According to the Associated Press approximately 40 vehicles were involved in a pile up east of Houston in Port Arthur Texas. The accident occurred Thursday morning January 5 when the Jefferson County Sheriffs Department believe fog and smoky conditions may have played a factor in the massive accident. At least 10 ambulances were dispatched to the accident scene. No further details are available at this time.
Commentary
Few details have been released regarding how the accident began though I hope everyone recovers from the incident. Although natural factors like smoke and fog have been linked to the accident I can tell you from experience that some level of personal involvement played a role as well. If there was ever a time that a third party was needed to examine the accident for liability purposes it is in this accident.
Provided a party or in this matter multiple parties are found liable there could be standing for a personal injury claim. Those making a claim would need to prove that the liable party owed them a standard of care at the time of the accident that was not granted. In other words imagine the scenario where a car slows down to safely travel through the smoke and fog yet a trailing vehicle does not. Though not all fault would be incurred to the trailing driver that party failed to carry out safe operation of their vehicle.
Certainly with few details and potentially 40 different claimants this is speculation at best currently but the fact of the matter is if any civil remedies were to come from the accident an independent investigation would need to be initiated.
Beaumont Car Accident Attorney Michael Grossman
