Suit Filed Against Man In 5X Fatal Crash
Published: June 26, 2009
TOLEDO, Ohio—A Maryland man is suing a driver in a wrong-way crash in Ohio that killed five family members.
Danny Griffin Jr. filed the lawsuit Thursday in Toledo where the crash happened in December 2007.
Griffin and his family were returning home from a Christmas trip when a Michigan man driving the wrong way on an interstate slammed his pickup truck into their minivan.
Griffin’s wife and four children were killed.
Police later said the driver, Michael Gagnon of Adrian, Mich., was drunk. He was sentenced to 43 years in prison.
Griffin’s lawsuit also names as defendants two of Gagnon’s family members and the owners of a bar where Gagnon had been drinking.
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Reader Reactions
My thought is that this was pre-meditated murder, just like loading a gun bullet after bullet. You fill yourself up with drink after drink and then go out and drive fully loaded, just like a gun. The guy should get life without parole.
Money can’t buy happiness. Just ask Micheal Jackson!
unrepentent I completely agree with you. Personally, if I were stupid enough 2 climb behind a wheel drunk, then take out an entire family, I would ultimately have to kill myself.
This man is most likely still grieving. He lost his entire family at once and is most likely trying to find a way to satisfy his pain. It is hard for me to believe that he expects much out of this. He may want the bar shut down, I can’t blame him for feel hate towards anything and everyone that contributed towards the loss of his family. Hopefully one day he will heal and overcome the grief.
If someone sued has deep pockets or great insurance in this country cases like this never hardly get to court. Someone will settle. I am surprsied that they didn’t sue the tire company that made the tires on the truck or the paint cpm,pany that made the paint it was covered with at the factory. This was a terrible lose and this man should be compensated but not when a weasel attorney will get 1/3 as allowed by Ohio law.
I think they probably figure the employees of the bar shouldn’t have let him drive if they thought he had too much to drink. For instance, I know someone that was at a bar one night and the bouncer at the bar literally helped this guy to his car becuase he was too drunk to walk on his own. The bouncer put him in his car and let him drive off in that condition.
They will throw this out Lawyers are idiot’s.
They should sue the State since they are in control of all alcohol .
The driver should have gotten the death penalty.
its called the “shotgun strategy” fire a wide lawsuit and maybe someone caught in it has money….this is a very common thing for lawyers to do. they know a man stuck in prison has nothing but maybe the bar owner does, and yes sometimes they do go after auto makers and anyone else they can put any kind of blame on, perhaps even the company who made the beverage that this idiot drank too much of
OK I can see suing the drunk driver. But the owners of the bar? Why not sue the company that built his pickup, too?
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