Driver that struck teen suing dead boy's family

[MKR&*42]

I actually cannot believe this woman

The *****y, handsome, 17-year-old bike enthusiast was out with his two buddies on Oct. 28, 2012 when they hopped on their bicycles to go for hot dogs on a drizzly, dark night around 1:30 a.m.

“I know they should not have been out there that late,” his father said. “But they are good kids.”

Brandon was struck from behind by an SUV and killed while his friend Richard McLean, 16, was seriously injured with a broken pelvis and other bones. His other pal Jake Roberts, 16, was knocked off his bike but sustained only scratches.

Now the driver of the SUV, Sharlene Simon, 42, a mother of three, formerly from Innisfil, is suing the dead boy for the emotional trauma she says she has suffered. She’s also suing the two other boys, as well as the dead boy’s parents, and even his brother, who has since died. She’s also suing the County of Simcoe for failing to maintain the road.

Even the family’s lawyer is in shock.

“In all of my years as a lawyer, I have never seen anyone ever sue a child that they killed,” Barrie lawyer Brian Cameron said. “It’s beyond the pale. I just couldn’t bring myself to tell them on the phone.”

After a face-to-face meeting Tuesday, the parents and step-parents left his office almost staggering in disbelief.

“I’m devastated, I’m in shock,” said Brandon’s mother, Venetta Mlynczyk, a dental assistant who is drowning in sorrow. “She killed my child and now she wants to profit from it? She says she’s in pain? Tell her to look inside my head and she will see pain, she will see panic, she will see nightmares.”

Her voice shaking with emotion, the mother recalls her last words with her son.

“I said I love you … he said, ‘I love you, too, mom,’ and off he went with his friends,” Mylnczyk said. “At least I have that … but for this woman to be so selfish, to claim she is the one suffering but we are the ones living the nightmare … her children are still living.”

“It blows my mind,” Brandon’s step-mom, Lisa Tessier, said. “We are all devastated. This is so cruel.”

In a statement of claim filed with the court, Simon is claiming $1.35 million in damages due to her psychological suffering, including depression, anxiety, irritability and post-traumatic stress. She blames the boys for negligence.

“They did not apply their brakes properly,” the claim states. “They were incompetent bicyclists.”
Simon’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment from the Toronto Sun Friday.

Brandon’s father shakes his head.
“They’re kids!” he gasps. “And they have a right to make mistakes ... it was a wet, dark road — what about slowing down?”
He insists the reflectors on the bikes would have been visible.

http://www.torontosun.com/2014/04/25...ad-boys-family

*****y means something else in the states js*

For those who are tl;dr - female driver hits teen on bike, teen dies, the DRIVER sues the dead teen's family for emotional distress. It's debatable whether it's the teen's fault for being hit by the car - his family insists he had reflective gear on his bike, the driver says no he didn't, but the driver was also going 10km over the speed limit and it was a wet day - she should have slowed down.

I am disgusted she is doing this, genuinely sickened.
--
Oh well that word got filtered anyway so eh.

[Absently]

was reading about this earlier, yeah the boys might have been in the wrong, but you did kill one of them and are now suing him? just get over it... swear to god, everyone in the states seems like they're always suing each other.. it's not all about money. how about you just try to move past the suffering you are going through without trying to take someone elses money. evil witch.

[The Don]

I don't agree with the compensation culture over that side of the pond, and I think it's morally questionable to sue the family of somebody you killed (albeit through negligence) but let's not act as if the ptsd and depression she more than likely has had since is something she can just 'get over'. I doubt she has been able to drive since, and if she had a job that requires commuting then she has more than likely lost that. If she has kids to feed, debt to pay, how is she going to do that all whilst living on a state handout? Again, i'm not saying I agree with what she's doing, but let's look at it from her perspective for a second...

[scottish]

I don't agree with the compensation culture over that side of the pond, and I think it's morally questionable to sue the family of somebody you killed (albeit through negligence) but let's not act as if the ptsd and depression she more than likely has had since is something she can just 'get over'. I doubt she has been able to drive since, and if she had a job that requires commuting then she has more than likely lost that. If she has kids to feed, debt to pay, how is she going to do that all whilst living on a state handout? Again, i'm not saying I agree with what she's doing, but let's look at it from her perspective for a second...

Has it been said she can't drive? or anything about losing job?

All I seen was that she's got mental issues and thinks she deserves compensation for having mental issues after killing someone.

Look at it from the families side. I doubt they've been able to live their life since, if they had a job they probably requires a lot of time off to get over the grieving process, If they had kids to feed, debt to pay, how are they going to do that when they're grieving over their son being killed? No doubt they'll have long lasting mental health issues too such as depression.

She deserves nothing for killing the other family members kid.

[Kardan]

I think she has a case if what she says is true, and people shouldn't be too quick to jump to the defence of someone just because they died. It all depends on what actually happened really. If she was speeding, then she has at least some of the blame, but if they were cycling in the dark without any lights or anything, then the cyclists have a large portion of the blame.

[scottish]

The cyclists had some blame, as they were out at that time without proper lights and the consequence for him was to lose his life.

The driver was speeding, should have seen the reflection from the cyclists reflectors and has to live with killing a young boy on her conscience

She isn't owed anything from the dead persons relatives or the seriously wounded.

[The Don]

Has it been said she can't drive? or anything about losing job?

All I seen was that she's got mental issues and thinks she deserves compensation for having mental issues after killing someone.

Look at it from the families side. I doubt they've been able to live their life since, if they had a job they probably requires a lot of time off to get over the grieving process, If they had kids to feed, debt to pay, how are they going to do that when they're grieving over their son being killed? No doubt they'll have long lasting mental health issues too such as depression.

She deserves nothing for killing the other family members kid.

The kid went out at 1am on a bike with only reflectors and no light to get a hot dog. I think most people in that situation would have ended up in an accident so i'm not sure why you're so quick to defend the dead kid after reading one heavily bias article simply because the kids dead. Also I can't see anything about the driver speeding at the time, and if she was in fact doing something wrong, she would have been found guilty at a trial. Since that hasn't happened one can safely assume the fault lies on the kids cycling in the pitch black night without any lights on their bikes.

[Kardan]

I'm sure someone can find me many examples where someone has accidentally killed someone and successfully sued.

[scottish]

The kid went out at 1am on a bike with only reflectors and no light to get a hot dog. I think most people in that situation would have ended up in an accident so i'm not sure why you're so quick to defend the dead kid after reading one heavily bias article simply because the kids dead. Also I can't see anything about the driver speeding at the time, and if she was in fact doing something wrong, she would have been found guilty at a trial. Since that hasn't happened one can safely assume the fault lies on the kids cycling in the pitch black night without any lights on their bikes.

I highly doubt it, I for one went out late night for years with only reflectors on and I never died.

Either that article or another stated she was exceeding the speed limit by 10mph.

So obviously not.

[The Don]

I highly doubt it, I for one went out late night for years with only reflectors on and I never died.

Either that article or another stated she was exceeding the speed limit by 10mph.

So obviously not.

Just rechecked the article and you are right, she was going 10kmph (6mph) over the speed limit, so some of the fault does indeed lie on her, however fault also lies on the cyclists for not having lights. All i'm saying is it's not as black and white as everybody is making it out to be.