Trayvon Martin wrongful death suit settled

American Thinker ^ | 04/06/2013 | Rick Moran

[SeekAndFind]

A wrongful death suit filed by the parents of black teenager Trayvon Martin who was shot to death by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman has been settled, according to documents filed in a Florida court yesterday.

From Orlando Sentinel:

Trayvon Martin's parents have settled a wrongful-death claim for an amount thought to be more than $1 million against the homeowners association of the Sanford subdivision where their teenage son was killed.

Their attorney, Benjamin Crump, filed that paperwork at the Seminole County Courthouse, a portion of which was made public Friday.

In the five pages of the settlement that were available for public review, the settlement amount had been marked out. Lower in the agreement, the parties specified that they would keep that amount confidential.

When asked during an earlier interview whether the amount was more than $1 million, Crump said: "I have no comment on that subject ... I know you did not get that from me." Trayvon was shot to death by Neighborhood Watch volunteer George Zimmerman at the Retreat at Twin Lakes townhomes in Sanford on Feb. 26, 2012. Zimmerman served as head of the Neighborhood Watch and called police that evening, describing Trayvon as suspicious. He has said the teen attacked him and he fired in self-defense.

The community-association manager, Kent Taylor, did not return phone calls from the Orlando Sentinel about the settlement. Neither did its attorney, Thomas R. Slaten Jr.

Robert Taylor is founding partner of Taylor & Carls P.A., a law firm that represents homeowner associations but has no connection to the Retreat at Twin Lakes.

"When claims are filed, they're filed against anybody who could possibly have any culpability," he said. Trayvon's parents must have concluded that Zimmerman's homeowners association did, he said, thus the claim.

[CharlesWayneCT]

This makes no sense, although maybe I just don’t understand how Florida runs community watch.

In our state, the neighborhood watch is not attached to an HOA, and the HOA would have no liability for the action of a person in the neighborhood watch. And in fact, there are pretty strict rules about the whole NW thing.

Unless the HOA had a policy, and the insurance company decided it was easier to pay up, this makes no sense.

[Uncle Chip]

Frankly I have yet to see any evidence that the HOA settled anything. Ben Crump saying anything is not proof of anything.

He is a proven liar. He filed a document with the court and a short time later it was withdrawn and not available. A copy was said to have been given to the defense but they said that they received no copy.

The Orlando Sentinel says that it has a copy of the settlement papers. Alright — if so — then publish them. Put up or shut up:

“The Sentinel reported on Friday that the settlement amount was crossed out of paperwork filed at the Seminole County Courthouse. Later in the day, the document appeared to have been withdrawn from public view.

“Although a cover page indicated copies of the settlement were given to Zimmerman’s lawyer and the judge presiding over the criminal trial, Vincent told Reuters that the defense team did not receive its copy.”

http://news.yahoo.com/trayvon-martins-family-settles-wrongful-death-claim-report-232428707.html

Crump giveth and Crump taketh away — ....... be the name of DeeDee

[zeestephen]

This tells me that the Martin family’s lawyers think Zimmerman will be found Not Guilty in his upcoming trial.

No way a lawyer would recommend a civil settlement BEFORE the criminal trial has even started.

Unless, of course, the insurance company went all jello in the knees and made some kind of huge offer.

How long before both Mom and Dad blow through their share of the money and declare bankruptcy?

Wagers? Anyone?

[Uncle Chip]

Wagers? Anyone?

I'm more interested in how they will be able to hold up those Trashcans for Trayvon with all that money weighing down their pockets.

At a time when they were crying out "Justice for Trayvon", and begging bucks from widows in black churches, they were filing a suit to extort millions from those who had nothing to do with their son's death.

I suspect that the publicity of this settlement will have a detrimental effect. It will dry up those trashcans and bring a lot of people out of the woodwork who helped pull off this scam and will now want to be paid, because this is all they are going to get. In the hood it's all about the money.

[Lancey Howard]

I suspect the settlement was far less than $1m.

[Uncle Chip]

Parks and Crump from a year ago:

Homeowners could pay in Trayvon Martin killing
Posted April 2, 2012

http://parkscrump.com/homeowners-could-pay-in-trayvon-martin-killing/

[Uncle Chip]

3 days and counting:

http://www.flcourts18.org/PDF/Press_Releases/Letter%20from%20Seminole%20County%20Clerk%20of%20Court.pdf

[Cboldt]

Something is really fishy here. The material was supposed to be confidential for 10 days, but somehow the clerk of the court gave at least a partial copy to the Orlando sentinel, and then the contents were the source of many many many news stories over the next few days.

I think the HOA and Crump have a fairly easy "out" to (cough cough) maintain the confidentiality; which is to file the motion required by the rules (nevermind for a moment that the rules say the material will be kept confidential for ten days, when the material was released to the press already). I think the settlement agreement is in the nature of trade secret, at least it is to the HOA insurer. It takes the judge to agree that it merits confidentiality - contrasted with certain other information that the clerk can find to be confidential.

The court has 30 days to decide, but that's a rules based deadline, and the courts in Florida only follow the rules when it produces the outcome they want. There is no remedy for failure to rule in the 30 days, and Crump and HOA, etc. all want to keep the agreement confidential (cough cough) now that the strategic leak has been completed.

[Uncle Chip]

Yep — it looks like it could be in confidentiality limbo for as long as it is expedient for Crump.

But since the Orlando Sentinel has a copy and has already released some of the information therein, how can they continue to claim confidentiality.

I wonder if O’Mara has his copy yet???

[Cboldt]

I think the goal was to make the existence of a settlement a news item, and that Crump, the Orlando sentinel, and the clerk of the court were all in on the scheme.

Now the clerk can claim simple error, Crump can say (and probably win) that the material is confidential and was not to be released, and Rene Stutzman can just play "simple error by clerk" or "the press is entitled to it" or whatever suits her pro-Martin agenda. There will be no way to prove it was a scheme, but the circumstances add up to it, plain and simple.

How many other confidential filings were copied for the public after one day in the hopper? How come only five pages?

Anyway, from Crump's point of view, mission accomplished. It was news, and he won;t be found in breach of contract to maintain confidentiality.