how is it when, some one breaks into your house in middle of night, or day for that matter, they attempt to harm you and or family, you shot them, they die, and their family can sue you for wrongful death. even tho they died committing a crime. in Ohio, you can use deadly force, but the family of the dead one, can sue you for wrongful death. i have a friend whom this happened to. his gun is legal, he has concealed carry permit, was in his house, in bed asleep. this man lost every thing he worked 45 years for. how can this be like that? any ideas on how to stop wrongful death suits in act of committing a crime?

Make sure you fire a warning shot before actally shooting the person. ;)

Dawn

Anybody can sue anyone for any reason in just about any state. That is why.

It doesn't make it right, but that is why.

I personally think the "lawsuit" bandwagon has gotten totally out of control. You can basically sue anyone for anything now. You trip over your own feet and break an arm, NO WORRIES, sue the company that made your shoes. Not saying that every frivilous lawsuit is awarding the idiots that are filing, but it is still costing the tax payers money.

There are definitely instances that a lawsuit is the way to go. For instance, a friend of mine in high school was rear ended and his car exploded. The insurance company of the driver that hit him took care of what they were supposed to. The driver of the other car sat outside his hospital room for days, worrying he had killed this young man. The young man's family sued the manafacturing company of the vehicle due to the fuel tank not having sufficient protection during the impact. The family sued for an amount to cover the medical procedures that he would need for the rest of his life. They didn't sue for some outrageous amount. Once he turned 18, he was able to provide for himself. (He lost 7 of his 10 fingers)

I wish I could come up with something to protect the innocent people that are affected by these lawsuits such as your friend. Not only does he have to live with the fact that he shot a man (justly I add) but now his has to lose everything due to the CRIMINALS family. Sickening!!!

In TX, while I suppose a lawsuit for wrongful death may be filed in a situation such as this (although, really, I will have to look at the statutes to see if there are not limitations in place that prevent such a suit) there is an affirmative defense to the suit.

§ 83.001. AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE. It is an affirmative
defense to a civil action for damages for personal injury or death
that the defendant, at the time the cause of action arose, was
justified in using deadly force under Section 9.32, Penal Code,
against a person who at the time of the use of force was committing
an offense of unlawful entry in the habitation of the defendant.


Heck, TX just passed the law that if someone breaks into your home, you don't have to attempt to escape or ask a question before you can shoot to kill.

There was just a case a couple of weeks ago here in Dallas where a man (who was extremely drunk and having a possible reaction to medication) was banging on another guy's door. The homeowner shot through the door (and thought he was aiming high to avoid actually hitting someone) and killed him. The drunk guy was taller than average and was shot in the head. No criminal charges for the homeowner.

I heard about something similar to that not too long ago. What are you suppose to look at the criminal and ask, "Why are you in my house and what are your intentions?" I live in the boonies and have children. You let someone come to my door or in my house, they will not leave walking. I will protect my family and deal with the consequenses later. If the family of the criminal wants to bring a civil lawsuit against me, they will only get debt and maybe a kid or 2 or 3. ;)

HWJ, there must be more to the facts than what you have posted. No lawyer in their right mind is going to take the case based on the facts you have posted. Wrongful death cases are always going to be contingent fee cases. No win means no fee. There must have been some kind of facts that gave rise to some negligence on the part of the shooter, or else there would be no lawsuit. Lawyers don't go around filing suits without any facts to back them up, contrary to popular, or at least Republican, belief. Why would a lawyer waste his time and money on a contingent fee lawsuit that he knows is frivolous? Here is a little secret of the profession---we don't. We are smarter than that, folks.

Having said all that, I cannot see a jury of ordinary law-abiding citizens ruling favorably for the family of a man who was killed under the facts you posted--while breaking into someone's house. If a jury gives an award under those facts, then those jurors are in la-la land.

Why does he have to lose anything? Did he not have homeowner's insurance? They should be defending him and paying any award.

he only had fire and flood ins. and he had to sell his possessions to pay his attorney, his ins. said he did not have proper coverage for this. like lighting striking house, that an act of god. negligence, he left his door open, that seemed to be an open invite.

Good grief. That extra fact---leaving the door open---is what has prompted the negligence allegation and triggered the lawsuit. But if the guy he shot had no legitimate business being on the property, he still cannot validly enter the house even if the door is open. He is dead now, so we cannot ask him why he came in. I would say that by coming in, he was contributorily negligent.

In most states, simply crossing the threshold of the door where you do not belong constitutes the common law crime of "breaking and entering" regardless of your intentions. If you intend to commit a felony inside the structure, then it is the additional crime of "burglary." The "breaking" does not mean you broke a window, it means you broke the plane of the doorway or window and entered where you had not been invited.

Your friend is indeed getting a raw deal. But his situation also serves to remind us of something else important--you need to make sure you have purchased insurance to cover all possible risks, so you don't end up with a catastrophic loss that is not covered by insurance. I am surprised that he was able to buy a policy that carved out from coverage the homeowner's allegedly negligent acts. In many states that would not be possible, as negligence coverage is required as part of the standard homeowners' policy.

But still, leaving the door open is not a reasonable, legitimate invitation to anyone unknown to the owner who has no business on the property. A criminal cannot absolve himself from his crime by taking advantage of the vulnerability created by the victim. That is like saying that old people deserve to get beaten and robbed because they are too frail to run away.

And in NC, if you leave your door open and a stranger comes in and you feel threatened, I think you are legally justified in using deadly force to protect yourself and your family. I suspect that is the law everywhere in the US. So the dead guy's negligence of coming into a place where he did not belong proximately caused his death. I hope your friend wins that lawsuit.

you are correct there bob. we all hope and pray for the best. the truth of the matter, Ohio's self defense laws do need work. it has came a long way over the past few years tho. the self defense laws is one big thing i miss about living in my birth state, Kentucky. in Ohio you have the duty to retreat, leave the area of trouble before using deadly force, just in the past few years they deleted that for when you are in your home in a room where there is no way out. but in trade for not having to retreat in your own home, the perpetrator's family can sue. we are waiting to see what happens.

Laws in GA not so recently passed include the right to use deadly force upon your own property to protect life or property. Used to be if you shot someone on the stoop you had to drag em inside but not anymore. Just being on the property uninvited is reason enough to avoid the civil and criminal suits. Shoot in the city Kennesaw, GA there is an ordinance that to legally reside there you must own and have on the premises of a private residence at least one firearm. Kennesaw has one of the lowest crime rates in the state if not the nation.