Very few details were available about a wreck that took place near Paducah’s Robert Cherry Civic Center and involved a passenger car, light truck and semi-truck.
The wreck happened on Mathis Drive between Lindsey St. to Parke Avenue. Multiple people were injured in the collision. 
First Party Liability
Usually, a Lexington personal injury attorney starts with the available evidence and moves from there. However, in a case with no leads, you have to start somewhere. Usually, that “somewhere” involves a close look at the basic elements of a negligence claim.
Duty
Usually, Kentucky drivers have a duty of reasonable care or a duty of utmost case. That’s quite a bit of Legalese, so let’s break it down.
The duty of reasonable care is loosely based on the Golden Rule (do unto others as you would have them do unto you). This legal responsibility, which also applies to most property owners in the Bluegrass State, basically requires drivers to obey the rules of the road, whether they’re written or unwritten. Noncommercial drivers must also avoid accidents when possible.
Basically, the duty of utmost care, which applies to most commercial drivers in Kentucky, is the duty of reasonable care on steroids. Largely because of their additional education and training, commercial drivers must take affirmative steps to avoid wrecks.
Following distance illustrates the difference between these two legal responsibilities. The two-second rule applies ot most noncommercial drivers. According to federal regulators, six seconds is the minimum large truck safe following distance.
Breach
Speaking of following distance, tailgating is one of the most common forms of aggressive driving. This category is one of the two main breaches of duty (lack of care) in car crash cases. Other forms of aggressive driving include making an unsafe U-turn, changing lanes or turning without signaling, and speeding.
Not every form of aggressive driving is a breach of care. Assume Clayton was 1.5 seconds behind Vera. Although Clayton was tailgating, most jurors wouldn’t consider a half-second to be a breach of care.
Driver impairment also causes many wrecks in Fayette County. Alcohol, which causes about a third of the fatal wrecks in Kentucky, may be the leading example. The drunk driver crackdown, which began around 1990, has put lots of people in jail. However, it hasn’t significantly reduced the number of drunk driver crashes. Other kinds of driver impairment include fatigue, a moderate illness, like the flu, substance abuse, or a serious medical episode, like an epileptic seizure.
Cause
When we say cause, we really mean substantial cause. Let’s change the facts of the above example. Assume the road was slick when Clayton, who was speeding, lost control of his car and crashed into Vera. The slick road contributed to the wreck. But bad weather didn’t “cause” the wreck. Clayton’s excessive speed substantially caused the wreck.
On a related note, environmental factors affect the duty of care. For example, the posted speed limit is a presumptively reasonable speed under ideal conditions. The duty of care requires motorists to slow down if the road is wet, the sky is dark, or whatever.
A Lexington personal injury attorney must also prove foreseeability, or possibility, of injury. If Vera’s broken leg gets infected, that’s not a foreseeable injury.
Damages
This last section will be brief. Usually, the victim must sustain a tangible injury to receive compensation. A brain injury like PTSD may not be visible, but it is tangible.
Compensation in a car crash claim usually includes money for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.
Third Party Liability
If a semi-truck is involved in a wreck, two big red flags go up for Lexington personal injury lawyers.  First, as outlined above, it’s easier to prove negligence in these cases, because of the higher duty of care. The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Second, large truck wrecks usually involve respondeat superior third-party liability.
Employers are financially responsible for damages if their employees are negligent in the scope and course of their employment. For most purposes, truck drivers aren’t legal employees. However, these drivers are employees for negligence purposes.
Other vicarious liability theories include dram shop alcohol provider liability and negligent entrustment owner liability.
Injury victims are usually entitled to substantial compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer in Lexington, contact the Goode Law Office, PLLC. We routinely handle matters in Fayette County and nearby jurisdictions. The post Multi-Vehicle Collision in Paducah first appeared on Goode Law Office, PLLC.