheel a month. Ten % of them seem to drive as well as experienced drivers. 40% are decent and require some minor coaching in "turning" the car"/when to start breaking. 30% make for a very uncomfortable day and the the bottom 20% are terrible. 6 hours behind the wheel. Over the years I have only had one I could not train. Whenever there is more than one teenager in a car with a 15yr- 19yr old driver mistakes being made by the driver is 3 times more likely than all other age groups combined. I call them mistakes....not accidents. An accident happens when a tree limb falls on your car while you are in your house. Sad story. Driver at fault. Parents should follow their kids more closely. It is a lie that the parents should afford them the level of privacy that allows them to make this type of mistake.

90 + BAC = Nada.

No, I meant that there the girl met the legal standard for intoxication.

Makes sense - sorry to have misinterpreted.

Good post - your differentiation between "accidents" and "mistakes" is a very good one and applies to many incidents beyond driving.

So, was the alcohol sourced from the parents home?

Otherwise, it seems that the parents would have a better chance of cashing in and spreading blame if they were to sue the person/retailer that supplied the booze.

The Sarpy County Sheriff's Office has reported that the alcohol didn't come from the families, but the survivor has an attorney and the reports are that she and several other teens who also have attorneys aren't cooperating with the investigation.

The parents of the dead kids appear to be shunning the survivor. Maybe they wish that she had died and their child had been the sole survivor.

The community seems to have closed ranks around the families of the dead girls, not sure about the survivor and her family, but nobody is talking.

The parents of the dead kids seem to be going to extraordinary efforts to rehabilitate their dead kid's reputations. The attorney who is representing them in the tort litigation characterized the dead girls as being exceptional.

It was a satire thing.

The parents that say they "Have Good Kids" are usually the narcissistic pricks
who raise snobby, smartass, lazy little bastards.

Another one you hear is, "My kid was hanging around with a bad crowd."

No, your kid WAS the bad crowd.

One thing for sure in all this, the drivers parents must not have any money.

The Fact remains...they are/were kids. Some mistakes last/scare for a lifetime and can only be made once: with no do-overs. When you parent-watch-guide-restrict your "children properly" =for a while they may not like/appreciate you. Too bad; you are supposed to be their protector-guide-boss...being their friend will come much later.