Legal Question in Criminal Law in Washington

Need to find out if a civil suit will apply

My step son was apparantly accidentally killed by a gun about a year ago.There were 2 boys in the room with him and they fled the scene and never called 911.My ex found him and he was still alive.The police investigation was admittedly botched by one of the detectives but wont do anything to clear it up.The 2 boys claim that my step son shot himself.We feel that there is more to this than they say and are afraid of a poss. fourth person.Lie detec. test show they are hiding something.Can a civil suit be brought against these 2 for leaving the scene to press.them into telling the truth.Thanks


Asked on 5/14/98, 5:10 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Gary Preble Preble Law Firm, P.S.

Failure to Assist

You ask two questions. The first is whether you have a cause of action against the two boys for failure to assist your son OR to prevent his suicide. The case of Webstad vs. Stortini, 83 Wn.App. 857, 924 P.2d 940 (1996), is very similar. There the Pierce County Executive was in an adulterous relationship with the decedent. The court ruled he had no duty to prevent her from committing suicide at his house. Had there been a legally cognizable "special relationship", or had he undertaken in some way to assist or protect, the law will impose a duty.

Your second question is whether you can use the civil procedure to coerce the two boys to talk.

The answer to both is that you could sue them on the basis that they had a special relationship and thus breached a duty. This would flush out the facts, though the case might be dismissed when you can't sustain facts to support that theory. You might also want to try an independent action under CR 27(c) to obtain information from them under oath.

Read more
Answered on 6/03/98, 4:51 am


Related Questions & Answers

More Criminal Law questions and answers in Washington