A two-car accident late in the evening on Sept. 23 left three out-of-state men dead and several other people, including two Florida residents, seriously injured. The accident took place in Panama City.
According to accident investigators from the Highway Patrol, a Florida man was heading south on Pine Tree road when he failed to observe a stop sign and drove through an intersection, striking a Dodge Caravan containing five Ohio residents. Two of the Caravan’s passengers were pronounced dead at the scene, and a third died later at a local hospital. The Florida driver and his passenger, both 21 years of age, were taken to a hospital and were reported to be in serious condition.
The occupants of both vehicles were reported to have been wearing their seat belts at the time of the collision. It was not known whether the Florida driver was impaired by alcohol at the time of the accident.
The surviving family members of a person who has been killed in a motor vehicle accident often have to deal with a significant financial burden in addition to the grief accompanying the sudden loss of a loved one. Funeral and burial expenses have to be met, and in many cases, the financial contributions of the decedent to household expenses will somehow have to be replaced. Family members who find themselves in this type of a position may want to meet with a personal injury attorney to discuss their options. If it can be determined that the fatal car accident was caused by the negligence of another driver, the attorney might recommend the filing of a wrongful death lawsuit against the at-fault motorist seeking compensation for these and other losses.