Ian McCllelan, a 29 year old man from Columbia, Tennessee was driving the wrong way on I-40 near McCrory Lane. It was 2 a.m. on May 6, 2009. Mr. McClellan had been arrested twice in Alabama for driving under the influence, and had pled guilty to DUI charges in both 2006 and 2007.  Driving west bound Katie Kerr from White Bluff had no way of knowing what was coming toward her. She saw Mr. McClellan’s Jeep Cherokee with enough time to lock up her brakes and leave 40 feet of skidmarks before impact. There was no indication of braking from Mr. McClellan’s Jeep.  Ms. Kerr had her seatbelt on, and her airbag deployed. Unfortunately, it was not enough – she was declared dead at the scene.  Three hours later when Mr. McClellan was interviewed by officers at Vanderbilt University Hospital, he still smelled like alcohol. He was charged with vehicular homicide.

We sue drunk drivers. Unfortunately, the criminal system is often not enough by itself to stop people like this. Mr. McClellan had 2 DUI convictions before this happened, and had likely driven under the influence many times when he wasn’t caught. One of the real benefits of suing people like Mr. McClellan is that it can contribute to keeping him out of the driver’s seat. He will go to jail for this death, but that is cold comfort to the family of Katie Kerr.

While it is easy to blame this irresponsible drunk driver, there is more here than that. This jeep was not titled to this driver.  Did the owner know that Ian was driving his/her jeep?  Did he/she know this driver had a history of multiple DUI’s ?

DUI victims cannot rise from the grave to ask these questions, but someone should. If this were our case, the owner of this jeep would be in the hot seat for a long, long time.

Phillip Miller is a Tennessee Accident Attorney specializing in
Tennessee Auto Accidents, Tennessee Truck Accidents, Tennessee Wrongful Death, and Tennessee Motorcycle Accident cases.

Phillip has an AVVO rating of 10.0 (Superb), has been designated as a “Superlawyer”, and is the President Elect of the Tennessee Association for Justice.

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