Jump to content

Would you like to be sued for taking your car in for an oil change?

Cougar_ml

By Cougar_ml
in The Bored Room

 Share

Recommended Posts

Cougar_ml Bored Member

Cougar_ml

Posted
Posted

So long story short, guy takes his vehicle in for an oil change and a 19 year old employee with no license that doesn't know how to drive a clutch runs into and kills another employee.  Because it was 2 employees involved, the owner/boss of the shop responsible for hiring the teenager can't be held legally liable, and the lawyer for the deceased coworker is suing the vehicle owner.

 

MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. (FOX 2) - A man takes his car for an oil change and gets sued - after his car was involved in a deadly accident killing a worker while at the dealership.

On March 13, 2020, the customer took his car to the Rochester Hills Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealership and a young 19-year-old mechanic attempted to change the oil.  But something terrible happened.

"He starts the car, removes his foot from the clutch, and you know what happens? The Jeep jumps and kills my client," said attorney David Femminineo.

The vehicle hit and killed employee Jeffrey Hawkins, a married 42-year-old, father of four, and a lifelong mechanic.

"He was an excellent man," Femminineo said. "The 2-year-old who was about 1 at the time of the accident, the time of the death, he'll never know his father."

Mr. Hawkins died instantly in the accident.

FOX 2: "Did the 19-year-old know how to drive a stick?"

"He didn't know how to drive a stick, and he had no license," the attorney said.

FOX 2: "Why did the dealership hire him?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Femminineo said.

But hold on one minute -

FOX 2: "You must be suing the dealership?"

"We can't because of a legal standard that is involved," the lawyer. 

That's because the accident happened at work and involved two employees and you can't sue the boss in that situation.

 

But attorney David Femminineo claims that the person responsible is the owner of the car.

FOX 2: "You're suing the owner of the car who's getting his oil changed who did nothing in this case?"

"I have to do that," Femminineo said.

That's the law.  FOX 2 reached out to the car owner's attorney - but he had no comment on pending litigation, other than to say he's going to fight this case in a trial at the end of May.  

"When you hand your car over to anybody including the valet or the person at the service desk at your local dealership, you better be able to trust that person," the attorney said.

 

 

 

https://www.q13fox.com/news/car-owner-who-left-jeep-at-dealership-gets-sued-after-worker-dies-during-oil-change?utm_campaign=trueAnthem&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR2aXjUSu7QWjZhDFQClqF-bX6adFsxUQGVTSSdzIUQItQrirDwQt3KwR_Y

  • Like 2
  • Sad 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mrs.Cicero Bored Member

Mrs.Cicero

Posted
Posted

How do you get to be a mechanic without a driver's license?  

And legally, this is idiotic from start to finish.  But it's Michigan, and therefore doesn't surprise me at all.  Michigan is run by corrupt, incompetent, stupid, unethical, immoral, amoral, and anti-moral, braindead leftist imbeciles.  And I'm being polite about it.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Batesmotel Crew Member

Batesmotel

Posted
Posted

I (or the company) have been sued so many times I’ve about lost count. The courts are a joke. Just an easy way for people to make money. Many attorneys spend their entire career filling law suits and just settling for cash.

I’ve never lost once. Closest was my insurance paid out $6,000 to make a multi million dollars wrongful death case go away. The attorney sued the wrong party. He screwed up so bad the family lost the right to go after the correct company because of the way they filed against us. They got $4,000. The Attorney still got $2,000. Total joke. 

  • Like 2
  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
miketx Senior Member

miketx

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, Mrs.Cicero said:

How do you get to be a mechanic without a driver's license?  

And legally, this is idiotic from start to finish.  But it's Michigan, and therefore doesn't surprise me at all.  Michigan is run by corrupt, incompetent, stupid, unethical, immoral, amoral, and anti-moral, braindead leftist imbeciles.  And I'm being polite about it.

Well, at 19 he can't be much of a mechanic. Most likely he answered an ad for a minimum wage job that offered some training, and you don't have to be much of a mechanic to do oil changes. I've worked on cars 40 years and seen quite a bit of stupid, but this seems like new ground! ;)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
tous Crew Member

tous

Posted
Posted

"First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."

Dick Utopian

Henry VI

Does bringing your automobile to a fast oil change place and exiting your vehicle considered a bailment? :headscratch:

If so, I believe that the basis of that legal action is nonsense.

Unless it is a government DoD contract, than any and all manners of absurd and ridiculous not only apply, they are enforceable.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Maser Bored Member

Maser

Posted
Posted

I'm not buying the story about the kid running the guy over because he didn't know how to use a stick shift.  Have you all seen n00bs trying to drive a stick for the first time?  They don't make the car go out of control.  They instantly kill the engine. 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Cougar_ml Bored Member

Cougar_ml

Posted
  • Author
Posted

most cars require the brake pedal to be pushed to start, so pushing the clutch instead isn't that big of a leap for someone unfamiliar with driving.

plus depends on how it was parked, how much power, and if it was in 1st gear.  

 

There doesn't seem to be any dispute about what happened, only who they can sue for it.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites
janice6 Cross Member

janice6

Posted
Posted
26 minutes ago, tous said:

"First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."

Dick Utopian

Henry VI

Does bringing your automobile to a fast oil change place and exiting your vehicle considered a bailment? :headscratch:

If so, I believe that the basis of that legal action is nonsense.

Unless it is a government DoD contract, than any and all manners of absurd and ridiculous not only apply, they are enforceable.

My company offered the Navy a Maintenance Contract on a Fleet system.  (Might have been the Fleet fire control computer, I'm not sure now). 

The Navy had a first option choice of paying specifically what each part cost in the computer, which would result in Nickle and Dime items and some Items such as the Thin Magnetic Film Memory costing a horrendous amount. 

The Thin Film Magnetic Memory could withstand  Nuclear weapon radiation event then fire right up and work.

The second option was that the Navy could take was where the total cost of the components of the computer  divided by how many parts it had, and price each component the same amount.  

Either way my company simply got paid the same price for the repair.  We lost our ass on the most expensive but got more for the least expensive parts. Or, we simply recovered the cost of the parts.

The Navy chose to pay the second way.  It looked cheaper when replacing the memory so Congress wouldn't bitch so much at the high cost of repair.

Then some media people looked at that method of pricing and said that it resulted in a 50 cent diode costing $50 and that was an absurd price for a diode.  But, the memory cost as much as a diode this way.

The media publicized how ridiculous  the pricing on the cheap parts were and Congress told the Navy to tell  us to either adjust the pricing or no more contracts.

So here we are, offering two different options to the Navy for repair costs so one would look cheaper to Congress and the other was simply the outright cost of parts.  In either case the Navy made their choice.

Now my company was dragged through the press for ripping off the Navy.  We had to submit or go out of business.  

  • Like 1
  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Batesmotel Crew Member

Batesmotel

Posted
Posted

We had a local valet wreck a vintage Porsche. First time behind the wheel of a manual transmission. Knew enough to press the clutch. Revved the gas and popped the clutch. Didn’t kill it. Shot forward into another car. They know just enough to be dangerous. 

  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
holyjohnson Crew Member

holyjohnson

Posted
Posted

Employee or not he got behind the Wheel knowing that he did not have the ability or Knowledge to operate it safely.

he is Responsible for that, no one else.

he is 19 and that is an Adult, he is Liable for his actions.

He was Perfectly able to ask for someone else to Move it, he Chose not to do that.

The Dealership has Insurance, they are able to be Sued,

Prayers to The Departed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Fog Bored Member

Fog

Posted
Posted

Sounds like the family of the deceased took a settlement from the state through workers comp and in doing so agreed to not sue the state or the dealership. So they go after the next pocket they can find.

  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Please Donate To TBS

    Please donate to TBS.
    Your support is needed and it is greatly appreciated.
×
×
  • Create New...