Personal Injury Law

Plato Missouri Man Escapes Serious Injury in Snowy Franklin County Missouri Car Crash

By Ryan Bradley, Esq.

Orlando Soto of Plato, Missouri narrowly avoided serious injury in a snowy nighttime Franklin County, Missouri car crash on March 14, 2011 at 10:00pm.

Joy L. Exline of Krum, Texas lost control of her 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt on eastbound I-44 and slowed to a near stop. Soto was driving his 2009 Chevrolet Silverado immediately behind Exline. When Exline almost stopped, a Missouri rear end impact accident occurred as Soto?s Silverado struck Exline?s Cobalt. Soto then veered off the roadway and hit the cable median barriers.

The Missouri car accident caused extensive damage to Soto?s Silverado and totaled Exline?s Cobalt. Exline and her passenger, 12-year-old Chyanne M. Atherton, were taken to Missouri Baptist Hospital in Sullivan, Missouri. They suffered minor injuries. The Highway Patrol did not list any injuries for Soto.

The ?rear end doctrine? complicates personal injury cases for back-most drivers like Soto in Missouri rear end collision. The rear end doctrine presumes that the back-most driver was both at fault for the accident and was negligent while driving. The back-most driver would then be responsible for showing that the front driver was actually at fault.

The front driver in a rear end collision would be at fault if she drove in such a way that the back-most driver could not reasonably avoid the collision. Courts often look to expert testimony to determine vehicle speeds before the accident, damage and injury caused by the accident, distance between the vehicles, and other factors related to the accident. Whether to apply the rear end doctrine to a case is a complex decision within the judge?s discretion. The rear end doctrine is the default rule in Missouri, so it will apply to most cases involving Missouri rear end collisions.

Full post as published by Missouri Accident Lawyer Blog on March 16, 2011 (boomark / email).