Date: 07-30-2001

Case Style: Christina Marie Culberson, et al. v. Vincent Doan, et al.

Case Number: 97-cv-965

Judge: S. Arthur Spiegel

Court: United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio

Plaintiff's Attorney: Alphonse Adam Gerhardstein of Laufman & Gerhardstein, Cincinnati, Ohio

Defendant's Attorney: Lawrence Edward Barbiere and Robert Stanford Hiller of Schroeder Maundrell Barbiere & Powers, Cincinnati, Ohio

Description: Civil Rights - 42 U.S.C. 1981 - 14th Amendment violation claim by family of Clarissa Ann Culberson who disappeared in 1996 shortly before her boyfriend was to face charges of assault. The family and defendants suspected that the father of the boyfriend has abducted and killed the woman. A search of the father's junkyard indicated that the woman's body might be in a pond on the property. Plaintiffs claimed that defendants wrongfully failed to secure the area and that, as a direct result, the body was removed from the pond and moved to another location which has never been located.

Outcome: Plaintiff's verdict for $3.75 million. (Later settled for $2 million plus an agreement on the part of Blanchester, Ohio to improve law enforcement in domestic violence cases.)

Plaintiff's Experts: Unknown

Defendant's Experts: Unknown

Comments: The Sixth Circuit recoginizes a property right in the body of loved ones.