The Wrongful Death Blog The best information about wrongful death cases

Only one defendant remains in the lawsuit brought by the family of Amanda Jax, the Twin Cities woman whose extreme drunkenness killed her after a night out with college-age friends to celebrate her 21st birthday.

The attorney for Jax's family said Friday that four of the friends who were with Jax on Oct. 29, 2007, in a Mankato bar are no longer defendants in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed in Blue Earth County. The four are: Kathryn A. Lensing of Rochester; Richard T. Johnson of Mankato; Jonathan R. McIntyre of St. Paul; and Per David Kvalsten of Durbin, N.D.

The lone defendant is the now-defunct Sidelines Bar and Grill, where Jax and her friends were drinking.

A fifth friend, Hannah Becker, of Monticello, Minn., also has had claims dismissed against her but in a separate arrangement. Lensing, Johnson, McIntyre and Kvalsten have agreed not to speak publicly about the case. Becker and her attorney, Mark Solheim, are not bound by such a restriction.

"Plaintiffs brought this Minnesota wrongful death litigation against the friends of Ms. Jax in order to learn more about the events leading up to Ms. Jax's death and in an effort to address the problem of binge drinking by college-age students," Chad Schulze, the attorney for Jax's family said in a news release Friday. However, he said, the plaintiffs have determined that it's not in the best interests of any of the parties to pursue the claims against some of her friends.

On the evening before Jax's alcohol-poisoning death, the friends bought her one drink after another in less than two hours at the bar. She was taken back to Becker's apartment, where she died the next day.

An autopsy found Jax's blood-alcohol content was nearly 0.46 percent, nearly six times the level used to determine drunkenness in drunken-driving cases.

In its claims against the bar, the Minnesota wrongful death suit says bartender Beau Ryan ignored "Amanda's obvious state of intoxication."

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Nineteen years ago, retired car dealer Owen Lynch was gunned down at his North Minneapolis home.

Glenn Greene, who was 17 at the time, pleaded guilty to pulling the trigger and remains locked up.

But the man accused of putting the gun in Greene's hand and driving him to Lynch's house, Patrick Carline, was acquitted of first-degree murder in a later trial, a verdict that hasn't gotten any easier for Lynch's oldest son to reconcile.

"You think after time things don't bother you? It doesn't go away," Mark Lynch, the oldest of Lynch's 12 children, said this week.

A year ago, Mark Lynch, now 64, filed a civil lawsuit in Hennepin County District Court against Carline for his father's death. The standard of proof in a civil case is lower than the criminal requirement of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

In late August, a jury determined that a "preponderance of evidence" showed that Carline "willfully and wrongfully" caused Owen Lynch's death on Sept. 8, 1989. The jury awarded the Lynch family survivors $300,000 in compensatory damages.

But District Court Judge John McShane reversed a decision he had made earlier in the trial and declined to let the jury consider punitive damages against Carline, who maintains he had nothing to do with the killing.

The Lynch family attorney in the case, Richard Malacko, will ask McShane to reconsider today. If McShane rules against them again, Mark Lynch said he intends to ask the state Court of Appeals for a new trial so a jury can consider punitive damages.

A civil lawsuit after a criminal acquittal is unusual, despite similar high-profile cases such as those involving O.J. Simpson and actor Robert Blake. Most murder defendants are indigent, so there is little point in pursuing a case for monetary reward.

But Mark Lynch said he needed to do something. "To get some money is great, but to get it on the public record is important," he said.

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In a brief hearing today, the family of the late Owen Lynch argued for punishment for the man they say caused his murder 19 years ago.

Lawyer Richard Malacko said Patrick Carline has never been punished for his crime. In late August, a Hennepin County District Court jury determined in the civil case that Carline "willfully and wrongfully" caused the death of Lynch.

Lynch and Carline were occasional business partners. Lynch was gunned down in his North Minneapolis home in September 1989. Glenn Greene, who was 17 at the time, pleaded guilty to pulling the trigger in what was to be a robbery of Lynch. But Greene said the robbery was Carline's idea.

Greene said that Carline picked him up from school, handed him a loaded gun and drove him to Lynch's home. Carline, however, was acquitted of murder in a later trial.

A year ago, Lynch's oldest son, Mark Lynch, filed a civil lawsuit against Carline seeking to hold him responsible for the death. A jury awarded the family $300,000 in compensatory damages.

District Court Judge John McShane, however, reversed his previous ruling and declined to let the jury consider punitive damages against Carline.

Malacko argued today for a new trial on the issue of punitive damages. Carline still hasn't been punished and a jury should hear some additional evidence, Malacko said.

McShane asked, "What do you say to deterrence, that punitive damages are supposed to be a deterrent?" He said that Carline hasn't committed another criminal act.

Malacko said we are a society of laws and people need to know that when they participate in a crime, they will be held accountable. "We need to send a message," he said.

McShane asked whether the potential for prison time wasn't a deterrent.

Malacko said, "To some people time is not important, money is."

McShane said he would rule "expeditiously" on the matter,

After the hearing that lasted less than 10 minutes, Malacko said Carline had committed a crime -- receiving stolen property.

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