Forest family's lawsuit could be heard by state Supreme Court

BEDFORD — A Forest family’s lawsuit against Campbell County Sheriff Terry Gaddy, a deputy and the Commonwealth of Virginia could be heard by the state Supreme Court next year.

Two years ago this month, Corey Peters of Big Island drove his pickup truck head-on into a minivan carrying the Barrick family as they came home from church. Andy and Linda Barrick and their children, Jennifer and Josh, were in the van that night. All but Josh were severely injured.

Jennifer Barrick suffered severe head trauma and was in a medically-induced coma for several weeks.

Peters was severely brain damaged and has been hospitalized since the wreck.

In a lawsuit first filed in December 2006, the family sued their insurance company, Peters and his father James Peters. Gaddy, Deputy Vincent Keller and the commonwealth were added to the suit earlier this year.

In an October order, Bedford County Circuit Court Judge James Updike finalized an earlier ruling that law enforcement officers are protected against lawsuits except in extreme circumstances. Barrick family attorney Paul Beers has now filed notice he will appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of Virginia.

The incident began when Deputy Keller was called to a hit-and-run car crash the evening of Nov. 5, 2006, involving Corey Peters on Timberlake Road. He followed Peters into Bedford County on Waterlick Road, where he found him asleep behind the wheel of the truck in the middle of the street.

In an interview shortly after the wreck, Gaddy said Keller tried to turn off Peters’ engine but couldn’t, and instead put the transmission in park and applied the emergency brake.

While the deputy was directing traffic, Peters put the truck in gear and sped away, running into the Barrick family’s van. In the time it took for Keller to get back to his vehicle and catch up with Peters, he had already hit the Barricks.

Beers argued that the deputy should have and could have done more to stop Peters and that Gaddy and the state, as his employers, also were liable for his actions.

In his order, Updike ruled that “Deputy Keller did not have a duty to control the conduct of defendant Corey Peters, the allegedly intoxicated driver who subsequently collided with the vehicle in which the plaintiff was traveling.”

The judge noted that Keller never arrested Peters or took him into custody, and that he was trying to direct traffic as the only deputy on the scene when Peters sped away.

Updike ruled that in order for law enforcement to be sued in Virginia, the deputy’s act would have had to be grossly negligent. At best, the judge ruled, Keller’s actions amounted to ordinary negligence.

The judge further ruled that as a sheriff’s deputy, Keller isn’t a state employee. In Updike’s order, he noted that during his own terms as commonwealth’s attorney, he relished the fact that he didn’t work for the state or the county government. Because the people of Campbell County elect Gaddy and Keller worked for Gaddy, the state can’t be sued.

Beers said he’s challenging those decisions to the highest court in the state.

“The next step is filing the petition for appeal, which is a written argument,” he said. “We expect to file that in January.”

Earlier this year, the Barricks agreed to drop their claims against the Peters. James Peters settled with the family for a $2,500 payment to each child. The family claimed the father was partially responsible for the wreck because he sold his son the truck knowing that Corey Peters was an alcoholic, unsafe driver and that his drivers’ license was suspended.

Insurance payments totaled more than $450,000, including $250,000 for the daughter’s medical and attorney costs, according to court records.