Kentucky Personal Injury Attorney BlogPedestrian Loretta Wallace Killed While Walking
Loretta Wallace, age 22, of Georgetown, Kentucky was killed Thursday morning while walking along West Main Street in Georgetown, Kentucky. This tragic Kentucky pedestrian accident occurred around 4:20 a.m. along a poorly lit portion of the roadway where there are no sidewalks. Ms. Wallace was walking the same direction as the motor vehicle that struck her was traveling.
Driver in Kentucky share the roadway with pedestrians and owe a duty under Kentucky law to be mindful of pedestrians, even in areas of the roadway where there are not sidewalks or lighting is poor. As such, the families of people killed while walking along roadways have legal rights under Kentucky Law to pursue Kentucky Wrongful Death Claims when their loved ones are killed in pedestrian accidents involving motor vehicles.
Kentucky Wrongful Death Claims are civil legal actions whereby an Estate representing the deceased is established through the District Probate Court to represent the person killed, and seek civil legal damages, which under Kentucky law amount to monetary compensation for the accident and the results from it. These Kentucky civil legal damages can include medical bills incurred, if any, potential pain and suffering claims, depending upon the time from the accident until the time of death, funeral expenses, and lost earning potential of the decedent. Additional if the person killed was married and/or had children, the spouses and children will have loss of consortium civil legal claims separate from the legal claims of the Estate.
In a case like the one involving Loretta Wallace, who was only 22 at the time of this tragic accident, the Estate’s lost lifetime earnings potential claim can be over a million dollars, as an example of calculating $25,000.00 per year of earnings potential multiplied by working to age 65. In accidental Kentucky death cases when considering the lost lifetime earnings potential, it is important to be knowledgeable and experienced with insurance policies and coverage in order to maximize the recovery for the surviving family members. Not only will the automobile policy of the driver that hits a pedestrian be at issue, but also the automobile policy of the person hit and killed, and the policies of anyone living in the household with the pedestrian who was killed. All of these policies are important to have reviewed as they may afford various coverage that will afford the family coverage for the catastrophic loss they have suffered. The Estate’s recovery of civil damages from pedestrian auto accident deaths for surviving family members is controlled by Kentucky Revised Statute KRS 411.130.
Anytime a person is injured or killed in an accident, there are many matters that the grieving family overlooks, but are important to preserving and protecting legal rights. The family members are suffering, worried, and in cases of a death, grieving. It is important to have an objective representative looking out for the legal rights and other matters of those suffering, so they can be given the time and the space they need to emotionally address and deal with the accident/tragedy, and still have the piece of mind that other formal matters are preserved and protected for them.
For more information on the legal rights of persons involved in pedestrian auto related accidents, including the legal rights of families who have lost a loved one in a Kentucky Pedestrian Death Case, you can visit the Louisville based Ackerson Law Offices’ website (KYFIRM.COM) or you can call Kentucky Injury and Wrongful Death Attorney Brent T. Ackerson directly for a free consult at (502) 882-5176. The Ackerson Law Offices represent and advise client throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky on an array of personal injury and wrongful death matters.