If a driver on a U.S. Highway falls asleep can he be liable for the death he causes?

The answer to the question in the title is yes; a driver who drives beyond his ability to stay awake and to keep his car under control is according to Iowa law at fault for driving without having his vehicle under control and is liable for damages, injury or death that he causes.

Payetta was a popular music teacher in the Community of Brooklin, which is a community in the Town of Whitby, Ontario, Canada. The 16-year-old boy was apparently his son, Ashton who is reported in a Toronto Newspaper as being only 5-years-old. Mr. Payetta taught elementary school at the Winchester Public School in Brooklin. A blog is set up at the Armstrong Funeral Home website and carries many testimonials attesting to his skill as a teacher. Obviously a gifted teacher some of the students whose lives he touched posted endearing comments describing how he touched their lives. 

Cards and letters can be sent to Winchester Public Elementary School, 70 Watford Street, Brooklin, Ontaria, L1M 1E8. Telephone: 905-655-7328 or Fax 905-655-7142.

Brooklin, Ontario is a community in the Town of Whitby, Ontario, Canada. It is located,North of the urban area of Whitby,at the South junction of Ontario Highways 12 and 7. Brooklin is located primarily in a rural area, with hills covering the north and the west. The hills and forests that dominate the north are part of the Oak Ridges Moraine. About 40 to 50 percent of the area of the hills is made up of forests. The population has grown steadily since the early 1990s, with the addition of thousands of homes surrounding the heart of Brooklin. Population, like Newton, Iowa is just over 15,350. Farmlands dominated and some farms have now become residential areas to the south and east; hills and forests are covered with pine and other types of forests especially oaks and birches covers the west, the north and east with some farming.

History of Brooklin has been thus described: The area around Brooklin began to be settled in the 1820s. The community itself grew after 1840, when brothers John & Robert Campbell built a flour mill on Lynde Creek. (The present mill building was built in 1848 after a lightning fire destroyed the original.) The village was originally named Winchester, but renamed when the post office was established to avoid duplication with a village named Winchester in eastern Ontario. In 1847, the residents chose to rename the community Brooklin, possibly from Brooklyn, New York or Brooklin, Maine. It could have been named for the "brook" that ran through the town, but this waterway has always been described as a "creek", and naming the village after a community in New England or New York is logical since several prominent early residents migrated from there.

Prominent people from Brooklin include John Dryden (1840-1909), long-serving agriculture minister of the Province of Ontario. While Minister, Dryden created the northwestern Ontario experimental farm that eventually led to the formation of the town of Dryden.

Housing developments arrived in the late 1950s with the Meadowcrest subdivision, which expanded the village to the west of Baldwin St. For several decades after this, there was no further major house construction and Meadowcrest was known colloquially as "The Subdivision". Housing activity resumed in the mid-1990s east of the village between Queen St. and Thickson Rd. with the Village of Brooklin subdivision, and continued into the late-1990s with further developments to the southeast. Housing developments reached Ashburn Road to the west in 2000, the development featuring a decorative water control pond, and the Olde Winchester subdivision was begun east of Thickson in 2001. Growth is expected to bring the population of the village to capacity of 25,000 residents by 2015.

Brooklin is described as a bedroom community, a suburb of the Greater Ontario Area.

The Facts

Kenneth Payetta of Whitby was killed; he was 41-years-of-age and from Ontario, Canada. He was on his own side of the highway, minding his own business, with his car under control, when another car, reportedly driven by 19-year-old do Taw fell asleep at the wheel, crossed the median strip on I-80 in Newton, Jasper County, Iowa crashing into the car being driven by Payetta. Both Payetta and his 16-year-old passenger were killed.

Legal Question: Legally is the driver who fell asleep liable for the deaths of these two people?

If you fall asleep at the wheel it means you were driving without having your vehicle under control and that means you're not driving according to the law. Driving with your vehicle under control is the law in Iowa; and in most other states.

Liable? No doubt about it, that's my professional opinion.

I'm going to write about one aspect of this case and post it on The Iowa Edict. I think this one idea warrants a broader discussion. The Iowa Edict, How The Internet Creates a World Without International Boundaries, August 20, 2010. I'll post it later tomorrow.

And for additional personal injury news about this case in Iowa follow these links:

Armstrong Funeral Home Limited, Link to Kenneth (1965 to 2010) and Ashton Payetta ( to 2010) The photographs of his young son with a yellow silk tie, red shirt and black vest is tough to look at. Having children makes the practice of personal injury law especially difficult at times. The testimonials are heartwarming to say the least.

An example follows:

Music teacher. by Kenzie - "The best music teacher, who connected and understood every student. I would never have taken up the flute if it weren't for him. I could not ask for anything more from him. He did so much for me, and I wish I could repay him. Thank you for everything Mr. Payetta... and Ashton, thank you for making my mother smile everyday... she described you as, "the happiest little guy." Thank you both.

Amazing teacher - by melinda kerr "Mr. Payetta was an amazing teacher and volleyball coach. He will never be forgot by anyone especially by his students, they all looked up to him and are sad he is gone. rip Mr.Payetta"

I've had the experience of taking a class where the assignment was to write your own obituary. In other words write out what you want other people to say about you at your own funeral. I believe Mr. Payetta understood the meaning of touching other people's lives. What a nice looking family. I'm not sure how anyone gets over something like this. The photograph shows a wife and another child left behind to grieve and search for answers. I appreciate that when father's die at a young age no answer is good enough or satisfied the hollowness that never seems to go away. With some tragedy there is no good answer. I wish the widow well.

Whitby man, teen, killed in Iowa crash, MSN, August 15, 2010-08-19

Montreal Gazette

Kenneth Payetta - Canadian man, child die in Iowa

Victims identified in I-80 crash that killed 6, injured 3 ...

Aug 15, 2010 ... The driver of the eastbound vehicle, Kenneth Payetta, 41, of Whitby, Ontario, was killed, along with a 16-year-old passenger whose name was ...
www.desmoinesregister.com/.../Victims-identified-in-I-80-crash-that-killed-6-injured-3 - Cached

IDENTIFIED: The Iowa State Patrol release names of victims in ...

Aug 14, 2010 ... The driver of that car, 41-year-old Kenneth Payetta of Whitby, Ontario, was killed, as was a 16-year-old passenger whose name wasn't ...
www.whotv.com/.../who-story-i80-accident-08142010,0,5426617.story - Cached

Two Canadians killed in Iowa car crash - Soccer News - BigSoccer

Aug 14, 2010 ... Kenneth Payetta, 41, of Whitby, Ont., was pronounced dead at the scene ... Ken Payetta, pictured, and his son were killed in Iowa during a ...
soccernews.bigsoccer.com/article/08Ymawy3UxfBN?q=Ontario - Cached

Popular Whitby music teacher, son mourned | Toronto & GTA | News ...

Aug 17, 2010 ... Kenneth Payetta, 45, and Ashton, 5, died Saturday in a three-vehicle collision about 65 kilometres from Des Moines. ...
www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/08/.../15051571.html - Cached