Lawyers for the father of a nine-year-old killed by a neighboring sex offender say they will sue under a little used Florida statute.
Lawyers for Mark Lunsford have given their six-month notice of intent to pursue a wrongful death and negligence claim for damages against the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Citrus County Board of Commissioners.
The suit will be filed by Mark Lunsford and Angela Wright, the parents of Jessica Lunsford. They claim negligence caused mental pain and suffering to themselves and other family members.
On February 23, 2005 the little girl was taken from her mobile home bedroom in Homosassa, Florida. Law enforcement launched a local search while Jessica was being hidden in a mobile home 100 yards away by convicted sex offended John Couey.
Jessica was found buried in a shallow grave with her toy stuffed dolphin. Couey confessed he kept her in his bedroom and closet for three to six days, had raped her numerous times then told her to climb into a black plastic bag. He bound her hands with speaker wire and buried her alive in a two and a half foot grave.
He then got on a bus to Georgia with a ticket purchased by his sister.
In August of last year, Couey was sentenced to death for kidnapping, rape and murder of Jessica.
Eric S. Block and Mark Gelman are the attorneys filing the wrongful death lawsuit against the government alleging negligence. They appeared on Fox News O’Reilly Factor Monday night.
Lawyer Mark Gelman said, “The truth is Jessica did not have to die. She could have been saved.”
“A few months before FDLE (Florida Department of Law Enforcement) said to Citrus County to round-up the sex offenders. A few months before Couey was reported as living in that trailer and they were told there was a warrant and he was a sex offender and go pick him up. No one did.”
Attorney Eric Block told Bill O’Reilly that no one ever went into the mobile home to look for Jessica even though dog handlers had followed a trail to the trailer Couey shared with two women. “They were told to stand down” said Block.
O'Reilly asked why the women who bought the bus ticket were never charged. The two lawyers reminded him they are not criminal but civil attorneys. They plan to pursue that question of law enforcement.
The suit will be filed under a little used Florida Statute 768.28 which waives sovereign immunity in lawsuits against the state. But the statute makes it difficult to file a claim against the state or any of its agencies and limits judgments to $100,000 and attorney’s fees to 25 percent of the judgment. Awards cannot include punitive damages.
However, the Florida Legislature can opt to pay a jury judgment out of state funds.
Daniel Iracki, an attorney working with Eric Block, tells IB News this case is not about money.
“Law enforcement has a general duty to protect but there is one exception; it’s a special duty doctrine. This case is a text book fit into that exception. A government entity takes on the assurances they will take a specific action. By doing that an individual relies on that representation, otherwise they would do it themselves. In this case a government entity did it in a negligent manner.”
At a news conference last week, Citrus County Sheriff Jeff Dawsy said the litigation is baseless.
“There is nothing there. A lot of you followed this case and saw the efforts put forth by the men and women of this organization, the Florida Department of Law enforcement, FBI and countless other agencies. And I think everybody in my family at the Citrus County Sheriff's Office and also my community have to know that Commissioner Bailey [FDLE] and I are going to vigorously defend our agencies against this baseless allegation made by the Lunsfords that we failed to do our job."
After Jessica’s death, Mark Lunsford pushed for the tightening of rules regarding sex offenders in Florida.
Known as the Jessica Lunsford Reform Act, Florida now requires convicted sexual predators to have a designated marking on their driver’s license. And school construction sites must be separated by a six-foot-chain-link fence while workers must submit to fingerprints and background screening each year even if they have no contact with students. Couey worked a construction job at Jessica’s school.
33 states have enacted some form of Jessica’s law under help provided by a foundation set up in her honor. #