Policeman Illegally Starts High Speed Chase, Injures Bystander
The City of Methuen, Massachusetts is facing a lawsuit after one of its policemen illegally started a high speed chase last year which resulted in serious injuries to a teenage bystander. Although the Methuen police department has a policy of only becoming involved in a high-speed chase if an officer sees a felony take place and determines that there is a risk of imminent harm to the public, a Methuen policeman decided in spite of the policy to become involved in such a chase after a truck he attempted to pull over for a traffic stop sped away from the scene. The truck driver crashed into the car of the nineteen year-old bystander while running from the policeman, causing serious injuries to the girl. She alleges that she has sustained over $600,000 in injuries, and has filed a lawsuit against the city of Methuen based on the policeman’s negligence. One of the city’s theories of defense is that the injuries to the bystander were caused by her own negligence because she was breaking various unidentified laws at the time.
Massachusetts is then similar to Tennessee in that it is a contributory negligence state, which means that liability for damages arising from an incident can be assessed against the parties involved in the lawsuit in accordance with their degree of responsibility for the injuries. For example, if it was determined that the plaintiff sustained $100,000 worth of damages and that the city was 75% liable for those damages as a result of its conduct while the girl was 25% liable for the damages as a result of her conduct, the city would have to pay the plaintiff $75,000.
This is a theory that seeks to prevent an inordinate amount of damages from being assessed to defendants who were not wholly responsible for the causation of the damages. It quite literally seeks to determine the exact amount of responsibility a party should bear for an accident and then use that percentage to assess the amount of damages for which that party is liable.
The case above is a good illustration of a situation in which this theory might be invoked, where the party who seems to be at fault (the city) is claiming that the accident would not have occurred or would not have been as serious if not for the fault of another party (the girl). Tennessee uses this theory and it is frequently in play in auto accident cases such as the one described above, which may be handled by Knoxville personal injury attorneys.
Source: http://www.eagletribune.com/punews/local_story_338235338.html
