CORSON LAWSUIT REJECTED.Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer PALMDALE - A judge has thrown out a lawsuit for the third time against the Palmdale School District The Palmdale School District is a school district that serves a major part of the city of Palmdale, California (USA). The Palmdale School District was first formed in 1888. Approximately 28,000 students are enrolled in the Palmdale School District. filed by the mother of a 13-year-old Juniper Intermediate School student killed in a fistfight with a classmate. But in his ruling Friday, Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Michael Farrell For the Australian cricketer, see . For the American screen actor, see . Michael Farrell (born 1944) is an Irish civil rights activist and former leader of People's Democracy. gave the attorney for Mary Corson 20 days to file a revised complaint that seeks damages for the wrongful death The taking of the life of an individual resulting from the willful or negligent act of another person or persons. If a person is killed because of the wrongful conduct of a person or persons, the decedent's heirs and other beneficiaries may file a wrongful death action of Stephan Corson. ``The judge gave me 20 days to amend the complaint. (The judge) said that he believes that the wrongful death action is the one Mary Corson has standing to bring,'' said Corson's attorney, Melanie Lomax Melanie E. Lomax (April 12, 1950 – September 10, 2006), was a civil rights lawyer and former head of the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners. Lomax was the daughter of Lucius Lomax, an attorney, and Almena Davis Lomax, a civil rights activist and publisher of the . Farrell ruled in February that Mary Corson cannot sue Palmdale School District for racial discrimination. Farrell also ruled that other portions of the $10 million lawsuit alleging negligence and wrongful death against the district were insufficient but allowed Lomax to file an amended complaint amended complaint n. what results when the party suing (plaintiff or petitioner) changes the complaint he/she has filed. It must be in writing, and can be done before the complaint is served on any defendant, by agreement between the parties (usually their lawyers), . Martin Carpenter, attorney for the school district, said the district objected to the latest complaint as being legally defective. ``The pleadings were insufficient to state causes of action against a public entity,'' Carpenter said. Lomax said the district challenged the lawsuit, saying Mary Corson doesn't have standing to sue the school district for negligence because she was a parent, not a student. As for the wrongful death claim Wrongful death is a claim in common law jurisdictions against a person who can be held liable for a death. The claim is brought in a civil action, usually by close relatives, as enumerated by statute. , the district is arguing that the other student in the fight, who also is a defendant in the lawsuit, is responsible, Lomax said. ``Our position has always been that this is a wrongful death case. Under wrongful death, Mary Corson can recover all the same damages for the emotional loss of her son,'' Lomax said. ``There's nothing unusual about a defendant trying to narrow the causes of action to one cause of action. For Mary Corson's purposes, she wants her day in court.'' Lomax said the last few weeks have been especially agonizing for Mary Corson with Mother's Day on Sunday. ``She's having to take medication to keep from going into a deep depression,'' Lomax said. Stephan Corson's death was ruled a homicide by the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, which said the boy died from damage to his spinal cord spinal cord, the part of the nervous system occupying the hollow interior (vertebral canal) of the series of vertebrae that form the spinal column, technically known as the vertebral column. caused either by a punch thrown by the classmate or from hitting the ground with his chin. Los Angeles County prosecutors declined last April to file charges against the 14-year-old classmate, saying he acted in self-defense in what was termed an ``excusable homicide EXCUSABLE HOMICIDE, crim. law. The killing of a human being, when the party killing is not altogether free from blame, but the necessity which renders it excusable, may be said to be partly induce by his own act. 1 East, P. C. 220. .'' In their report, prosecutors said 11 witnesses said Stephan started the fight, and that a teacher told investigators that after she separated the boys, Stephan reached around her and punched the other boy, who then struck back. Stephan fell, hitting his head on a concrete surface, the report said. Other witnesses and the boy's family have disputed that account, saying Stephan was being held back by another student when he was punched the last time. The case was transferred to the Van Nuys court after Lomax argued that Antelope Valley jurors might be tainted by pretrial publicity The right of a criminal defendant to receive a fair trial is guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The right of the press (print and electronic media) to publish information about the defendant and the alleged criminal acts is guaranteed by the First Amendment. . |
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