Barboursville, WV — There was a deadly wrong-way car accident last week (Friday, December 5, 2014) that killed three people, including 20-year old Samantha Julian. Police said that Kimberly Insco, 43, and her passenger Juventino Ramirez were killed as well after their car crashed head-on into Julian’s on I-64.
The accident happened in the early morning hours of last Friday, near the Huntington Mall. Allegedly, Insco had gotten onto I-64 that morning going the east in the westbound lanes. Juventino Ramirez, who was from Guatemala, was a passenger in Insco’s car, a Pontiac SUV.
The news reports said that Insco drove nearly two miles going the wrong direction on I-64 before colliding head-on with Samantha Julian’s Ford Fusion. The collision killed Julian and Insco immediately, while Ramirez passed away at a hospital a few hours later. Allegedly, intoxication may be a factor here, but that hasn’t been confirmed yet. As of Tuesday, police were still waiting on confirmation of their toxicology tests.
Approximate Location of the Accident
Commentary:
Some states have laws that allow you to hold drivers and the bars that served them alcohol civilly liable for the same accident, but West Virginia isn’t one of those states. A lot of people misunderstand me when I say, “hold a bar liable,” because it sounds like I’m saying, “blame the bar for the drunk driver’s mistake.”
In reality, civil liability is the opposite of criminal liability — in a way. When someone breaks the law, they can be published by a court of law (criminal liability). But when someone’s negligence causes an accident, they can be sued for the damage they cause (civil liability). Obviously, bars don’t literally cause drunk driving accidents, but they do provide the alcohol that, well, causes the accidents. In many states, Texas included, there are laws set up to prevent bars from over-serving customers who are either underage or unfit to be drinking (i.e., drunk/intoxicated).
When these laws are broken, it not only opens the bar up to criminal prosecution for breaking the law, but they can be held civilly liable in court for any damages that arise from their negligence. An example: someone gets drunk at a bar, then gets behind the wheel of their car and gets into a wreck. Obviously, the driver is going to be held liable, but if you’re in Texas, the bar might be liable as well if they over-served the drunk driver.
I say all this because it gives the victims of drunk driving accidents some hope. I don’t know if alcohol was really a factor here or not, but it certainly seems like a distinct possibility. People need to know what kind of state laws they must abide by and, unfortunately, it doesn’t look like West Virginia has laws that are very favorable to accident victims in this kind of scenario.
— Grossman Law Offices
