Family files $5M wrongful death lawsuit against city
The family of a 9-year-old boy who died in March in a sump has filed a $5 million wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Bakersfield.
Zane Newton was playing in the sump near his home when he was buried by a sudden cave-in.
A friend that he was playing with initially said Newton had been kidnapped, sparking a search for the boy that ended when his body was found.
The lawsuit, filed by a thousand oaks lawyer, alleges the city was negligent in warning of dangerous conditions on property, properly fencing the property and failing to keeping people out of the property.
Clearlake wrongful death claim tossed
The Clearlake City Council has rejected a $30 million wrongful death claim filed by the family of a man who was shot and killed by a city police officer.
The council decision lifts a barrier to the filing of a civil lawsuit stemming from the death of David Vestal, 63, on Aug. 14 at a mobile home park on Old Highway 53.
Police said they went to the home in response to call about a disturbance when Vestal appeared in the doorway and leveled a shotgun at officers.
The family says Vestal was unarmed.
"It is our understanding that when David Vestal came out of the residence, he was shot without warning. He did not have a shotgun or any other firearm," said Lakeport attorney David Anderson, who is representing the family.
Clearlake Police Lt. Mike Hermann said an investigation by the Lake County District Attorney's Office, which is pending, should clear up the issue.
A shotgun was found at Vestal's side, he said.
"We don't think there's going to be any wrongdoing on the part of the officers," Hermann said.
His department has refused to identify the officers involved in the shooting, though they apparently have returned to duty.
The claim also alleges civil rights violations, severe emotional distress, assault and battery, false imprisonment and physical injuries.
Settlement reached in Amherst wrongful death suit
A settlement has been reached in the $15 million wrongful death lawsuit involving a man who died in the custody of the Amherst County Sheriff’s Office in 2005.
A report signed Monday morning by federal magistrate judge Michael Urbanski and filed in U.S. District Court in Lynchburg states the parties reached a settlement on mutually agreeable terms during a mediation session Friday.
The terms were not disclosed.
Melva Taylor Davis, the mother of the dead man, released a statement through her lawyers Monday afternoon noting that she is under a confidentiality agreement.
“My family is grateful to all who helped with the resolution,” Davis wrote. “We look forward to the power of God’s love and healing not only of our grief, but for the deputies, too. We all remain in need of prayer.”
Amherst County Sheriff Jimmy Ayers and Carlene Johnson, who represented the deputies involved in the arrest, did not return calls seeking comment Monday.
The two sides have 45 days to finalize the settlement and file required paperwork with the court asking for the lawsuit to be dismissed, according to Urbanski’s report.
Sanchez Taylor, 28, of Lynchburg died on June 16, 2005, after a run-in with Amherst County deputies.
After Taylor’s car was found abandoned and locked in a northbound lane of U.S. 29, deputies responded to a call of a break-in at nearby Bethel Welding.
Deputies Debbie Tinnell and Darren Givens found Taylor at the back of the welding shop and tried to arrest him, according to sworn statements filed with the court.
The statements claimed Taylor refused to follow orders to get on the ground and that they had to handcuff him while he was lying on a ladder behind the shop. They tried to move him, they said, but could not get him any farther than a set of ornamental welded racks a few feet away.
It was then that two more deputies, Brian Drewry and Kelly Dodson arrived and helped pick up Taylor, still fighting.
A few feet later, still unable to get him under control, the officers put him on the ground. As a fifth deputy, Betty Wise, came on the scene, deputies noticed he was having trouble breathing and that he was having a seizure.
He never recovered and died within a few hours at Lynchburg General Hospital.
Davis, Taylor’s mother, contended in her lawsuit that deputies held her son down on the ladder and racks, suffocating and killing him.
Family of disabled woman files wrongful death lawsuit
The family of a mentally disabled woman who fled from a group home in Bay City and wound up dead in an abandoned house in Saginaw has sued a social services agency, the group home and a worker.
Rebecca Mullins, 57, walked out of the Brookwood Adult Foster Care Home at 909 Murphy St. on Sept. 21, and police found her body in an abandoned home at 326 S. 10th St. in Saginaw nearly three months later.
Mullins died of dehydration after falling through a rotted floor in the home and becoming entangled by her knee and ankle in a rafter, according to the lawsuit, filed in Bay County Circuit Court. Mullins' family is seeking more than $25,000 from Saginaw Bay Human Services, Brookwood LLC and the caregiver on duty when Mullins ran off.
Mullins, whom family members have said had the cognitive capacity of a child, had a history of running from the home. A "behavior treatment plan" drafted for her in 1992 outlined the "history and potential to run away" and prescribed that staff at the foster care home should remain in the same room with her except when she used the bathroom.