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Extreme Car Damage due to rock in the road.

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dawn74

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? State I'm talking about is Tennessee, from Illinois

Ok I'll try to make this a short version. The family in Illinois had gone down for Christmas to visit the family in Georgia. My brother-in-law, wife and 2 sons started their drive back on Wednesday. They got to Tennessee, in the mountains, and was in tight traffic. Evidentially, ahead of him was a large rock (probably coming from the mountains), also ahead of him was a semi and another car, he did not see this rock until it was too late, on 1 side of him was a rock wall and the other was a cliff there was nowhere for him to go.

needless to say he hit the rock, which caused his car severe damage, tore the transmission up, oil pan, frame etc... Car had to be towed and had to rent a car to come home.

My question is:
Can he get any reimbursement from the state over this??
 


rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
He should contact his insurance company.
He should contact an attorney in TN who can evaluate if there is any case against the State insofar as lack of mainenance etc, much will depend on the facts.
 

tammy8

Senior Member
I see warning signs all over Tn about falling rocks. Did you not?????

Sorry but road hazards are your responsiblity.
 

dawn74

Junior Member
Well first of all it wasn't me, it was a question I was asked to look up.

Secondly, I see no reason for your rudeness, good god.

I don't know MAYBE JUST MAYBE the state could be RESPONSIBLE for clearing DEBRIS from the road, or is that a new concept in the world?
 

dawn74

Junior Member
rmet4nzkx - thanks for the reply I will tell him to do just that, never know. I mean I know most cities/states aren't held reliable for natural wear and tear to the enviroment, roads etc. I still feel that they should be responsible for clearing the roadways when such things occur. No telling when the rock fell of course, but, it wouldn't hurt to look into.
 

Lynx 36

Member
Again, more bad advise from rmet4nzkx.

I'm not trying to be mean here but unfortunately a falling rock is an act of God. As we all know God can't be sued. The state's insurance company would not cover the claim.

Tammy8 is correct. Road hazards are your responsibility to avoid. I'm sure after you contact the atty in TN you will be informed of this.
 

dawn74

Junior Member
Well my only issue with that is, while that may be true it is an act of god, but, the state is responsible for keeping the roadway cleared, surely they are aware that rocks fall, because of the signs, ok so if a rock fell on the car, sure, that's a different story, but this was in the roadway, not moved and SURELY SOMEONE saw it and reported it?
 

MandyD

Member
.

I think it's safe to assume that the rock had recently fallen. It sure as heck wasn't there for very long otherwise there would have been more cars damaged from it. Do you expect the state to have people posted all over the roadways to make sure debris is removed the minute it falls?
 

rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
Lynx 36 said:
Again, more bad advise from rmet4nzkx.

I'm not trying to be mean here but unfortunately a falling rock is an act of God. As we all know God can't be sued. The state's insurance company would not cover the claim.

Tammy8 is correct. Road hazards are your responsibility to avoid. I'm sure after you contact the atty in TN you will be informed of this.
I am getting tired of this :mad:
There was nothing wrong with my advice.
He should contact his insurance company.
He should contact an attorney in TN who can evaluate if there is any case against the State insofar as lack of mainenance etc, much will depend on the facts.
We cannot evaluate the facts of the case here, also you know that while, it may be an act of God, there have been successful lawsuits with involved state entities at fault for road conditions. Of course an insurance company is going to tell you it is your fault!
 

dawn74

Junior Member
Goodness is it impossible on this board to have a conversation that doesn't include a ton of sarcastic remarks and hostility?

No I do not think they should have someone posted all over the road ways, but as big of a city as Chattanooga Tennessee is I'm sure it wouldn't take long to get to it. Recently fallen perhaps you're right, I'm not from the area to know what happens when a rock falls from a mountain, but I'm sure it'd have to be some element of suprise there and some reaction to it. Since my brother in law saw no reaction to alert him to something is out of the ordinary I don't think it fell just as he was coming to it.

I think I'll just get out of this board and tell my brother-in-law to call an attorney to see what, IF ANYTHING, can be taken care of.

Thanks for the help ya'll.
 

Lynx 36

Member
Quote: "There was nothing wrong with my advice."

Debateable.

Quote: "He should contact his insurance company."

Absolutely, as they will be the only ones to pay f/ it. If they think the state is liable they will subrogate the state.

Quote: "He should contact an attorney in TN who can evaluate if there is any case against the State insofar as lack of mainenance etc, much will depend on the facts."

Sure, why not. Definitely can't hurt. See my previous post.

Quote: "We cannot evaluate the facts of the case here, also you know that while, it may be an act of God, there have been successful lawsuits with involved state entities at fault for road conditions.

Sure there has. I advised a person yesterday about the asphault not compressed. Informed the person I thought he had a good case against the state of GA. But not here.

Quote (from dawn): "Evidentially, ahead of him was a large rock (probably coming from the mountains), also ahead of him was a semi and another car, he did not see this rock until it was too late, on 1 side of him was a rock wall and the other was a cliff there was nowhere for him to go."

Why did the two cars ahead of him not hit the rock? My educated guess is he was following too close to the truck and car ahead of him to avoid the road hazard when he came up on it.

Same thing w/ hitting a big pothole that does damage to the car. The city or the state will not cover it. I've been down this road a hundred times.

THIS IS AN ACT OF GOD. IT WILL NOT BE COVERED BY THE STATE OF TN. I DON'T CARE IF THIS PERSON HIRES JOHNNY "FREAKIN" COCHRAN. THEY WILL NOT WIN AND THEY WILL WASTE THEIR MONEY ON AN ATTY! TURN IT INTO INSURANCE AND BE DONE W/ IT SHEESH!!!

Atty's have the attitude that if something bad happens to someone, someone else is always responsible. It's a reflection of our society in general though. No one takes reponsibility f/ anything bad that happens to them. It's always someone elses fault. Bad things happen to good people, that's the way life is.

Now that I'm off my soapbox I'm going to celebrate New Years Eve. Peace.
 

rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
Is there an echo in here?

Lynx
In 36 words I sumed up the advice with 3 points, considering OP is not involved in the situation and all knowledge is third hand,
Then you come along and tell me my advice is wrong and spout a bunch of self serving insurance company propoganda, then echo some of it, I restate and again you say it it wrong and echo again what I said, echo, echo....
There is no way we can evaluate it here, OP does not have intimate 1st hand knowledge of the situation, we can guess, assume, speculate, but we can't say for sure. Let someone like an attorney in TN who can appropriately evaluate the situation, evaluate the case in addition to their insurance, even if all that happens is that a potentially dangerous situation is documented, it may prevent a more serious accident in the future.

I guess you have to have all the ideas and the last word, but please don't say my advise is wrong and take credit for it yourself.
 

Lynx 36

Member
Quote: "I guess you have to have all the ideas and the last word, but please don't say my advise is wrong and take credit for it yourself."

Your advice is wrong in this situation. You think it's right, I think your wrong. You think my advice is wrong, and you think yours is right. We will just have to agree to disagree. Lastly, I would not take credit f/ advice you have given b/c it is wrong.
 

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