Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Wrongful Death Case Caused by Accidental Shooting

In a case that was tried before a jury in the Superior Court of New Jersey, our client, an 18 year-old student, was accidentally shot and killed by his 20 year-old cousin at the cousins’ house while the cousin was mishandling a loaded revolver. (It appears that the cousin was sitting on his bed holding the revolver and examining it, and while doing so, the gun went off causing the bullet to strike our client in the back causing his death). The police later searched the cousin’s room and found three other revolvers as well as drugs. The cousin was later arrested and charged with reckless manslaughter and various other drug charges. However, he was acquitted of the reckless manslaughter charge but found guilty of “negligent assault,” weapon possession and the drug charges and was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment. After repeatedly failing to offer any sums of money more than 10% of the face amount of its policy, the homeowners' insurer (High Point Insurance) was offered its entire policy as the jury was to decide the case.

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