Off the coast of Italy on January 14, Captain Schettino runs his cruise ship aground, "trips" into a lifeboat and refuses to get back aboard his sinking ship to assist in the rescue despite the repeated commands of Chief De Falco of the Italian Coast Guard. That same day, The Tampa Bay Times reports that a man who pleaded guilty to DUI manslaughter for rear-ending a Chevy Tahoe at a traffic light has filed a lawsuit against the Tahoe driver. Like Captain Schettino, David Belniak has some explaining to do, and it better be good.
Belniak seeks damages for injuries he received in the crash on Christmas Day in 2007. He pleaded guilty to three counts of DUI manslaughter and received a 12-year prison sentence for the crash which killed three of the four people in the Tahoe. Tahoe driver Ray McWilliams recovered from his injuries, for the most part, but died three years later in March 2011. According to The Tampa Bay Times, Belniak's lawsuit alleges McWilliams caused the crash by abruptly changing lanes, "making it impossible" for Belniak to avoid the collision. Most drivers in that situation avoid a collision by stopping for the traffic light.
How could a lawyer file such a lawsuit? The rules of the road require drivers, before changing lanes, to look and see that it is safe. If McWilliams had looked, what would he have seen? The Florida Highway Patrol said Belniak's pickup truck was going 75 - 85 mph when he rear-ended McWilliams at the red light on U.S. 19 at 2:20 p.m. At 75 mph, the pickup was traveling 110 feet a second. If only three seconds passed between McWilliams looking and the moment of impact, Belniak would have been 330 feet back up the road, more than the length of a football field. That's more than enough room for McWilliams to change lanes, either slowly or abruptly. It's also more than enough distance for drivers obeying the 55 mph speed limit to come to a stop.
The rules of the road gave McWilliams the right to expect drivers behind him to drive in a lawful manner, at or close to the speed limit. They also gave him the right to expect drivers behind him to obey the traffic signal and stop for the red light, until McWilliams had reason to know otherwise.
To win his lawsuit, Belniak will have to persuade a jury that McWilliams saw or should have seen that Belniak's pickup truck was coming so fast that a reasonable person would have stayed out of Belniak's way. This winning formula asks the jury to overlook the fact that awarding Belniak a recovery would endorse Belniak speeding through the red light and endangering other drivers crossing U.S. 19 at that intersection.
The Florida jury will be asked to compare the negligence, if any, of McWilliams and Belniak, and determine what percent of fault each had in causing the crash in 2007. In addition to Belniak's speed of 75 - 85 mph, six eyewitnesses reported that he never swerved or braked before rear-ending the Tahoe at the light. Blood testing showed Belniak had a blood alcohol level of .045 (less than the .08 Florida limit) as well as metabolites of Xanax and cocaine. Belniak pleaded guilty to three counts of DUI manslaughter for the deaths of McWilliams' wife, daughter and son-in-law. However, Belniak's sister and lawyer, Debra Tuomey, explains the pleas as having been made to avoid a possible life sentence. Belniak's answers during his cross-examination based on the transcript of his guilty plea hearing will be like watching him eat a boat propeller.
Tuomey said she hopes Belniak's claim against McWilliams will be heard with the lawsuit against Belniak brought by relatives of those killed in the crash. Like Captain Schettino who abandoned his duties resulting in a crash and loss of life, Belniak abandoned his own duties. By blaming McWilliams and asking for money from his estate, Belniak steers a dangerous course likely to inflame a jury and increase the damages awarded against him.
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