Insurance companies included in lawsuit following toddler’s death
AMHERST — A wrongful death lawsuit filed against a Madison Heights teenager in connection with the death of a toddler last year has been amended to include two insurance companies.
The $1.35 million lawsuit names Kaylie Silby as well as Allstate and Metropolitan Direct insurance companies and alleges that Silby was negligent when the car she was driving struck 2-year-old Omarion Rose on Seminole Drive on Jan. 14, 2008.
The suit was originally filed in September 2008, but few developments happened in the case until the amended filing last month.
“Ms. Silby had lawful duties to maintain a proper lookout at all times, to keep her vehicle under proper control and to see and take reasonable precautions if any persons, children or property were near or were entering Seminole Drive as she was driving down the roadway,” the suit claims.
Silby, 18 years old at the time, was convicted of improper driving in July 2008 and fined $500. According to testimony at that trial, Silby was driving on Seminole Drive that morning near Omarion Rose’s Branch Drive home when her cell phone rang.
Silby said she had a good view of the road before her phone rang, and it was clear when she looked over to grab the phone. After feeling the car hit something, she said, she checked her mirrors and did not see anything.
Omarion was found on the side of the road around 8:30 a.m. He was rushed to the University of Virginia Medical Center, where he later died of blunt force trauma to the head.
The civil suit was amended last month to include Allstate since Silby’s insurance through Metropolitan Direct may not be sufficient to cover the damages, the amended filing says. Allstate had extended coverage to Withney Hughes, Omarion’s mother.
No answer has been filed, and hearings are not yet scheduled in the case.
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Reader Reactions
The fact that she included her own insurance company in the claim clearly demonstrates that this is about one thing: money.
I’m sorry for the loss of their son, but how is $1.35 million going to help?
This mother should be in jail for neglecting her child. If she were doing her job, this poor child would still be alive. I have a 21 month old and that child NEVER leaves my sight when we are outside playing.
This woman is trying to benefit from her own stupidity. What a shame.
I felt sorry for the mother of this baby until this suit was filed. Now I am thinking that she is taking advantage of a horrible tragedy. Isn’t there someone who can file a suit charging the mother with failure to maintain proper control of her toddler? Now I’m feeling more sympathy for the driver than for the mom! Money won’t bring back the child that died but the love of money may ruin the life of the young person who was driving on that morning.
Of course, no one had a “duty” to see to it that a 2 year was not crawling around in the street ALONE at 8:30 a.m.
Insurance companies are where the deep pockets are found. This is the kind of a case that makes tort reform look good——even to me.
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