Driver hits fortified mailbox now a parapalegic--

As I see it, the truck slid on black ice, which is a common cause of accidents. It is difficult or impossible to see black ice. So this would be an accident -- an event that occurs in which no one is at fault. If he were speeding, that would remove it from the accident category, IMO.

The driver received a harsh penalty from a fluke accident. Wrong place.

I guess most people wouldn't think of putting a "Beware of Fortified Mailbox" sign up. The boxes on pillars give notice because a reasonable person would not purposely or negligently run into one.

I can't pull up the link to the Supreme Court of Ohio's decision, so I haven't read it.
 

The problem isn't the mail boxes. It is the "black ice" which caused Snays to veer off the road, and onto private property, where then Snays hit the mail boxes. No black ice, no swerve, then no hitting mailboxes. The cause of the accident was the black ice. It's the same as if Snays skidded on the black ice, and crashed into a tree on the property, While the tree caused the physical damage, the cause of the accident was the black ice. It is irrelevant if the mailbox was made out of concrete and steel, it wasn't the cause of the accident.
 
The guy who mounted his mailbox on a fortified 8" pipe didn't do anything illegal, so he should not be held liable, but it could be said that he was immoral in doing so. Black ice is a regular phenomenon in many areas. I don't know for a fact that it is in that region of Ohio, but that's probably the case, so he was irresponsible for mounting the mailbox on a rigid structure. But since it's not illegal, he shouldn't be held liable.

I've seen mailboxes mounted on giant springs and always wondered why someone would do that. I thought maybe it was just ornamental, but it's probably so if someone ran into it, they wouldn't be severely injured, as what was the case in the OP story.
 
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