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Suing Not The Remedy For Every Tragedy

By Amy E. Feldman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - When should a tragedy NOT lead to a lawsuit?

The headlines seemed impossible: the speeding, SUV-driving woman who had hit not one but three bicycle-riding teenagers, killing one of them, was suing the victims of the accident for her pain and suffering. Believable in this hot coffee lawsuit environment.

In fact, three teenagers, riding abreast on a dark highway, were hit by a woman in an SUV who was driving 55 miles an hour in a 50 mile an hour zone who was not intoxicated at the time of the accident.

According to her, it was dark and she could not see them. One boy died, the two others were injured.

The families of the boys sued the driver for medical costs and funeral expenses. She countersued, claiming that it was the boys who were cycling recklessly who caused the accident, which had caused her great psychological harm.

The boys were obviously terribly harmed, but they'd need to prove the driver was at fault. The driver no doubt also has been harmed psychologically, if not physically, but will find it nearly impossible to get a jury to make the boys' families pay the woman who hit them.

No matter whether or not it's possible to file a lawsuit, there are some injuries that no amount of money can heal and no fight is worth having.

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