Being held responsible for negligence if you cause an accident?

They can be charged with a WHOLE HOST of things. Whatever mood the cops are in that day, and where their quota is.

 

Yes, they can. I have seen many lawsuits filed where the driver was listed as a defendant. Thankfully most of the time these cases don't go to trial and there is a settlement. Part of most settlements is a full release against the carrier and the driver. Most of these settlements are paid by insurance!

 

Same goes for anyone weather you hold a license or not.

 

Heck, a CDL holder can be found negligent even when they do absolutely everything correct. One example is a southbound pickup truck hits some ice loses control and goes into the northbound lanes and hits a truck. The driver was found negligent because he shouldn't have been driving whenever there was ice on the road or something stupid.

 

One man with a briefcase and a suit can steal more than a thrill seeker, liquor store holdup gangster.

 

In our litigation happy society, one can get sued by anyone else for just about anything. But, if you've got nothing worth taking, they have no incentive to try. So, stay poor! Poor folks never get sued because they don't have anything to take. That's why insurance companies and rich folk get sued.
That said, for many years I always drove junker cars. I used to tell folks, tongue in cheek, the best auto theft deterrent system is to have a vehicle no one wants to steal. Personally, I've never had a car stolen from me!

 

A Truck Driver can be charged Criminally as well as Civally in these matters. I got this link in an email this morning. I would imagine at some point these affected families will be filing lawsuits against the driver.

 

No longer. A civil case out of Georgia changed that. An off duty Leo was speeding through town, and t-boned a truck hard enough to remove the fuel tanks and bend the frame. He received serious injuries, and filed suit using the logic spelled out above. The court found that the truck driver couldn’t be held liable for just being somewhere and subsequently tossed the case. There’s your precedent, should you ever need it.

 

A few years ago I was part of a lawsuit. There were about 20 plaintiffs in that group including me. The Judge tossed our case because our main attorney made a mistake about case law. Even attorneys can misuse caselaw. In that Georgia case, you mentioned if it was a state court the case law is NOT binding on other states. It can be used as case law history, but a Judge in another state is free to reject it. Even if it happened in a Federal Court it is only binding in that District. To make it a national precedent generally takes appellate court action.

I learned this difference through bitter disappointment. Example!