Justice or vendetta? Ruling comes 19 years late
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.
Settlement in deadly NYC Staten Island ferry crash
NEW YORK (AP) Lawyers say the widow of a man killed in the 2003 Staten Island ferry crash has settled a wrongful death claim against New York City for $8.7 million.
The Wrongful Death lawyers made the announcement on behalf of Kathy Healy and her four children.
Healy's husband, John, was killed in 2003 when the ferry crashed into a dock at full speed.
A trial on Kathy Healy's lawsuit had been scheduled to start Monday in federal court.
The city's corporation counsel did not immediately return a call seeking comment Monday.
The boat's pilot was on painkillers and suffering from extreme fatigue. He pleaded guilty to negligent manslaughter and lying to investigators and was sentenced to 18 months
Third & Short
HOUSTON -- The family of a Rice football player who died during practice two years ago filed a wrongful death lawsuit Tuesday against the school, former coach Todd Graham, the NCAA and others.
Dale Lloyd II died a day after he collapsed during a conditioning workout Sept. 24, 2006. The 19-year-old freshman's death was linked to sickle-cell trait and created the basis for the lawsuit filed by Houston attorney Mark Lanier in state district court in Harris County.
"Skin color and flagrant ignorance tragically killed" Lloyd, said the lawsuit, which was first reported by Houston television station KRIV. "A simple blood test could have saved Dale. Instead, Dale's African-American heritage was tossed aside and a family is forever without a son."
Murder victim’s family sues estate
WOODSTOCK – The family of a woman found strangled in her Marengo home on Mother’s Day 2006 filed a lawsuit Friday seeking money from the estate of her alleged killer.
The family of Verna Corcoran, 83, filed the lawsuit against the suspect, Jose Manuel Aldaba-Grijaldo, 21.
Police fatally shot the man near Hampshire after he was spotted driving Corcoran’s car through Marengo the day of the murder and was chased for 15 miles.
Attorneys for Corcoran said it was unlikely that the man had assets to go after, since he came to Mexico six months before the slaying. But his family has filed a Wisconsin wrongful-death lawsuit in federal court against police in connection with the shooting.
“If there is any money recovered, whether it is a settlement or otherwise, we want to see that money go to her family,” said Philip Prossnitz, an attorney for Corcoran.
The Kane County State’s Attorney in October 2006 determined that the police shooting was justified.
“Money will never make anyone whole in this situation,” Prossnitz said. “But it’s the closest to any type of justice the family will ever see.”
Suit filed in car crash death…
Waukesha - A wrongful death and personal injury lawsuit was filed Wednesday against Mark Benson, the former physician charged with homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle in the death of popular teacher and Associate Principal Jennifer Bukosky, her unborn child and her 10-year-old daughter.
In filing the lawsuit on behalf of the victims' families a week and a half after the fatal crash, lawyers said they acted quickly because they feared Benson would hide or transfer his assets.
In the lawsuit, they are asking a Waukesha County circuit judge to freeze Benson's assets, contending the action is necessary because a police officer overheard Benson tell his wife he would shift assets out of his name.
That phone conversation occurred, according to court records, on April 25 after Benson was taken into custody following the crash.
Judge Kathryn W. Foster is scheduled to consider at 1:30 p.m. Friday the request for a restraining order and temporary injunction that would prevent Benson from transferring his assets.
"We've got a defendant who's talking about divesting himself of his assets. We thought we should move fast," said attorney Robert Habush, whose law firm, Habush Habush & Rottier, filed the lawsuit for the families of the victims. " . . . He's worried about a judgment in excess of his insurance coverage," said Habush.
The criminal complaint filed against Benson, 55, of Summit, says that Benson told his wife he would "sign over all his property to them" and "get a public defender."
The Wisconsin Wrongful Death lawsuit does not contain information regarding the value of Benson's assets.
But Waukesha County property tax records show Benson's home on Lower Nashotah Lake is assessed at $866,100, about 68% of its actual value.
The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of money for the deaths of Jennifer Bukosky, her unborn daughter, Sophia, and for the injury of Deborah Gibbs, 10. It was filed by Michael J. Bukosky, Jennifer's husband, and Deborah Gibbs and her parents, Michelle A. Gibbs and Daniel B. Gibbs.
The suit says Benson was negligent because he was operating under the influence of intoxicants and traveling at a high speed when his SUV slammed into the back of Bukosky's car.
According to police and court records, Bukosky's vehicle was stopped about 3:30 p.m. April 25 at a traffic signal in the northbound lane of Highway 67 at Pabst Road in Oconomowoc when it was struck by Benson's sport utility vehicle.
Bukosky, 39, of the Town of Oconomowoc, was pronounced dead at the scene. Her 10-year-old daughter, Courtney Bella, died April 26 from her injuries. Bukosky's son, Zachary Bella, 12, was released from a hospital after being treated for his injuries.
Deborah Gibbs, of Summit, was seriously injured in the crash and recently was released from Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.
Insurers named, too
In addition to Benson, named as defendants in the suit are Progressive Classic Insurance Co. and Navigators Insurance Co., which according to the lawsuit, insured Benson's vehicles.
Benson's attorney in the criminal case, Dean A. Strang, said it is likely that one or both of the insurers will assign attorneys to handle the civil suit and a civil lawyer from Strang's office also will be involved.
Benson is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on the criminal charges on May 16. He is being held on $1 million bail.
According to the criminal complaint, Benson was under the influence of oxycodone, a painkiller; Ambien, a sleep aid; and Xanax, used to treat anxiety. He had consumed one oxycodone tablet and four or five tablets each of Ambien and Xanax on Friday morning, the complaint states.
Just two days before the accident, Benson had pleaded guilty to a 2007 drunken driving offense, his third, in Brookfield. He was ordered April 23 not to drive and was sentenced to 75 days in the county's work release jail, but was given until May 9 to report.
Wrongful-Death lawsuit filed…
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — The family of a man who plunged more than 500 feet in a coal mine's air shaft filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Thursday against a company he helped found that was building the shaft.
The lawsuit alleges Frontier-Kemper Constructors Inc. was negligent in providing safety measures to Daniel McFadden, 66, and two other men who fell from a construction bucket during an August tour of the mining shaft.
The complaint says Frontier-Kemper failed to provide safety belts or harnesses as fall protection, and that a 20-foot nylon sling and shackle attached to the bottom of the bucket should have been removed when the three men entered the bucket to be lowered. An employee who was supposed to watch the bucket also left to do other work when the bucket was lowered, the lawsuit states.
Attorneys for McFadden's wife, Sandra Lee McFadden, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court. It seeks $9.5 million in damages, as well as compensation for funeral expenses and lost income.
George Zugel, corporate safety director for Evansville-based Frontier-Kemper, said he was unaware of the lawsuit and declined comment.
McFadden, of Greybull, Wyo., was visiting the mining site near Princeton, about 30 miles north of Evansville, as part of a 30th anniversary celebration of the merger that formed the company. McFadden founded Frontier Constructors in 1965, and the company merged with Kemper Constructors in 1977.
Jarred Ashmore, 23, of Henderson, Ky., and Christopher Todd Richardson, 38, of Cedar Bluff, Va., also died in the fall.