Towing without a car braking system??

fpresto wrote:
I have posted this before but most people talk about is it legal or not. Let me assure you that if you are involved in an accident with injuries a ticket will be the least of your worries. Remember in a civil suit against you it is the emotions of the jury that matter not just the law. Several years ago I had jury duty in my state (Maryland) one of the cases was a civil suit against a class "A" operator. I was not selected for the jury but because I was an RVer I was curious so I stayed around to watch. The facts of the case were pretty clear cut. A woman with two small children stopped at a light on yellow, the RV driver thought she was going through and rear ended her. The suit was for damages. His lawyer pointed out that he was legal in Maryland which has the very common performance based stopping law and his only ticket was failure to control his vehicle and some other minor ticket that I can't remember. Her lawyer harped on the fact that supplemental braking systems are available for towing (I believe he was towing a Saturn)and his not installing one showed a disregard for the safety of the motoring public and it could have been anyone on the jury or their families that he ran into and a supplemental system may have prevented the injuries to the poor innocent children. He was good and really knew how to play the jury. His lawyer kept countering that he was legal in Maryland but the pictures of the injured children and the damaged car sealed his fate with the jury and they returned a very large damage verdict. I do not know if his insurance covered all or any of it because, in Maryland at least, insurance can't be mentioned in a damage suit.

So he didn't realize she was going to stop for the yellow and rear ended her, but that was somehow caused by not having aux brakes? Rear end accidents happen all the time caused by cars with perfectly working brakes. In this trial was there any scientific testimony given to show the motorhome driver tried to stop but was unable to simply because he didn't have aux brakes, and had he had the brakes he would have stopped on time and nobody would have been hurt? If that testimony didn't come in then the jury can't use the statements the lawyer made as evidence and any award they gave was based on the facts of the case and not what the lawyer said. You rear end somebody who has stopped for a traffic signal you and/or your insurance is paying no matter what.