Montana teenager sues family of the woman she kills.

[Archae]

Spoiled brat! :grr:

Montana Teen Charged With Deliberate Homicide Sues Slain Woman's Family

Prosecutors Say Justine Winter, 17, Purposely Crashed Her Car, Killing a Pregnant Woman and Her Son

A Montana teenager charged with deliberately causing a fatal car crash in a failed suicide attempt has filed a lawsuit against the family of the pregnant woman who was killed in the collision with her teenage son.

Everyone from the prosecutor in the case to neighbors of both families have raised their eyebrows at the teen's actions, with some saying it may be an inappropriate defense tactic.

http://tinyurl.com/37l8lux

[ZombieHorde]

1. Pretty interesting.

This teen seems to have no regard for humanity, including herself.

[Archae]

2. Yeah, it's everyone elses' fault for what she does.

:argh:

[bluestateguy]

3. This is a junk lawsuit

and it should not be allowed to see the light of day.

[TexasObserver]

6. No, it isn't. And that term is a right wing meme.

The right wing and the corporate interests it represents have plied the airwaves with many memes to help them avoid being held responsible for the misdeeds they commit. By using such labels and getting citizens to repeat them, they can diminish the legitimate attacks on them for the wrongs they do. "Junk lawsuit" is one such term.

Many of our major safety protections are a result of lawsuits that were once called "junk" lawsuits. Your car is the best example. Many of the safety features on it exist because some lawyer invented the case by applying existing standards of negligence to a new type of problem. That's not "junk" lawsuits. It's cutting edge lawsuits.

When you use the term "junk lawsuits," you're plying a well developed right wing meme that is intended to undermine and diminish by labeling legitimate claims.

This case is not a "junk "lawsuit," however. This lawsuit is designed to help the defendant require the family of the decedent to provide information that might be useful in the defense of the teenager. These lawsuits are rare, but they do happen. At their core, the lawsuits are about the ability of the state to develop a case for prosecution, while the defense lacks the resources or the rights to demand and require compliance of third parties. Defendants have a distinct disadvantage in modern criminal courts, and the disparity between the resources available to defendants and those available to prosecutors create desperate moves, such as this one.

This case is a questionable use of the civil litigation process, but it is not the horror some may imagine. If the family being sued moves to abate this lawsuit until after the criminal disposition, the judge would likely grant it. This lawsuit can continue, but it is secondary to the criminal case, from the standpoint of the legal system. People should not get excited about anyone filing any kind of lawsuit. You can literally file a lawsuit anywhere claiming anything. It's what the judge signs that matters. He or she can horsewhip a misbehaving litigant (I'm looking at you, Orly), and often does. The judge can shut down a lawsuit instantly, or put it on hold.

Ultimately, it's you folks sitting in the jury box who decide the issues of liability, proximate cause, and damages. Lawyers and judges frame the questions and inform the jury.

Juries provided the answers and the damages in the trial outcomes which led big business to create the meme "junk lawsuit." So let's be clear. The term "junk lawsuit" was invented by some political guys after their big company got its ass kicked in court and had to pay because a judge and jury found them responsible.

[bluestateguy]

8. This particular case is indeed a junk lawsuit

And you have had to spend much ink over-intellectualizing and over-rationalizing the justification of something that defies good old fashioned American common sense.

[TexasObserver]

13. No, it isn't.

This your opportunity to learn.

[bluestateguy]

18. Yes, it is.

And I am confident that the judge will see it the same way.

The ones I really feel for is the family of the accident victims (the real victims, not this selfish brat) who will now have to pay for lawyers to make this frivilous lawsuit go away.

But I am sure that is of no concern to you.

[MicaelS]

11. Cases like this POS

Are why people justifiably hate lawyers and the legal system. If I had the ability, I'd disbar the shyster that filed this case.

According to the criminal complaint against her, Winter crossed the center line on Highway 93 going about 85 mph and slammed into Thompson's car. An investigation of the crash shows no tire marks on the road that would have indicated that Winter had tried to avoid the crash.

Court documents allege that a post-crash inspection of the car showed that Winter "was not wearing her seatbelt, she was at 95 percent throttle ('all the way to the floor.')

The same report noted that she was traveling 86 mph three to five seconds before impact and braked only one second before impact.

"In that effort to take her own life, the defendant instead took the lives of Mrs. Thompson and Caden," Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan wrote in the complaint.

[TexasObserver]

15. You share that point of view with the right wing of this country.

It reveals a fundamental lack of understanding of our legal system.

[bluestateguy]

17. Opposing this junk lawsuit hardly puts us in cahoots with the right wing

The Right wants to prevent people from holding corporations accountable through the courts. That is unacceptable.

This case here has nothing to do with any of that.

[MicaelS]

19. I'm no right-winger, and I understand the system,

I also understand how some attorney's misuse the system in a misguided attempt to win at all costs, under the guise of "providing the best defense possible." Things like this promote disrespect for the legal system. A case like this is blaming the victim for their own murder, plain and simple.

[TheMadMonk]

4. Looks like some attempt to assign some degree of proportional blame.

And then perhaps use that towards establishing reasonable doubt.

[JI7]

5. i wouldn't be surprised if she ends up purposely harming someone in the future

including killing them.

there are a lot of shitty people out there and this one is one of them

[IdaBriggs]

7. Sounds like her family is desperately trying to find a way

to stop a broken-hearted 16 year olds temporary (criminal) stupidity from landing her in jail for the rest of her life.

I am confident the mother of a 13 year old boy (both dead, thanks to this girl's idiocy), would understand.

:( This is a sad, tragic story of what should have been temporary teenage drama becoming other people's problems. :(

[gratuitous]

9. Why shouldn't she sue?

At 17, she has apparently absorbed and internalized the wisdom flowing down from our nation's leaders quite well. Why should we be upset that such an apt pupil is applying the lessons learned? The family of the folks who were killed are engaged in "asymmetrical warfare," just like the suicide inmates at Guantanamo, and Justine is fighting back. She's a hero!

Why do you all hate the troops?

[TayTay]

10. "inappropriate defense tactic"

so that's what the kids are calling it these days.

[MadMaddie]

12. Wow! This is just sick!

Her parents prop her up instead of giving her the support to accept her crime.

[Stoic]

14. I hope the courts smack down her lawyer. n/t

[Rowdyboy]

16. Her father is equally to blame....Apparently he never bothered to teach her

anything about responsibility or concern for others. Maybe she'll learn a little during her first decade or two in prison.

[Liberal_in_LA]

20. Awful

[MilesColtrane]

21. How was the deceased negligent?

By staying on her side of the road?

By not swerving fast enough to avoid a car closing on her at a combined speed of 140 mph?

This is an absolute bullshit lawsuit that rubs salt into the wounds of the surviving family members.