Wrongful Death Lawsuit Up In The Air Due to Defendant Not Participating

Southfield, MI (Law Firm Newswire) May 4, 2015 – Going to court does not always mean the named defendant participates in the civil trial.

Ciara Byers initially faced charges of operating a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana, causing death. She chose to plead guilty in the deaths of a husband and wife, Robert and Susan Kammeraad, and faces up to 15 years in jail. The Kammeraads’ son filed a civil wrongful death lawsuit and has been trying to get the case to move forward. However, that has been difficult, as the defendant is not responding to any notices.

Byers was served on November 24 with notice that she had 21 days to file a response to the lawsuit, which is seeking damages and funeral and burial expenses. Court records reveal she apparently has no attorney of record to handle the lawsuit. The court served notice again on December 16, notifying her a request for default had been made due to her lack of response. Two days later the court entered a default against her and by December 29 another notification advised her of this.

When a named defendant defaults, they cannot participate in the case, unless their attorney requests a motion to set aside the default. It would still remain up to the judge to determine if there was a good cause for failing to respond. The son may now seek a judgment once the parties determine whether Byers had insurance that would cover the motorcycle accident that killed the Kammeraads.

A viable solution for Jeffrey Kammeraad may well have been to seek litigation funding while he was waiting for his wrongful death lawsuit to be resolved – at some point in time. “Pre-settlement funding, also referred to as a lawsuit loan, would help him deal with all of his expenses, including funeral and burial expenses and also allow him the time to just heal without insurance companies bothering him to settle,” says Litigation Funding representative, Darren Monroe.

Learn more at http://www.litigationfundingcorp.com