Karen Read files answer to wrongful death lawsuit brought by John O’Keefe’s family
Lawyers for Karen Read on Wednesday filed an answer to the wrongful death lawsuit she faces , which was brought by the family of her boyfriend, John O'Keefe, whom she was acquitted of killing earlier this year.
The formal answer to the complaint does not address the primary issue Read's lawyers have raised — that they want to bring claims against 10 other defendants , including many of the witnesses from her trial, as part of the case. But it does represent the first formal response to the claims brought by O'Keefe's family last year.
"Ms. Read denies that she is liable or responsible to the Plaintiffs, and requests that the Court deny the specific remedy and relief, or any remedy or relief, that the Plaintiffs seek in this action," her lawyers wrote, responding to the wrongful death claim in the original complaint.
The response goes further, though, and hints at the affirmative claims Read's team wants to bring.
"To the extent that the Plaintiffs have suffered damages, all such damages claimed were caused by the acts and omissions of third parties for whom Ms. Read is not responsible," the answer reads.
Read's team filed the answer after a judge denied most parts of a motion to dismiss the emotional distress claims against her.
Read, and two Canton bars where she and O'Keefe drank on the night of his death, had sought to dismiss the parts of the lawsuit that claimed negligent infliction of emotional distress and reckless and/or intentional infliction of emotional distress. Plymouth Superior Court Judge Daniel O'Shea dismissed just one of the claims in the suit, finding the rest could move ahead.
The lawsuit echoes what Read was accused of by prosecutors: that she drunkenly rammed her car into O'Keefe and left him to die in the snow after a fight. But O'Keefe's family also brought several emotional distress claims against Read, which were the crux of the motion to dismiss.
No trial date has been set for the civil case. A hearing is scheduled for Nov. 21.
Karen Read wrongful death lawsuit
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