Stewart Has Wrongful Death Suit Filed Against Him

[Clayton_Wetter]

How do you call someone dumb, that you have never even met? If dumb is getting out of a race car then you are talking about many people?

[Okfine]

I do understand what you're saying, but Stewart will have Lawyers too. I also don't believe Tony throwing a fit at Bristol or throwing a helmet at Richmond or yelling at a reporter at Daytona has a single effin thing to do with the death of Kevin Ward. And whether it's a driver with 50 million in the bank or a driver that got his cable shut off to pay a tire bill. Also nothing to do with the facts of the case. Every reason that kid is dead is the fault of the dead kid period.

True on all counts..........jury's normally don't have a lot of love for rich guys in a money grabbing case though.......he can afford it, will never miss it and they feel sorry for the family for their sons stupid mistake.

[Okfine]

How do you call someone dumb, that you have never even met? If dumb is getting out of a race car then you are talking about many people?

And in every case...............it's dumb.

[B_K]

How do you call someone dumb, that you have never even met? If dumb is getting out of a race car then you are talking about many people?

Getting out of a race car and charging a moving car is dumb. The act is dumb, not the person. I've got good friends that have done it, it was dumb then to. You're not going to win a battle with a moving vehicle.

[jog49]

The kid was a Darwin Awards winner or one who Ron White describes in his quip, "you can't fix stupid". The family wants their pound of flesh and they are only left to pursue a ridiculous civil suit but regardless of how one views their actions, it's just a form of extortion to get money out of a wealthy individual. If anyone's listening, I volunteer for the jury and don't any of you critics forget that the wing on Stewart's car was grabbed by Ward, pulled down, and then rebounded when he was knocked aside. Study the video and you can see the action of the wing.

[wsmith]

One thing that everyone might consider, and I have not seen it brought up is that Stewart would more than likely have little say on a settlement. I would be positive that he carries some form of liability insurance while he is racing at all these little tracks. The insurance lawyers will have more to say about the outcome than anyone. My wife does a lot of civil litigation and insurance work. When we got married I had been racing for some time, the first thing she did was set everything we did as an LLC and then we bought insurance liability coverage for everything we did from hauling cars to on track incidents. And we sure don't have as much to loose as some full time professional racer. I am sure Cary Agajanian, a highly respected lawyer and the owner of Stewart's management group has things well structured to protect Mr. Stewart's assets.

[Clayton_Wetter]

Getting out of a race car and charging a moving car is dumb. The act is dumb, not the person. I've got good friends that have done it, it was dumb then to. You're not going to win a battle with a moving vehicle.

But you don't know if the car moved closer from a gunning at the last second or not either?

And that Revving was not exactly wise either.

And NOT to be over looked!

[Okfine]

But you don't know if the car moved closer from a gunning at the last second or not either?

And that Revving was not exactly wise either.

And NOT to be over looked!

It's already been said and vetted that the revving car wasn't Stewarts...........

[B_K]

It's already been said and vetted that the revving car wasn't Stewarts...........

Doesn't fit his agenda, choosing to ignore it I guess. If the car in front of Stewart had hit him (nearly did) you feel the same way Clayton ? He had nothing to do with any of it.

[CIRF]

One thing that everyone might consider, and I have not seen it brought up is that Stewart would more than likely have little say on a settlement. I would be positive that he carries some form of liability insurance while he is racing at all these little tracks. The insurance lawyers will have more to say about the outcome than anyone. My wife does a lot of civil litigation and insurance work. When we got married I had been racing for some time, the first thing she did was set everything we did as an LLC and then we bought insurance liability coverage for everything we did from hauling cars to on track incidents. And we sure don't have as much to loose as some full time professional racer. I am sure Cary Agajanian, a highly respected lawyer and the owner of Stewart's management group has things well structured to protect Mr. Stewart's assets.

You're absolutely correct, wsmith. Stewart undoubtedly has his assets locked down and protected. He's getting expert legal counsel and it may be very difficult for the Ward family to get anything even if they prevail in the civil proceedings. I remember O.J. Simpson took legal residence in the state of Florida because their laws were such that the Goldman family couldn't get the awarded damages even though the California court had judged in their favor. However, the money wasn't what the Goldman family was most concerned with, they mainly wanted it to be public record that Simpson was found guilty to some capacity in a court of law. This may be what the Ward family is most interested in, none of us here have any idea what their motivation is. We can all say they're just money grubbing opportunists but unless one can look into their hearts and souls it is impossible to determine, even by all of us long distance analysts here.

I do understand what you're saying, but Stewart will have Lawyers too. I also don't believe Tony throwing a fit at Bristol or throwing a helmet at Richmond or yelling at a reporter at Daytona has a single effin thing to do with the death of Kevin Ward. And whether it's a driver with 50 million in the bank or a driver that got his cable shut off to pay a tire bill. Also nothing to do with the facts of the case. Every reason that kid is dead is the fault of the dead kid period.

Dante, you're correct, the past irrational behavior of Stewart has nothing to do with the death of Kevin Ward Jr. What it does is establish a pattern of behavior that is much more conducive to possible fault or intent that the counsel for the Ward family will exploit to their benefit. It's similar in theory to a known prostitute claiming sexual assault or rape. The counsel for the alleged rapist will use the history and past behavior of the victim to put doubt into the minds of the jury because of the pattern of behavior and lifestyle of the victim. It's the same theory in this instance. Stewart has a history and a pattern of irrational and sometimes out of control behavior. No one was responsible for all that history except Mr. Stewart and it can and will be used against him in this case.

[t.nie]

OJ was found not guilty in the death of his ex and her boyfriend in a criminal trial and lost the wrongful death suit. So it aint like it never happens. And much of what hung OJ was his past track record of aggressive, violent, volatile behavior.

Doesn't matter what anyone "believes" the cause of the kid's death was on here or in the stands or in the racing media. All that matters is what a jury can be persuaded to believe. Quite frankly, I think the most experienced driver on the track hit the guy and killed him and that, regardless of whether or not it was criminal, is going to be pretty hard for Stewart to negate.

Everyone else missed him, why didn't you? It was dark? You've been driving race cars on dimly lit tracks all over the country for 25 years, that's no excuse. It was dark and you didn't see him? Really? You can race at full speed under that lighting, throwing it into corners, dodging flying parts, missing cones, tires, safety workers for years but you couldn't see him in time that night? You see a car stopped on the high side of the track and don't think for a second there could be a person somewhere near it, on the track, that you should be watching out for? Really? THAT is the level of caution you exhibit under "caution?" Hmmmm.....

It's like hitting the kid in the crosswalk in front of the school when you sneeze at the wrong moment. Sure, it's an accident and you weren't necessarily negligent, but under the circumstances it's going to be real hard to not be saddled with some responsibility for a dead kid, as unfair or horrible as that is.-

Tony is best off paying these folks a settlement, closing this chapter of his life and moving on. My personal opinion is it is exactly what Stewart says it was, a pure accident, nothing more, nothing less. But his best option is just getting this closed and moving on as quickly as possible. Fighting the family of the dead son, killed by a guy with a history of violent, impulsive behavior is NOT going to be good for the image of Tony Stewart and more importantly, his sponsors. Sponsors aren't going to be wanting to see their money spent on lawyers and fighting this thing, there's no upside for them being in the fight with Stewart on this one. Nothing to gain at all.

Look for an out of court settlement for an undisclosed amount and gag orders all around. Stewart is just going to want this sealed up and gone as quickly as possible and I can see him paying it personally regardless of insurance, protected assets, etc. I just can't see him risking the rest of his career, his business, his employees, his everything to fight this. The loss is potentially too great in the long term.

He'll pay just to protect his own future. The sooner this goes away, with the least amount of coverage, the better for Tony Stewart.

[Cardirt0]

OJ was found not guilty in the death of his ex and her boyfriend in a criminal trial and lost the wrongful death suit. So it aint like it never happens. And much of what hung OJ was his past track record of aggressive, violent, volatile behavior.

Doesn't matter what anyone "believes" the cause of the kid's death was on here or in the stands or in the racing media. All that matters is what a jury can be persuaded to believe. Quite frankly, I think the most experienced driver on the track hit the guy and killed him and that, regardless of whether or not it was criminal, is going to be pretty hard for Stewart to negate.

Everyone else missed him, why didn't you? It was dark? You've been driving race cars on dimly lit tracks all over the country for 25 years, that's no excuse. It was dark and you didn't see him? Really? You can race at full speed under that lighting, throwing it into corners, dodging flying parts, missing cones, tires, safety workers for years but you couldn't see him in time that night? Hmmmm.....

Tony is best off paying these folks a settlement, closing this chapter of his life and moving on. My personal opinion is it is exactly what Stewart says it was, a pure accident, nothing more, nothing less. But his best option is just getting this closed and moving on as quickly as possible. Fighting the family of the dead son, killed by a guy with a history of violent, impulsive behavior is NOT going to be good for the image of Tony Stewart and more importantly, his sponsors. Sponsors aren't going to be wanting to see their money spent on lawyers and fighting this thing, there's no upside for them being in the fight with Stewart on this one. Nothing to gain at all.

Look for an out of court settlement for an undisclosed amount and gag orders all around. Stewart is just going to want this sealed up and gone as quickly as possible.

... BUT Ever one Knows OJ did it and Lawyers used the law too get him off.....

[TS FAN]

For the people that are commenting and clueless. OJ was charged with murder and got off. Stewart was never charged with a single thing. NOT ONE THING> Ok so some of you hate Stewart but for the love of money get a clue. Some of you can hope all day long that this will further destroy Stewart. I feel sorry for you. It is one thing to hate a driver, it is another to hope he is destroyed.

[Okfine]

... BUT Ever one Knows OJ did it and Lawyers used the law too get him off.....

Everyone but the jury.........

[TS FAN]

But you don't know if the car moved closer from a gunning at the last second or not either?

And that Revving was not exactly wise either.

And NOT to be over looked!

I know you do not like Stewart. Fine. But I thought you were better than what you have been posting. Shame on you