Featured Image Credit: Fox 2
Topics: US News
Cameron Frew
A car owner has became the subject of a lawsuit after his vehicle was involved in a deadly accident - and he wasn't even behind the wheel.
Back in March 2020, a customer - who hasn't been named - took his car into the Rochester Hills Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealership to get an oil change.
However, a routine task soon became a nightmare, with one of the dealership's mechanics losing his life.
A 19-year-old mechanic - who also hasn't been named - was enlisted to sort the car. In an instant, his colleague Jeffrey Hawkins, a married 42-year-old father of four, was killed.
Attorney David Femminineo told Fox 2: "He starts the car, removes his foot from the clutch, and you know what happens? The Jeep jumps and kills my client.
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"[Hawkins] was an excellent man. The two-year-old who was about one at the time of the accident, the time of the death, he'll never know his father."
The Fox reporter asked Femminineo: "Did the 19-year-old know how to drive a stick?" to which he replied: "He didn't know how to drive a stick, and he had no license."
When asked why the dealership hired the young mechanic at all, the lawyer said: "That's what I'd like to know."
You don't need to be a legal expert to presume who the suit would be targeted at: a person died as a result of an accident in the workplace, so one would predict a lawsuit against the dealership. However, in this case, you'd be wrong.
The lawyer said: "We can't because of a legal standard that is involved.
"When you hand your car over to anybody including the valet or the person at the service desk at your local dealership, you better be able to trust that person."
The lawsuit is seeking $15 million. As the insurance company for the Jeep owner has already paid out $100,000, the dealership would likely be responsible for the rest of the money.
The 'legal standard' the attorney referred to is a combination of different factors. In Michigan, an injured employee can't sue their boss, even if it was the boss' negligence in employing someone incapable of the job they were hired for.
The alternative is worker's compensation, which would see Hawkins' family receive wages and medical coverage.
However, there's another problem: because the death involved a car, the owner's liability statute comes into play, meaning the owner of the car is somehow responsible, even if they weren't behind the wheel.
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