No Fault Celeb Car Crash Compensation Cases

So, is the incidence of car crash exits among celebs greater than that in the population as a whole? Probably yes, as most of them seem to have been boozed/coked/doped up at the time and filled with the certainty of immortality and self importance that only celebrity and drugs can imbue.

Motor accidents are not an uncommon sight and armies of online “no win no fee” solicitors actively encourage people to seek out compensation, usually as a result of whiplash injury. Rubberneckers among us are nonetheless intrigued to check out car accidents in places where a celebrity was involved. If the collision was fatal, so much the better! Many celebs of course have had near misses.

Lindsay Lohan has been involved in a number of automobile incidents that allegedly (at least according to ABC News) were fuelled by cocaine. Country & Western vocalist LeAnn Rimes was questioned by the LAPD for a potential hit-and-run in August 2009. Even the “Mandela of the Movies”, Morgan Freeman, had a near death car accident in 2008. His vehicle careered off the highway and rescuers had to cut him free and airlift him to hospital. Freeman’s passenger even initiated a compensation claim against him.

So, is the incidence of car crash exits among celebs greater than that in the population as a whole? Probably yes, as most of them seem to have been boozed/coked/doped up at the time and filled with the certainty of immortality and self importance that only celebrity and drugs can imbue.

In the world of art, Jackson Pollock (variously described as a genius or an infantile moron by some critics) fits the template with his alcohol-related, single car crash on August 11th 1956, but there do appear to have been some notable exceptions where death at the wheel was genuinely tragic and not the celeb’s fault.

Grace Kelly

Grace Kelly’s life was nothing short of a fairytale but one with an unhappy ending. One of Hollywood’s hottest movie stars of the 1950s, she packed all that in age 26 and married Prince Rainier III to become Princess Grace of Monaco. On September 13th 1982, she was driving home to Monaco when she suffered a stroke and lost control of her car. She was critically injured and died a day later only 52 years old.

Diana

The most obvious princess to meet her maker in a Mercedes. Princess Diana’s life was a whirlwind of media scrutiny and her refusal to conform to the “typical royal role” won fans and irritated the establishment in equal measure. Her death (and that of her companion Dodi al-Fayed) at the age of 36 on August 31st 1997 lead to a very un-British outpouring of emotion for the “people’s princess”. It’s estimated that 2.5 billion people worldwide watched the broadcast of Diana’s funeral on September 6th 1997.

James Dean

On the afternoon of September 30th 1955, “Rebel Without a Cause” star Dean was driving his silver 550 Spyder at what was his usual high speed. As he approached the intersection of U.S. Route 466 and State Route 41 a coupe driven by a 23-year-old college student crossed in front of Dean’s convertible. The resulting collision claimed the life of one of Hollywood’s most promising young actors. Although he had only three major motion pictures to his name, his untimely death elevated him to cult status.

Q

Desmond Llewelyn, the man who played “Q", in most of the Bond films (the same role most recently taken on by John Cleese) was the fellow who provided Bond with all his neat gadgets. Llewelyn was 86 in 1999 when his car crashed head-on into another vehicle near the village of Berwick, about half way between Lewes and Polegate, in East Sussex. Although the other driver survived, Desmond succumbed to injuries in hospital.

Marc Bolan

T-Rex front man died on 16th September 1977, just two weeks before his 30th birthday. He was a passenger in a purple Mini 1275 GT driven by his girlfriend Gloria Jones. She lost control of the car and wrapped it round a tree near Gipsy Lane on Queens Ride, Barnes in southwest London. Bolan died instantly. Fans quickly turned the site of the crash into a shrine festooned with ribbons and pictures and in 2007 the site was officially recognised with a plinth and statue.

The author, Allan Bisset, works with a company that offers personal injury and compensation claims advice.