Fatal Sumner Crash
12/28/2007
On Christmas Eve a 35-year old man was killed and two men were critically injured in a car crash on West Valley Highway in Sumner, Washington. According to the police, the driver was speeding, lost control of his vechicle, crossed into oncoming traffic and then hit a tree on the shoulder. The driver was declared dead at the scene of the accident; the two passengers were transported to Harborview Medical Center. Alcohol was found in the vehicle but it is not yet known whether the driver was intoxicated.
Cases involving multiple injured passengers pose an ethical challenge for attorneys. If the passengers' injuries are severe, it's quite possible that the driver won't have enough insurance to fully compensate each of them for their damages. It's very difficult for one attorney to represent multiple clients competing for a limited pot of money. In that case, it's best for each of the passengers to obtain separate counsel so that insurance proceeds, if any, are fairly distributed.
