The end may be near...

The end of the case against the tow truck driver that struck and killed my wife would be the end that I referred to in the title of this article.

The case started within a week of the accident after doing a little research to try to find an attorney that my son and I could trust.  I say my son and I and don't mention my daughter because she's still a minor and I have the responsibility to represent her interests in the matter, and I also have the responsibility to represent my wife's estate in the matter.  Each has to be fairly represented in the wrongful death case against the truck driver, and I believe each has been well and fairly represented, or so we'll all be asserting to in a meeting at the lawyer's office later this week where we sign off on forms that will basically settle the case in favor of a settlement offer from the driver's insurance company.

The truck driver will wind up having paid $500 in traffic fines for failing to control the speed of his vehicle in order to avoid a collision with another object/vehicle/individual.  He plead guilty to that charge a few weeks ago.  His lawyer tried to get him a "probation before judgement" that would have resulted in the charge being wiped from his record if he maintained a good driving record for the next few years but the judge denied that option so his record will be permanently blotted with that charge.  He'll also be paying increased insurance premiums for the next several years, until the points from the charge and the record of the accident are dropped off the insurance record.  While I have no idea how much he had to pay previously, or how much he'll be paying now, I would say the difference is negligible compared to the loss in this case.

We've never heard a peep from the driver though that might partially be my fault as we had the opportunity to attend his traffic court trial.  I doubt he would have said anything to us there (on the advise of council since there was still an open civil case against him), though he might have.  Honestly though, what can he say?  While I'd love to have heard an "I'm sorry, I F---ed up, I was on the cell phone..." or (what I more suspect) an "I'm sorry, my children {who were riding in the tow truck with him} were arguing and I turned my head for just an instant...", but neither would change what happened.

If things go well, as mentioned, we should have a settlement agreement in place very soon.  My children will be covered with a reliable stream of income (structured settlement) that should provide them money for their educations and perhaps help get them started on their own.  I'll have a steady stream of income as well that should help provide a safety net for the whole family.  Not enough to live well on, but enough to get by if needed, and as long as I have a good job and decent income from that, enough to help put money in the bank to cover major expenses and household needs.

It should go without saying that all of us would trade all of this supposed financial security for things to be different.  While we would be struggling to find money to pay bills and take care of the household repairs that we desperately needed (and did) over the last year -- a new roof for the home, repairs to the HVAC system, etc. -- and we might still be living in a cluttered household with my wife's hoarding continuing to have been an issue, we take that all in a second if given the chance.  Sometimes life doesn't give you what you want though, regardless of the reasons, and we have to just move on.

On the better news front, Nats town was happy yesterday while the Mets fans weren't as pleased.  No telling how tonite's game will go, but I'll be happy to sit back and watch it unfold for me.  Something that I wasn't as happy to do last year when the team was absolutely horrible.

Heh.  Thinking of that, my son and I were talking about the poor fans in Cleveland yesterday.  He told me the "boards" (forums) for that area are filled with fans crying about how awful their team is and what they did to deserve such a situation.  I reminded him that they're getting a real-life version of Major Leagues where the grounds crew commented about the team when it came up from spring training.  I won't repeat the quote here, but if you've seen the movie you know the part I'm talking about where the grounds crew says something in a foreign language and the caption reads something about how the team seemed to be composed of fecal material.  I really feel for my uncle and his family, long time Indians fans that have been saddled with the current Indians.  They're actually giving the Baltimore Orioles a run for the money in the bad baseball team category

More later if time allows.