MARYLAND DEATH: CULTS, HAZING, TAZERS AND TUBING.

WRONGFUL DEATH NEWS from "THE WRONGFUL DEATH WAREHOUSE, SFSPA

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Wrongful Death News, January 5th, 2013: "CULTS, HAZING, TAZERS AND TUBING"

(1) Champion, et al. v. Florida A&M University, et al. $300,000 offered for settlement by University.

The parents of Robert Champion from Decatur have been offered $300,000 by Florida A&M University to settle a wrongful death lawsuit related to the hazing of their son. The incident occurred in November of 2011 when students allegedly beat Mr. Champion during a hazing incident meant to initiate him into a marching band. The Champions claim that the dean of the school was specifically asked to stop the hazing incidents but did not comply with requests and that this resulted directly in the death of their son.

(2) Missouri Jury Awards $108.6 Million In Wrongful Death Case Against "Cult", Et Al.

A Jackson County, Missouri jury has decided that a former Missouri police officer, Caleb Horner, his brother, John Horner, their "cult" followers, as well as Amber Horner Leather, who acted as the midwife, are responsible for the wrongful death of Caleb Horner's wife, Misty.

The jury, on Dec. 21, 2012, returned a unanimous $108.6 million verdict to the parents of Misty Horner. The parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against their former son-in-law, Caleb Horner, his brother, John Horner and his followers alleging that they brainwashed Misty and caused her to suffer a cruel and painful death following a botched home-birth.

John Horner, the leader of the religious cult, claims to be an apostle of his self-created church which promotes prayer to heal the sick and shuns all modern medicine. Misty’s parents were able to show that their daughter was sucked into the "Horner Cult", which taught that women should be submissive to their husbands and that medical intervention is a sin against God.

“Horner and his followers convinced Misty to have an at-home birth,” said an attorney who represented Misty’s parents, Gail and Darrel Mansfield. “This prevented her from getting any prenatal care including vitamins or sonograms, even upon learning the baby was breech.”
Misty’s baby died of asphyxiation during a gruesome four-day labor and delivery which culminated with her “husband” (they never had a marriage license) performing an episiotomy on her with a pair of unsterilized household scissors.

Over the course of the next 31 days, Caleb Horner and his followers kept family, friends, medical and police personnel away from Misty as the cuts to her vagina became infected. The infection and sepsis spread throughout Misty’s body as Horner and his followers performed faith healing and prayer rituals.

Misty tried to seek medical attention on numerous occasions but the Horner Cult members continuously prevented any such intervention.

A doctor testified at trial that the deaths of Misty and her child were unnecessary and preventable.

The jury found Caleb Horner to be 45% at fault. His brother, John Horner, was found 35% at fault. And their sister, Amber Horner Leathers, was found 20% at fault. The jury found that Misty had no fault for her own death. A 4th person named as a defendant settled out of court.

The Lee’s Summit, Missouri Police Department also fired Horner for failing to call for emergency help.

“Before Misty died, her parents begged Caleb to call for help,” attorney Danny Thomas said. “He refused. They warned him that if she died they would hold him accountable. He smiled at them and said ‘I’ve researched it. You can’t touch me.’

Horner and his co-defendants claimed that the infection was not their fault and that Misty died because she adhered to her sincerely-held religious beliefs.

Witnesses say that at one point, Misty Horner put her clothes on to go to the hospital, but was convinced that she just needed to believe in God’s healing power.

Misty Horner’s best friend, Tina Moore, testified that their religion required Misty Horner to be submissive to her husband at all times. In December 2006, Misty went into labor. According to Moore, Caleb Horner hired two midwives who were unqualified to deliver a baby, as Moore said they asked her to look up information in guide books.

During her testimony, Moore said Caleb Horner blamed the baby’s death on his wife’s family, calling it “generational sin” and that it was God’s way of punishing them.

“It’s bittersweet,” said Moore after the verdict was announced on Friday. “I’m happy they will be accountable on some level. We’ll never see the full justice because they deserve to be in jail, but it feels good they lost something.”

The Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office declined to press charges in the case, saying that they weren’t convinced that Misty Horner had actually wanted to seek medical treatment. But her parents insist that was because their daughter was brainwashed.

Caleb Horner is a former Lee’ Summit Police Officer who was fired in June of 2008. He has sued the city, claiming that his firing was because of his religious beliefs, while the city said it was because he failed to notify authorities at the first sign of Misty Horner’s death.

Witnesses testified that church members prayed over Misty Horner’s body for hours because they believed that prayer can raise the dead.

(3) Gawrysiak Wrongful Death Cases Settled in Wisconsin for $300,000.

A wrongful death lawsuit regarding a tubing death in Wisconsin on Lake Holcombe has now been settled for $300,000.

Lucas Gawrysiak, 29, died after slamming into a bridge pillar on an inner tube pulled by a boat in June of 2011. Chippewa County court records show Gawrysiak's 4-year-old daughter will receive $175,000.

(4) Taser Victim Wrongful Death Lawsuit in Utah Settles.

A settlement has been reached in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Brian Cardall who died in 2009 after a Hurricane City police officer shocked him with a taser.

According to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, the parties entered into a “mutual general settlement agreement and release of all claims” in the suit over the death of Cardall, a Utah native who was at the time a graduate student at Northern Arizona University. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

The statement said, “The ultimate outcome in this case would have required a jury to consider many facts, a number of which are in dispute.”

The family contends police used excessive force on the 32-year-old Cardall, who was running naked along a highway just outside hurricane in June 2009. Cardall, who suffered from bipolar disorder, and his wife had pulled their vehicle to the side of the road so he could take his medication upon the onset of an apparent bipolar episode.

Police from hurricane arrived and twice tasered the incoherent and uncooperative Cardall. He suffered cardiac arrest at the scene.

[www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/ "Suing For Wrongful Death Or Injury Following A College Hazing"/ 12-28-2012; 13-weau.com/January 2, 2013/ "Wrongful Death Lawsuit Settled for $300,000/www.weau.com; www.upr.org/post/01-03-2013/ "Wrongful Death Lawsuit Ends in Settlement"; Fox4kc.com/12-27-2012/ "Parents of Misty Horner Grated $108 Million In Wrongful Death Lawsuit"; eldoradospringsmo.com/01-03-2013/ "Jackson County (Missouri) Jury Awards Millions In Cult Case"]