Originally Posted by vincenzosi
Why did they not issue a summons? There's no contesting that he was double parked. His negligence could be the cause of death of this young man, and instead of pursuing the issue, they let him off with a "fix it and forget it" summons.
I imagine a substantial civil action will result and the victim's survivors will be well-compensated. The business that owns the truck probably has at least $1M in liability insurance... and quite possibly another $1M in a liability umbrella. Even a less-than-talented attorney should be able to win a wrongful death suit in this case. Usually insurance companies are eager to settle for the full amount of coverage in cases like this because because they know they're likely to lose anyway... so why spend a lot of money fighting it?
Although the truck owner may not have to pay out money in the form of a fine, they'll pay dearly in increased insurance premiums. They may even face cancellation based on loss history, which means their next insuror will eat them alive with higher premiums.