The Washington Post is reporting today on the aftermath of a tragic car/truck accident that took place here in Fairfax County in January, 2007. Three people were killed when a gasoline tanker truck struck the rear of a car that was sitting in the middle of the Beltway in the middle of the night, apparently without hazard lights. According to the Post, no one knows why the car was stopped in the middle of the road.

The trial in the traffic accident case took place this week. The truck driver had been charged with a mideamenor but he jury found him guilty only of a traffice infraction and set his fine at $500.00

The families of the victims were understandably upset and questioned “why only $500 for the loss of life?”

The answer is that after any accident involvling injury or death, there may come two cases. One is brought by the state prosecutor for vilation of laws. The other is a civil case brought for recovery of damages for death or injury.

They are different and usually the one has nothing to do with the other.

The case that just finished is the “punish” the defendant for any violation of law. A civil case, on the other hand, is to compensate victims.

So there may be a civil case that arises out of this case. It seem that it will be very difficult as Virginia allows for no recovery if you, yourself, caused the accident in any way.

So this is how this may shape out. The driver of the car sitting in the dark on the Beltway may not be able to recover from the truckdriver. If there were passengers in the cars that were struck, their families may have a claim against the driver of the car who stopped without lights on. Still, a tough case since we don’t know how long the car had been there or what caused it to be stopped.

A real tragedy all around.