Wrongful Death Attorneys

The CNMI Supreme Court has reversed the trial court’s decision that dismissed a claim for damages for her own injuries filed by a woman who had sued the Commonwealth Health Center and a doctor for the death of her son.

The High Court ruled that the CNMI’s wrongful death statute clearly provides recovery for the family of a wrongfully killed decedent.

“And since we find that [plaintiff Cheryl] Indalecio adequately plead such relief, we reverse the trial court’s dismissal of Indalecio’s claim of damages for her own injuries,” according to the opinion penned by Chief Justice Miguel S. Demapan and concurred by Associate Justices John A. Manglona, and Alexandro C. Castro.

But the justices pointed out that since the CNMI has no survivorship statute to preserve a tort victim’s claim after death, they affirm the trial court’s decision that Indalecio, as personal representative for her son Christopher, may not recover damages for injuries suffered by decedent prior to his death.

In addition, the justices ruled that the statute does not include an age requirement for parents to recover mental pain and suffering for the loss of a child.

“Thus, Indalecio may recover such damages if properly plead. We remand this case for further proceedings consistent with this decision,” the justices said.

Court records show on June 24, 2002, Indalecio brought her 18-year-old son, Christopher, to CHC for treatment for a respiratory infection. Christopher suffered from muscular dystrophy.

A tracheotomy was performed. Christopher was set to be discharged, but since the tracheotomy had proven difficult, the medical staff decided that the tracheotomy tube should be left in place in the event that the respiratory infection returned.

However, a nurse noticed that the tracheotomy tube was protruding from Christopher’s neck more than it should. Dr. John Yarofalir was called to adjust the tube. The adjustment caused Christopher a lot of discomfort, and he spent that night being treated for pain. Early the next morning he began bleeding from the site of the tracheotomy. Medical staff were unable to stop the bleeding. Christopher died shortly thereafter in the presence of his mother and sisters.

Indalecio sued the CNMI government, the Department of Public Health, and Dr. Yarofalir for medical malpractice.

She alleged that, because of Yarofalir’s negligence, Christopher endured great pain and discomfort and ultimately bled to death. She demanded damages for injuries sustained by Christopher and herself.

Yarofalir moved for summary judgment on both counts. He argued that because Indalecio’s claims were based on a medical malpractice theory, they required a “survivorship statute” which the CNMI does not have.

He argued that since Indalecio’s claims were for “malpractice” and not “wrongful death,” the claims were extinguished when Christopher died.

Superior Court Associate Judge David Wiseman agreed with Yarofalir. The judge ruled that both of Indalecio’s causes of action are based on negligence theories as they relate specifically to injuries suffered by the decedent.

Wiseman said “survival actions are not at present available in the Commonwealth, and cannot be maintained.”

But the justices pointed out that the CNMI’s wrongful death statute compensates the decedent’s family for their own losses.

The justices noted that Indalecio is requesting damages that require both survivorship and wrongful death statutory authority.

The justices said Indalecio cannot recover for Christopher’s injuries, regardless whether she is acting as his personal representative under the CNMI’s wrongful death statute or as administratrix of his estate.

The justices said that, although the judge was correct to dismiss Indalecio’s claim for damages for Christopher’s injuries prior to death, the court erred in similarly dismissing the claim of damages for her own injuries simply because she plead it in malpractice language.

“It is the substance of pleadings which control, not the terminology employed,” the justices stressed.

The justices said that, although emotional injuries are generally unrecoverable under the CNMI’s wrongful death statute, the legislature carved out one exception-when the deceased is the “child” of the plaintiff.

“It is undisputed that the decedent, Christopher, is Indalecio’s son. The issue here arises due to Christopher’s age. He was 18,” they said.

Thus, the justices said, the issue is whether the statute permits additional recovery to parents regardless of the age of their wrongfully killed offspring, or whether the decedent must be a minor to be considered a “child” under the statute.

The justices agreed with Indalecio that due to the unusually grave injury suffered by a parent who loses a child, an increased damage award is an understandable legislative decision, regardless of the child’s age.

Despite filing for bankruptcy last fall, David Swain will have to pay the $4.8 million in damages and interest from a civil jury’s February verdict that the Jamestown scuba shop owner killed his wife during a 1999 scuba vacation.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur N. Votolato Jr. on Thursday exempted the wrongful-death award granted to Shelley Tyre’s parents, Richard and Lisa Tyre, from a list of debts excused by Swain’s bankruptcy filing.

Votolato cited a provision in bankruptcy law that says debtors who commit “willful and malicious injury” to another person or their property remain responsible for any related debts.

Following a nine-day trial, the jury in Swain’s wrongful-death case deliberated less than three hours before deciding that he intentionally drowned Shelley Tyre, 46, with malice aforethought during a vacation to Tortola in March 1999.

Swain insists he is innocent and has called his wife’s death an accident. He has never been charged criminally.

The Tyres’ lawyer, J. Renn Olenn, told the jury that Swain attacked his wife of 5 1/2 years within eight minutes of their descent toward two wrecks in 80 feet of water.

Olenn presented expert witnesses, including the chief medical examiner for Miami-Dade County, who theorized that Swain attacked Tyre from behind and turned off her air supply. In the struggle, Olenn’s experts said, Tyre’s mask strap broke, the mouthpiece of her snorkel was ripped off and one of her fins was embedded in the sand. Her equipment was found and used as evidence at trial.

Olenn said Swain killed Tyre, an experienced diver, for money at a time he was pursuing another woman. A prenuptial agreement would have left Swain with nothing had they divorced, and as it was, Olenn contended, it was Shelley Tyre’s money that was keeping Swain’s dive shop, Ocean State Scuba, financially afloat.

The jury’s decision that Swain intentionally killed with malice aforethought was ample evidence for the Tyres to persuade Votolato to exclude the awarded damages from Swain’s list of discharged debts, Olenn said yesterday.

“What this means is wherever he goes, we can attach his pay,” said Olenn. “If he leaves the country and opens up another dive shop somewhere, or if he tries to sell his story, we can get the profit.”

Swain said yesterday he hadn’t seen the decision but was not surprised by it.

“I think it’s pretty much standard in the civil judgment world.”

He called the decision premature, noting he has asked the state Supreme Court for a new trial.

Tortola officials listed Shelley Tyre’s death as an accident at the time, “unless proven otherwise.” In light of the civil jury’s decision, law-enforcement officials in the British Virgin Islands, of which Tortola is a part, have in recent weeks said they are taking a “fresh look” at her death. They have contacted Olenn requesting he send them transcripts and exhibits from the trial.

Shelly Tyre’s parents first brought suit against their onetime son-in-law in 2002 under the “slayer” statute in state law, which disqualifies someone from sharing in another’s estate if found guilty.

The suit bogged down in the courts for three years after one of Swain’s lawyers was diagnosed with cancer. Last fall as Superior Court Judge Patricia Hurst was setting the case for trial, Swain filed for bankruptcy.

The bankruptcy filing further delayed the trial because such filings halt other civil judicial proceedings. Olenn appealed to Votolato and, in a hearing before the judge, noted that Hurst had encouraged Swain to seek other counsel since 2003. Olenn also noted that the Tyres, semiretired educators, were in their late 70s and said making them wait much longer for the trial was unfair. Votolato agreed to lift the stay and the civil case proceeded.

At the time he filed for bankruptcy, last October, Swain listed assets totaling $656,010. All but $6,010 were in the real-estate value of his Ocean State Scuba shop at 79 North Main Rd., Jamestown

Swain’s debts totaled $621,412.28, leaving him $34,597.72.

Days after the jury’s verdict, the Professional Association of Diving Instructors revoked Swain’s membership, leaving it up to other licensed workers in his Jamestown dive shop to conduct scuba training.

EAST PROVIDENCE — School finances aren’t the only reason the city’s legal counsel will be in court next month.

City Solicitor William Conley Jr. said state Supreme Court preliminary procedures, which may include mediation, will begin for the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Maj. Alister C. McGregor, who was killed in a police training exercise in 2001.

Yet the possible mediation would be between the city and its insurance company, Rhode Island Interlocal Risk Management Trust, which appealed a ruling early this year that the company, and not the city, is responsible for any damages that may be awarded to the family.

“This is an extremely complex case, probably one of the most difficult cases I’ve argued in my career,” Conley said yesterday. He updated the City Council earlier this month. “Its difficulty is a reason why [the lawsuit is taking so long to settle].”

In January, when the insurance company appealed, Conley said: “We think [Superior Court Judge Patricia Hurst] is absolutely correct. The [company] — and I am paraphrasing — said it wasn’t responsible because they believe [the death] was more of a worker’s compensation case rather than a liability case, and therefore is not covered in our policy with them.”

Rhode Island Interlocal based its assertion that it is a workers’ compensation case on the fact that McGregor died in a training exercise, Conley said.

City officials have interpreted the policy differently. The city believes that Rhode Island Interlocal, which, coincidentally, is based in the city, should pay for all legal expenses to defend the case and any monetary awards that may be entered if the city should lose.

Company representatives said yesterday that they do not comment on pending litigation.

McGregor was killed by fellow officer Joseph Warzycha III, who was wielding a rifle fitted with a scope when the gun went off. McGregor’s family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in 2004. In January 2003, Warzycha pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter for the accidental shooting of his supervisor. He didn’t receive a sentence, but he agreed to give up his police job. He has since become a firefighter in Pawtucket, hired in 2004.

The family’s lawsuit alleges Warzycha was negligent for “failing to know that the weapon he was discharging had live ammunition” and “failing to properly inspect the weapon before utilizing it in the training session.” It seeks damages from the city and Warzycha for McGregor’s wife, Brooke, and his four children.

In court documents, Warzycha and the city deny the allegations.

Although no amount of damages are sought in the court filings, former Mayor Joseph Larisa Jr. said late last year that it was a “$5-million lawsuit.” Rhode Island Interlocal refused to cover the damages, and the city filed suit against the insurance company in Providence Superior Court in March 2005. Hurst heard arguments from one of the city’s lawyers and the trust’s lawyers last October. She rendered a decision from the bench, without a written decision, last December.

Legal memos, briefs and minor court appearances have occurred through most of this year.

PAWTUCKET — The family of the woman who died waiting for a Fire Department rescue truck has put city officials on notice it intends to file a wrongful death claim against the city.

In legal papers, Stephen M. Rappoport, the lawyer for the family of Maria G. Carvalho, charged that the city, through its employees, two rookie fire dispatchers, displayed “gross, willful, or wanton negligence,” by failing to send an ambulance until Mrs. Carvalho bled to death.

Despite three 911 calls, Rappoport said, the rescue truck wasn’t dispatched for at least 20 minutes. “By the time Maria G. Carvalho received the help that was requested, it was far too late and she bled to death before emergency personnel arrived.”

The notice of claim comes as city officials brace themselves for a lawsuit from the Carvalhos, who said in an interview after the incident that they were bewildered by the delay they encountered getting a rescue truck the morning of Sept. 20, when Mrs. Carvalho, a 53-year-old kidney patient, began to bleed from a shunt, or bypass, inserted so she could undergo dialysis treatment.

The notice of claim was filed more than a week ago, after The Providence Journal reported that the two fire dispatchers who were on duty at the time of the incident — Sean P. Mooney and Christopher A. Jeffrey — had been fired by the administration of Mayor James E. Doyle.

The notice of claim doesn’t specify how much the Carvalhos will be seeking in damages. “Obviously, it’s in its preliminary stages. There’s certainly a lot of information and facts that could be gathered,” Rappoport, a lawyer with the East Providence firm Rappoport, DeGiovanni and Caslowitz, said over the telephone yesterday.

He said the notice of claim was a procedural step to let the city know that the Carvalhos intend to pursue legal action.

Doyle administration officials declined to comment on the wrongful death case yesterday, citing an investigation by the attorney general’s office that they said is just about finished.

Lt. Robert Neill, president of the Pawtucket firefighters union, said the union intends to try to get Mooney and Jeffrey reinstated. In response to a written request for the information, the city’s Personnel Department identified Jeffrey and Mooney as probationary firefighters: Mooney had seven months and Jeffrey had three months on the job.

Mrs. Carvalho bled to death in her home at 101 Gooding St. When the bleeding started, she called 911 herself, Rappoport said in the claim notice. When her call didn’t get results, “her husband, João C. Carvalho, went across the street to the house of a neighbor, who then also called 911.”

“After asking the neighbor to contact 911, João C. Carvalho returned to across the street back into his home and saw his wife still on the phone trying to get help. At that time, Mrs. Carvalho was still breathing and conscious,” Rappoport said in the claim notice.

“While Maria was still on the phone, João C. Carvalho went back a second time to his neighbor who had placed the call to 911 and was told 911 wanted him to call from his own home,” Rappoport said.

“He therefore went back across the street a second time and called 911 from his home. This was the third call made to 911.”

The Doyle administration has refused to release tapes and transcripts of the 911 calls, which were routed to the fire dispatchers by state 911 operators. “Your request is denied because the documents you seek are part of an ongoing criminal investigation,” City Solicitor Margaret M. Lynch-Gadaleta said in response to a written request for the records from this newspaper.

Calls to Raymond LaBelle, director of the state’s emergency 911 system, weren’t returned.

In the claim notice, Rappoport also requested copies of the 911 tapes and transcripts.

“It is my understanding that there are tape recordings and/or other memorializations of the 911 calls alluded to in this claim,” Rappoport stated. “I would respectfully request that those tapes and/or memorializations of same be kept in a safe manner and in no way modified or destroyed.”

PAWTUCKET — City Council members, aware the city is facing a lawsuit in the case of a woman who bled to death waiting for a Fire Department ambulance, have rejected a claim arising from the tragedy.

The council’s Committee on Claims and Pending Lawsuits, acting on the advice of City Solicitor Margaret M. Lynch-Gadaleta, voted Wednesday to deny the claim submitted by the family of Maria G. Carvalho, essentially setting the stage for a wrongful death lawsuit in the case.

Mrs. Carvalho bled to death in her home the morning of Sept. 20 despite three calls to 911, the first from a neighbor who told the two Pawtucket fire dispatchers on duty that Mrs. Carvalho’s husband João had asked her to telephone for help.

Recently released recordings of the 911 calls show that the dispatchers, rookies with less than a year on the job, failed to send an ambulance even though the neighbor gave them the location of the Carvalho house and said Mrs. Carvalho was bleeding heavily.

It was only 15 minutes later, when a state 911 operator told the dispatchers that Mrs. Carvalho’s husband had called demanding to know what had happened to the ambulance, that one was finally dispatched.

By then, Mrs. Carvalho, a 53-year-old kidney patient, had bled to death from a shunt inserted in her arm so she could undergo dialysis.

In a notice of claim last month, a lawyer for the Carvalho family said that the city, through its employees, displayed “gross, willful or wanton negligence,” by failing to immediately dispatch an ambulance. The notice of claim didn’t specify damages.

In an interview yesterday, the lawyer, Stephen M. Rappoport, said the Carvalho family definitely plans to sue.

“We are gathering information and consulting with experts,” said Rappoport, adding he wasn’t surprised by the Claims Committee’s decision to deny the wrongful death claim.

“It’s just a perfunctory thing. It has nothing to do with the reality of the case,” he said.

Both of the dispatchers have been fired. The attorney general’s office ruled last month that Sean P. Mooney and Christopher A. Jeffrey couldn’t be charged with a crime because it was impossible to establish that the delay caused her death.

Rappoport said he disagrees with that ruling, based on a finding by Assistant State Medical Examiner Dr. Peter A. Gillespie that Mrs. Carvalho was in such poor health and was bleeding so heavily that she would have died even if an ambulance had been dispatched right away.

City Councilor David P. Moran, the chairman of the Claims Committee, said he was aware of Gillespie’s finding. But it wasn’t the reason the committee voted to deny the wrongful death claim.

Moran said the case is so complicated and the city has so much exposure, it would be impossible, as a practical matter, to resolve it at the committee level.

Under the circumstances, Moran said, the vote to deny the claim was routine.

On the eve of testifying about the murder of late rap artist Notorious B.I.G., a prime witness for the rapper’s family has revealed that he suffers from severe memory lapses resulting from medication prescribed for a stress condition.

Kevin Hackie, an ex-FBI informant who was expected to provide eyewitness testimony tying corrupt police officers to alleged conspirators behind the 1997 slaying, spoke out Friday after learning that an arrest warrant had been issued to force him to testify in the family’s wrongful-death lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles.

The suit is set to go to trial Tuesday in Los Angeles federal court.

“I will be in court to testify, but it is a matter of record that I am stressed out and have been on medication for the past five years,” Hackie said during an extensive interview conducted in the presence of his attorney, Joseph L. Pittera of Torrance.

“My memory is bad. I’m going to answer questions to the best of my knowledge, what I remember. But this whole thing has put me over the edge. I am so stressed. I probably won’t even remember our conversation tomorrow.”

Notorious B.I.G., born Christopher Wallace, was gunned down March 9, 1997, after a music industry party outside the Peterson Automotive Museum in the Mid-Wilshire district. The case has spawned several investigations, and a cottage industry of books, documentaries and magazine articles exploring possible conspiracy theories involving Wallace and Tupac Shakur, the other leading rap artist of his generation, who was shot to death in Las Vegas the year before. No one has been charged in either slaying.

A tentative settlement has been reached in a lawsuit against the city of Redding and Shasta County in connection with the fatal shooting of a 40-year-old Redding man during a 2004 standoff outside his home.

Although terms of the out-of-court settlement won’t be available until it’s finalized, the Redding law firm of Barr & Mudford has offered to resolve the wrongful death lawsuit for $130,000, according to documents filed in Shasta County Superior Court.

Redding City Attorney Rick Duvernay, who had noted that a counteroffer to the $130,000 demand was made to settle the case, said Monday he was not yet at liberty to disclose the agreed-upon amount.

Attorneys are due to gather in Superior Court on Monday for a status conference, but it’s not clear if the settlement might be finalized at that time.

Attorney Dugan Barr, the lawyer representing the family of the late Timothy Alan Brandon, was unavailable Monday for comment.

But he confirmed earlier that a tentative settlement had been reached, although declining to discuss specifics until the final documents are filed in court.

Brandon was shot and killed by police on March 18, 2004, after he emerged from his Sacramento Drive home in south Redding waving a handgun. Police, who had gone to the house after receiving reports that Brandon was armed and suicidal, have said that he ignored orders to drop the weapon.

Officers fired eight shots after he allegedly made sweeping motions in their direction while holding his loaded 9 mm semiautomatic weapon. An autopsy determined that Brandon was hit by four or five of the eight shots fired. At least two of his five wounds appeared to have been potentially fatal, according to the autopsy.

It also noted that Brandon’s blood-alcohol level at the time of the shooting was .38, almost five times the legal driving limit of .08 percent.

Although the Shasta County district attorney’s office determined that the deadly shooting was legally justified, a wrongful death lawsuit claiming excessive force and negligence was filed on behalf of Brandon’s two minor children, Mansun Dae Brandon and Steele Colby Brandon, through their guardians, Teri Milburn and Patricia Brandon.

Originally named in the lawsuit were the city of Redding, its police department, Shasta County and the county’s department of mental health.

But the county and its mental health department successfully fought the lawsuit after arguing that they were immune from liability, leaving the city of Redding and its police department as the defendants, according to court documents.

The family of a girl who died of leukemia two years ago has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a jet fuel pipeline firm and others, alleging that pollution caused the Fallon leukemia cluster of 16 children and that local governments covered up the contamination.

The family of Stephanie Sands, 21, who died two years ago, filed suit last week. The family of Adam Jernee, 10, who also died of leukemia in 2001, filed a lawsuit in June and named the same defendants. Both families are represented by Reno lawyer Calvin R.X. Dunlap.

The claims, filed in Washoe District Court, ask for actual and punitive damages “in excess of $10,000” — the language prescribed in state law. Should the case ever get to a jury, any judgment would be expected to be in the millions of dollars, legal experts said.

Floyd Sands, Stephanie’s father, said family members are suing “not for money, but for truth.” He said he doesn’t believe the federal and state government’s health and environmental investigators really tried to uncover the cause of the cancer cluster.

“Stephanie’s son, Ewan, lives with the most devastating loss that a child can suffer,” Sands said Tuesday. “He deserves more than slick public relations, half-truths and lies. Stephanie’s family brings this (lawsuit) so that he may learn the truth. He deserves to know the truth, and he will know it.”

Named as defendants are: Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, the owner of the jet fuel pipeline that runs through Fallon; Kennametal, a company that manufactures tungsten carbide in a kiln north of Fallon and also operates a manufacturing plant in town; other firms associated with the pipeline, including contractors and owners of rights-of-way; and the governments of Fallon and Churchill County. County and Fallon city officials did not return calls for comment Tuesday.

Larry Pierce, spokesman for Kinder Morgan in Houston, said the company hasn’t been served with either lawsuit.

“All we can say is we fully cooperated with the state and federal agencies investigating the pipeline,” Pierce said. “Those agencies concluded last year that the pipeline does not pose a health hazard. They wrote off the pipeline as a cause of the leukemia cases.”

Since 1997, 16 children with ties to Fallon have developed leukemia, and three of those have died. According to statistics, Churchill County should experience about one case of childhood leukemia every three to four years.

Both lawsuits allege that jet fuel, by itself or in conjunction with another pollutant, caused leukemia in children. The suit also alleges that the 46-year-old jet fuel pipeline that runs from Sparks to the Fallon Naval Air Station leaked and that the owners kept those leaks secret.

Kinder Morgan has said there are no records of leaks in the Sparks-Fallon line and that the line has been well-maintained.

The suits allege that local officials knew or should have known about contamination in Fallon and lied to prevent the public from finding out about the unsafe conditions that led to the cluster.

State and federal officials consistently have absolved local industries of any connection with the cancer epidemic, but critics have said the investigations were incomplete and misleading.

The most recent patient in the cluster — a 3-year-old boy — was diagnosed with leukemia about a year ago.

John Tisdale died in 2000 of methadone poisoning, a fact unopposed Tuesday at the outset of a wrongful-death jury trial in federal court.

But the disagreement over whether Roanoke pain doctor Cecil Knox should ever have prescribed the drug to Tisdale is at the heart of the case, which is expected to run through Thursday.

Deloris Tisdale, John Tisdale’s widow, is seeking $1.55 million in damages for claims that Knox’s negligence led to her husband’s death at age 46.

Tisdale’s attorney, Tony Russell, told jurors in his opening arguments that John Tisdale had suffered only minor back problems before a car crash Jan. 27, 1999.

After that, John Tisdale visited several doctors for knee pain and lower back pain that radiated into his right leg and upper body. He was first prescribed Percocet, then Celebrex, before an orthopedic specialist told him to return to work and follow up with him in four to six weeks, Russell said.

But Deloris Tisdale, already a Knox patient, recommended Knox to her husband, Russell said. He argued that Knox put John Tisdale on the opium-based drug OxyContin, then the narcotic methadone, without giving the patient a full work-up.

Russell asserted that Knox also increased the dosages “without ever trying to find out what the problems were.”

Russell said that when Tisdale died, no illegal drugs were detected in his system, only methadone and alcohol. He said Knox never told Tisdale that he should not drink with the medications.

“Had it been worked up, this was a condition that more than likely could have been treated without these medications,” Russell said.

But in his opening argument, Knox’s attorney, Powell Leitch, said John Tisdale had serious pain problems before and after his crash, and that Knox spent a lot of time talking to Tisdale and examining him.

Leitch said jurors would hear that John Tisdale was not on a large dose of OxyContin or methadone, and that Knox was tapering the patient off OxyContin. Under Knox’s care, John Tisdale was back at work and had achieved functionality, Leitch said.

He added that Deloris Tisdale would likely testify that her husband worked until about 6 p.m. the evening before his death, then had a couple of beers and went to bed. But a family friend will testify that Deloris Tisdale told him her husband spent the entire day before his death drinking beer and taking pills, Leitch said.

“Dr. Knox didn’t cause Mr. Tisdale’s death by something he did. Mr. Tisdale caused his own death by something he did,” Leitch concluded.

The past few years have been long ones of legal turmoil for Knox, who was at one time facing more than 300 criminal charges in connection with his medical practice.

After a jury acquitted him on half and was hung on the rest in 2003, Knox pleaded guilty last year to three charges. He was sentenced to five years’ probation and voluntarily surrendered his license to practice medicine.

Former Roanoke pain doctor Cecil Knox on Thursday won the first of several wrongful death cases against him when a federal jury found his actions were not a direct cause of a patient’s overdose.

Despite the favorable verdict, the jury also decided the doctor was negligent in his care of John “Rock” Tisdale, but that the negligence didn’t contribute to Tisdale’s death.

“We don’t feel that Dr. Knox was responsible for the overdose,” said juror Paul Purcell, who also said, “My personal belief is there was some lack of normal care and follow-up that should have happened.”

After Rock Tisdale died in September 2000 at age 46, an autopsy concluded the cause was methadone poisoning. The lawsuit, filed in February 2002 by Tisdale’s widow, Deloris Tisdale, claimed that Knox should never have prescribed the methadone, saying it was that action that was a direct cause of the man’s death.

“However it occurred, whether a voluntary overdose or whatever, he [Tisdale] would have not had methadone if it were not prescribed,” said Tisdale’s attorney, Tony Russell.

But Knox’s lawyers, John Jessee and Powell Leitch, countered that their client could not be blamed for Rock Tisdale’s death when Tisdale himself took too many pills and understood the risk inherent in his actions.

“I am not saying it was an intentional act,” Jessee told the jury. “I’m saying that he contributed to his own death.”

Russell contended that after a relatively minor car crash in January 1999, Rock Tisdale visited several physicians. At most, those doctors put him on Percocet and Celebrex and told him to come back if he still had pain in four to six weeks.

But Deloris Tisdale, herself a patient of Knox’s at the time, suggested her husband also see Knox. Knox first prescribed morphine for Rock Tisdale’s pain, but later switched to OxyContin when the morphine made him sick. The methadone was added several months later.

This week, Russell called two pain management experts, Richard Wilson and Richard Rauck, to the stand, who both testified that Knox should not have prescribed methadone to a patient already taking OxyContin after a relatively minor car crash.

They added that Knox should have “worked up” Tisdale, or had more X-rays and blood tests done, before prescribing the methadone.

But Knox testified that he saw many of Rock Tisdale’s medical records and recent X-rays when he first took him on as a patient. He also conducted a head-to-toe examination of Tisdale, he said.

When he requested that Tisdale get additional tests later, the patient did not follow through time and again, Knox’s lawyers said.

Russell accused Knox of never diagnosing the cause of Rock Tisdale’s pain, pointing out that late in the doctor’s treatment of Tisdale, he ordered tests to rule out diabetes and “other causes” of the pain.

Instead of getting at the root of the pain by running tests or referring Tisdale to other physicians, Knox simply continued to “prescribe and prescribe,” Russell said.

Even after Tisdale reported that his pain was lessening, Knox did not lower the dosages, the plaintiff argued.

But Knox said he was confident that Tisdale suffered from “sacroiliac joint dysfunction,” or an alteration in normal joint function in the area of the lower back and hip.

Jessee and Leitch argued that Knox’s treatment of Rock Tisdale, including the medication, allowed the man to function again and return to work.

Knox said he prescribed the methadone because he wanted to wean Tisdale off the OxyContin, adding that he had in fact lowered the dosage on the OxyContin at the office visit two days before Tisdale’s death.

Ultimately, the jury may have given much weight to the toxicology report in the case and the testimony of Kenneth Latta, a Duke University pharmacist specializing in the human body’s metabolism of drugs.

Latta said when a person takes a steady dose of methadone, the blood levels plateau after about 10 days and level out from then on unless the dosage is increased.

Because Tisdale was on the same dosage of methadone for more than a year, Latta said, he should not have suddenly died of methadone poisoning without an unauthorized increase in the drug.

Russell said Deloris Tisdale contended that her husband worked the day before his death, then came home and had a couple of beers before going to bed.

But a family friend, Christopher Pappas, testified that Deloris Tisdale told him her husband had stayed home that day, drinking and taking many pills.

“The contributing factor was he overdosed and was taking alcohol at the same time,” said Purcell, the juror.

He later added, “You must follow your instructions. You must live within the confines of what you are supposed to do.”

Deloris Tisdale took the stand briefly to say just one thing: That Pappas’ testimony was a lie.

According to Purcell, her lack of testimony was troubling.

Deloris Tisdale’s daughter, Gesele Craig, said the family was disappointed in the verdict and would appeal.

“Because he [Tisdale] drank a couple of beers, that’s why we just lost this case,” Craig said.

Knox pleaded guilty to three felonies in October after a 2003 criminal jury acquitted him on most charges and was hung on the rest. He was sentenced last month to five years probation and voluntarily surrendered his medical license.

He still faces at least four more wrongful death cases, which were put on hold for the criminal case.

Knox called the victory “bittersweet,” saying he hoped it would at least alleviate the fears of fellow pain doctors.

Asked whether Thursday’s verdict would have any impact on the other cases, Leitch said, “We can only wait and see.”

Eighteen months after an Elk Grove woman died after she had been pinned to the floor of a south Sacramento psychiatric hospital, the facility is facing state and federal probes, a lawsuit and potential fines.

One state Department of Health Services report recently found that 51-year-old Ramona Knapp was “restrained inappropriately” and that Sierra Vista Hospital was understaffed with workers who hadn’t been trained to correctly subdue agitated patients.

The federal Medicare and Medicaid funding agency is deciding whether to dock the hospital’s reimbursements. State health officials are studying whether to fine the hospital $25,000 under a year-old law that penalizes hospitals that place patients in jeopardy. And a civil wrongful death lawsuit is moving forward.

All of this comes as Knapp’s daughter, Siina Linville of Elk Grove, maintains that her mother died needlessly.

“I know she had mental problems, but she deserved good care even if she had issues,” Linville said. “She just needed help.”

A hospital spokesman, Mark Grip, declined to comment Tuesday.

Linville said her mother wrestled with bipolar disorder, a condition that Knapp controlled with medication.

Knapp’s symptoms — ranging from depression to manic behavior — became apparent only when she altered her medications, her daughter said.

Typically, Knapp spent hours talking on the phone to her family and working night shifts at Turning Point, a nonprofit mental health services agency.

But on Dec. 3, 2005, Knapp had been easing off her medications in preparation for gastric-bypass surgery. That day, she was admitted to Sierra Vista Hospital on Bruceville Road, frantic and agitated.

Linville said family members did not tell her where her mother was because Knapp would not have wanted her daughter to worry.

Details of what happened the evening Knapp was asphyxiated are spelled out in a DHS report completed in February:

At 7 p.m. Dec. 4, Knapp was yelling, punching and pushing staff, according to hospital notes.

By 10:20 p.m., she yelled more loudly. A staff member asked her to stop, and Knapp replied: “No, I don’t have to. You’re going to kill me.”

Knapp began to run around her room, kicking at staff members, the report says.

A mental health technician pinned Knapp’s arms across her chest, the report says. In seconds, Knapp was pressed to the floor between two beds, with one technician leaning on Knapp’s back. Two other staff members held her limbs.

Knapp grew still. Hospital workers sent her to a hospital, where she died the next evening, a coroner’s report says.

The Sacramento County coroner ruled her death a homicide due to asphyxia and a “struggle with medical personnel while being physically restrained.”

Sacramento police looked into the death at the time but found no criminal wrongdoing. The hospital submitted information to state regulators saying policies were followed correctly.

Last September, inspectors from DHS visited the 72-bed Sierra Vista Hospital, which is owned by Tennessee-based Psychiatric Solutions Inc.

Inspectors found myriad violations of federal hospital standards, according to the report.

Staffers did not use safe restraining techniques with Knapp, the report says. And staffers violated hospital policy by not calling a “code green” alert and coordinating to gently restrain Knapp.

Further, staff members who held Knapp down had not been trained in crisis prevention, which addresses ways to calm agitated patients.

The report also says the hospital was understaffed the night Knapp was restrained.

And the base line for determining staff levels — forms that assess how much care a patient needs — were not all filled out.

“To me that is remarkable and concerning,” said Leslie Morrison, an attorney with Protection and Advocacy Inc., a nonprofit disability advocacy group that reviewed the DHS report. “I don’t know how they base staffing if they’re not evaluating acuity level.”

The DHS surveyors also made random checks into staffing and training, finding both areas lax.

In a one-week period, 84 percent of shifts were short-staffed. And reviews of 12 of 13 employee files showed their licenses had not been verified or staffers had no record of training in life support or crisis prevention.

“This shows a history of systemic neglect,” said attorney Robert Buccola, who represents Linville in a wrongful death suit against Sierra Vista that is pending in Sacramento Superior Court.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge Monday rejected Robert Blake’s request for a retrial in the wrongful death suit filed by the children of his late wife.

Blake, who was acquitted in a criminal trial of killing Bonny Lee Bakley, was found liable in the civil trial and ordered to pay her survivors $30 million.

The refusal to grant a new trial means the $30 million verdict stands, E! Online reported.

The civil jury ruled 10-2 in November that the actor “intentionally caused” his wife’s 2001 death. Blake’s legal team cited juror misconduct in seeking a new trial.

The motion for a new trial was submitted late last week after another judge rejected the “Baretta” star’s attempt to declare bankruptcy.

Relatives of the 17-month-old girl who died in foster care this week filed a wrongful death claim Friday against the agency responsible for the child’s welfare – on the same day her caretaker was charged with murder.

In a Sacramento courtroom crowded with members of both the defendant’s and victim’s families, Tamekca Walker, 34, was arraigned on charges of felony assault resulting in the death of a child and the murder of Tamaihia Lynae Moore. Walker did not enter a plea.

Tamaihia, who was placed in Walker’s south Sacramento home last month, died on Monday. The cause of her death has not been determined.

But outside the courtroom, Debra Oliver, the child’s grandmother, accused the county’s Child Protective Services of being negligent in Tamaihia’s care and culpable in her death.

“They didn’t do their job,” she said, as others close to the family fought back tears. “CPS can’t say they’re not at fault.”

Oliver said CPS officials and social workers were repeatedly made aware of her concerns that her granddaughter was not being cared for properly and was in need of medical attention.

The grandmother, who last saw Tamaihia two days before her death, said she pleaded with a social worker on Saturday to take the child to a hospital. She said Tamaihia had a large bruise along her forehead near the hairline, and scratches on her back. The toddler appeared to be disoriented, she added.

According to a document CPS sent to the state Department of Social Services, Tamaihia had two noticeable bruises after she died. One was across her forehead and other was behind her left ear.

“Bruises were inconsistent with the explanation provided,” the report says. “Coroner investigation is continuing.”

Oliver said her granddaughter had deteriorated from an Oct. 7 visit, during which the toddler appeared dehydrated and malnourished. She left messages with CPS officials and was “reassured that the matter would be looked into and taken care of,” according to the claim.

No medical care was sought in either instance, according to the claim.

CPS officials on Friday declined to comment on the case, citing the pending lawsuit. But on Thursday, CPS director Laura Coulthard confirmed that Oliver’s request on Saturday had not been fulfilled.

Oliver’s attorney, Bruce G. Fagel of Beverly Hills, who is also representing Tamaihia’s aunt and father, said the claim was meant to spur changes in how CPS responds to urgent concerns.

The claim, filed against the county as a precursor to a lawsuit, seeks unspecified damages.

“This is not an indictment of foster care … . The concern here is with CPS services,” Fagel said after the arraignment.

The attorney and family members did not want to discuss why the child was placed in foster care, but a relative told The Bee earlier that Tamaihia had tested positive for cocaine exposure after her birth.

Walker was scheduled to return to court Nov. 15.

The family of a 4-year-old Pennsylvania boy who died on an Epcot Center ride has filed a wrongful death suit against Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.

The lawsuit, filed in Orange County Circuit Court Tuesday, seeks unspecified damages for the June 2005 death of Daudi Bamuwamye, who suffered a heart attack on Epcot’s Mission: Space simulator ride, the Orlando Sentinel reported Wednesday.

The Tampa, Fla., attorney representing Moses and Agnes Bamuwamye of Sellersville, Pa., said Disney employees should never had let the little boy on the ride, which has been linked to at least one other death and 10 hospitalizations — and has caused at least 130 other riders to seek treatment at the park.

A Uniontown man said in a seven-count federal lawsuit filed yesterday that two state police troopers intentionally shot and killed his 12-year-old son, then conspired with other officers to cover up what the family says was a wrongful death.

At a news conference yesterday, an attorney for Michael Hickenbottom, the father of Michael Ellerbe, said that a jury will have to decide how much money should be awarded to the family.

“It will be a difficult task, in our opinion, to put a price tag on Michael Ellerbe’s life,” said attorney Kelly Scanlon Graham.

Hickenbottom is suing for damages for the loss of life, companionship and future earnings capacity.

He also is seeking punitive damages from the two troopers, Samuel Nassan and Juan Curry.

Ellerbe was killed while running from Nassan and Curry the afternoon of Dec. 24 in Uniontown. The troopers had pursued the boy as a suspect in the theft of an automobile.

When the boy abandoned the vehicle, the officers then pursued him on foot.

Ellerbe was shot in the back.

Nassan testified at an inquest that he only shot at the boy because he heard a gunshot during the chase and saw Curry fall.

Nassan said he fired because he believed his partner had been shot.

Curry has said that his weapon discharged accidentally as he was climbing a fence in pursuit of the suspect.

The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh is challenging allegations of sexual solicitation and cover-up in a $75 million lawsuit over the death of 19-year-old Pitt football player Billy Gaines, who fell to his death in a church after consuming alcohol that police say was provided by a Catholic priest.

The diocesan response, which was sent to local priests on Tuesday, does not address claims that the Rev. Henry Krawczyk served alcohol to Gaines and other under-age students.

But the diocese said that Krawczyk had never been accused of making a sexual advance toward a minor, and added that there were no accusations of sexual solicitation or molestation in the Gaines case.

The diocese also maintained that the suit misapplies a 1962 Vatican document in order to argue that the church required a coverup.

“While the Diocese of Pittsburgh continues to state its sadness that a young man died in a tragic accident, the public introduction of a lawsuit based on flawed information requires a public response,” the memo said.

In an interview, the Rev. Ronald Lengwin, spokesman for the diocese, said that “some aspects of the lawsuit” were “absolutely false.”

Gaines died June 18, after attending a cookout at St. Maximilian Kolbe parish in Homestead, where police say Krawczyk gave alcohol to college students under the legal drinking age of 21. Gaines, who had a blood alcohol level of 0.166, in excess of the legal limit of 0.10, entered a crawl space above the church ceiling and fell to his death.

Krawczyk, 50, faces criminal charges of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and furnishing alcohol to minors. He is on administrative leave from ministry and is banned from offering sacraments in public.

The diocese has previously acknowledged two prior complaints. In 1986, Krawczyk was said to have given alcohol to an 18-year-old college student and to have touched that student’s leg. The diocese said that Krawczyk admitted furnishing alcohol, but denied that he had made a sexual advance. Krawczyk was sent for counseling and remained in parish ministry on the recommendation of his therapist, Lengwin said.

The diocese has also said that in 1992 a priest reported that a parishioner had complained that Krawczyk served alcohol to her 16- or 17-year-old son. Krawczyk denied that accusation, Lengwin said.

The federal lawsuit claims that the diocese, the parish and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops should have known that Krawczyk posed a danger.

“[F]rom 1986 through June 2003, Bishop [Donald] Wuerl, the Diocese of Pittsburgh and the USCCB knowingly and intentionally concealed the fact that Krawczyk had admitted to illegally furnishing alcohol to minors and had been accused of illegal sexually inappropriate behavior involving minors,” the suit said.

“There was no such coverup,” the diocesan memo said. “The only admission of any misconduct at that time was in 1986 and there were no civil or criminal charges ever filed against him.”

The memo stresses that there was never an allegation of sexual solicitation involving anyone under 18, the age at which a person is considered an adult in sexual matters.

“While the lawsuit raises the issue of sexual misconduct, no charge has ever been made to diocesan or civil authorities against Father Krawczyk involving sexual misconduct with a minor at any time in his priestly life,” the memo said.

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that the bishops’ conference had no role in decisions about Krawczyk’s ministry.

The diocesan memo also objected to the lawsuit’s citation of Crimen Sollicitationis, a 1962 Vatican document on how the church should respond to priests accused of soliciting sex in the confessional. The diocese claims that the references are based on a “discredited” CBS news report linking that document to the church’s response to priests who molest minors.

Biographies, films, specials — all are among the array of programs on television celebrating Black History Month. What follows is a monthlong sampling of pertinent offerings sent to us from local and cable stations. Watch the daily TV listings for additional programming:

(PRLEAP.COM) New York, NY August 11, 2006–A wrongful death settlement is the compensation paid to the family of a person who dies as the result of another party’s negligence. In a wrongful death case, the dependents or beneficiaries of a person killed as a result of another person’s (or business’s or government agency’s) negligence or actions file a lawsuit to seek compensation for the loss of the victim’s life. The emotional effects on the family of the victim, as well as the financial repercussions of the death, are key factors in the amount of the final settlement.

When the victim of wrongful death was the sole source of income for the family (as in the case of a working father and stay-at-home mother) or a major contributor of income for the family (as in the case of a working father and mother, and one of them dies), the compensation for the wrongful death must account for the remaining lifetime earning potential of the victim. That amount can be substantial, and the lump sum payment is often invested so it produces a steady stream of income for the family for many years.

However, the lump sum payment for a wrongful death is not paid until the wrongful death case is either settled by both parties to the lawsuit, or the plaintiff or plaintiffs win their case in court. While a settlement can sometimes be reached in a matter of weeks, it can often take several months. If the plaintiffs find themselves going to court, a resolution could even take years!

What do plaintiffs in a wrongful death lawsuit do for money while they wait for the resolution of their claim? If the victim of the wrongful death was a breadwinner, what does the family do to replace that person’s income while they wait months–or maybe even years–for the case to settle? How does the family of a wrongful death victim pay their mortgage or rent, make car payments, buy groceries, and cover other living and household expenses?

The solution for many plaintiffs in wrongful death lawsuits is to take a non-recourse advance against the proceeds of their lawsuit. Several terms are used to describe such an advance, including pre-settlement funding, litigation financing, legal finance, lawsuit funding or lawsuit advance.

The leading provider of lawsuit funding, such as lawsuit cash advances against pending wrongful death cases, is LawMax (www.fundmycase.com). Plaintiffs can either call LawMax directly at 877-788-CASH to apply for an advance over the phone, or they can visit www.fundmycase.com and apply on-line. Applying for an advance against the proceeds of a wrongful death lawsuit–or a personal injury, automobile accident, industrial or premises accident, products liability, medical malpractice or similar lawsuit–is not only easy, it is also free. There are no application fees or other up-front charges.

PROVIDENCE — U.S. District Judge Mary M. Lisi yesterday said she might reverse course and toss out a wrongful-death claim brought by the mother of slain police Sgt. Cornel Young Jr.

The wrongful-death claim is based on state law and it’s separate from the federal civil-rights claims that Leisa E. Young has also filed against the City of Providence. But Lisi is handling both the state and federal claims.

Defense lawyers yesterday asked Lisi to throw out all of Young’s case or at least parts of it. The judge said she would rule on those motions tomorrow. The civil trial’s second phase had been scheduled to begin tomorrow, but now the jury is not expected to return until Thursday.

While Lisi issued no rulings yesterday, she provided one indication of what she intends to do.

At the outset of yesterday’s proceedings, Young’s lawyer Robert B. Mann noted that on July 1 Lisi had rejected a defense motion asking her to throw out the wrongful-death claim.

But Lisi told Mann that she had done some additional research in preparation for yesterday’s hearing. “And I have some concerns about my previous ruling,” she said. “In fact, since you’ve raised it, I will tell you that is my intention at this point to withdraw that portion of my memorandum and order.

THE COURT: Before I begin, I wish to address all present, including our many spectators this morning. The Court is about to render a series of rulings on motions that are now pending before the Court. I ask all spectators to respect the dignity of the Court by not commenting or speaking during the course of the Court’s issuance of these rulings.

At the conclusion of the Plaintiff’s presentation of evidence, the defense in this case filed its motion pursuant to Rule 50 of the Rules of Civil Procedure. When a party makes such a motion, the Court is called upon to make a determination based on the evidence at that point in time without drawing any credibility determinations as to whether or not the Plaintiff’s evidence sufficiently sets forth each and every element of the claim made.

In this case, the claim that was submitted to the jury in the first instance was the question as to whether or not the actions of Mr. Solitro and Mr. Saraiva in shooting Mr. Young on January 28th in the year 2000 violated Mr. Young’s constitutional right to be free from an unreasonable seizure under the Fourth Amendment.

The evidence presented by the Plaintiff included the following facts: First, from Mr. Diaz, the statement that when he last saw Mr. Young, Mr. Young was not pointing his gun at him; second, that Mr. Saraiva was, on that evening, acting as Mr. Solitro’s training officer, and as well he was a senior officer; that Mr. Saraiva did not give any direction to Mr. Solitro to maintain cover; that Mr. Solitro broke cover, thereby creating the exigency that forced both Mr. Solitro and Mr. Saraiva to fire.

Plaintiff also presented the expert opinion of Dr. Fyfe, who stated that Saraiva’s failure to give direction was in dereliction of nationally approved standards and that Solitro’s leaving of cover under the circumstances he described also violated national standards.

From these facts, the jury could find that the Plaintiff had made out each element of her claim; and for those reasons, the Court denies the Rule 50 motion made at the conclusion of the Plaintiff’s case.

That motion was renewed at the conclusion of all the evidence in the case; but for the same reasons as I have set forth now, the Rule 50 motion made at the conclusion of all the evidence is also denied.

This case presents a scene of enormous tragedy with unimaginable and deep emotional response on all sides. For the Plaintiff here, the loss of a son; for Solitro and Saraiva, having to live with knowing that they caused Mr. Young’s death; and for the other Defendants as well who have suffered the loss of a colleague.

The Court, however, cannot and must not be swayed by sympathy for either side. Rather, the Court must analyze the facts and apply the law to those facts to reach a just resolution under the law of the claims before it.

It is important to note that before trial commenced in this matter, the Plaintiff moved to voluntarily dismiss all claims as to Solitro and Saraiva with prejudice. The Court will not comment on the wisdom of making such a choice, which was presumably made after full consultation with counsel. That action, however, has significant legal consequences which affect the claims Plaintiff has made as to the remaining Defendants in this case.

I first deal with those claims made pursuant to Section 1983 that are based on Saraiva’s actions. Because the jury has determined that Saraiva did not violate Cornel Young, Jr.’s constitutional rights under well-established case law from the United States Supreme Court and the First Circuit, more specifically the City of Los Angeles v. Heller, Hayden v. Grayson, Jarrett v. Town of Yarmouth, Plaintiff’s supervisory liability claims and municipal liability claims must be dismissed as a matter of law.

I now turn to those claims against the city and the individual Defendants that are based on Solitro’s conduct. The jury determined that Solitro did violate Cornel Young, Jr.’s Fourth Amendment right to be free from an unreasonable seizure of his person.

The Plaintiff’s claims against Solitro in his individual capacity have been dismissed at the request of the Plaintiff; and she is, therefore, forever barred from seeking or collecting any monetary damages from him. Solitro’s actions on January 28th, 2000, against Cornel Young, Jr., however, form only one element of the Plaintiff’s claims as against the remaining Defendants.

These are commonly called municipal liability and supervisory liability claims, and a Plaintiff’s burden in pressing such claims is very high.

With respect to municipal liability claims under the United States Supreme Court decision of Monell and its progeny, a Plaintiff seeking to hold a municipality liable under Section 1983 must identify a municipal policy or custom that caused Plaintiff’s injury. The municipality may not be held liable simply because it employs a tort-feasor.

The Plaintiff must show that the municipality, through its deliberate conduct, was the moving force behind the injury alleged. Further, Plaintiff must show a causal link between the municipal action and the alleged deprivation of a federal right.

The Plaintiff’s burden on a claim of supervisory liability is equally demanding. Under controlling First Circuit and Supreme Court case law, a superior officer cannot be held liable for acts of a subordinate on a respondent superior theory.

Liability for a supervisor under Section 1 must be based on that supervisor’s own acts or omissions. The Plaintiff must show that the supervisor’s behavior demonstrates a deliberate indifference to conduct that is violative of Plaintiff’s constitutional rights.

To succeed on her 1983 claim as against the supervisors, the Plaintiff must also affirmatively connect the supervisor’s conduct to the subordinate’s violative act or omission.

In this case, the city, Defendants Ryan and Cohen have filed Motions for Summary Judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the Rules of Civil Procedure. This Court earlier in the action ruled on a similar motion filed by Prignano and Sullivan.

Because the record facts as set forth in the city’s and Ryan and Cohen’s motions augment those that were available to the Court at the time of ruling on Prignano and Sullivan’s motion, the Court has reviewed that motion and the Court’s ruling on it.

In light of what I find to be, as I must under Rule 56, the material and undisputed facts of this case, the Plaintiff’s claims based on Solitro’s conduct are twofold. One is for a deficiency alleged in his hiring. The other is for a deficiency alleged in his training.

I first turn to the claim with respect to hiring. Under the holding of the United States Supreme Court decision in Board of County Commissioners of Bryan County v. Brown, the Plaintiff’s claims as to Solitro’s hiring cannot, as a matter of law, be maintained.