Posted on 02/22/2005 1:40:21 AM PST by csvset
As part of settlement, parents of drunk driver agree to move
By MICHELLE WASHINGTON, The Virginian-Pilot
© February 22, 2005
Last updated: 11:39 PM
NORFOLK — Reminders of her son’s death lurk everywhere for Donna Chambers.
She cries at the grocery store when she sees Landon’s favorite kind of Pop-Tarts . More tears come at the mailbox when letters from colleges arrive addressed to him.
Sometimes, just driving through her neighborhood, she must pass the house of the drunken driver who killed her son.
But not for much longer.
As part of the settlement of the Chambers family’s lawsuits against Roy Lee Everett and his parents, Frank and Teresa Everett, the Everetts will sell their home and move out of the neighborhood where both families live.
“It’s just too close,” Chambers said last week. “That can’t happen soon enough for me.”
The Everetts have until April to move and until July to sell their house on Azalea Garden Road.
The families reached a settlement in December through mediation. The final orders in the lawsuits were entered in Norfolk Circuit Court last month.
Chambers’ son Landon, 16, died in a wreck in May 2003, when Roy Lee Everett crashed his pickup into the small car Landon rode in, driven by his older brother, Barney.
Everett, who had several previous DUI convictions, fled the scene but was stopped by people who saw the wreck. He was driving a truck owned by his mother, Teresa Everett.
Roy Lee Everett later pleaded guilty to DUI and involuntary manslaughter and is serving 14 years in prison.
State legislators toughened DUI laws for repeat offenders after Everett’s case and a series of other high-profile drunken driving wrecks.
The Chamberses sued Everett’s parents because they let him drive the truck even though they knew his license was suspended because of the prior drunken driving offenses, the lawsuits said. The truck he drove bore a fake inspection sticker.
The settlement calls for the Chamberses to receive limits from an insurance policy and $271,000 from Everett’s parents. In addition, the Everetts will pay for Landon’s funeral expenses and will make other payments to his younger brother, Kyle.
Allen Beasley, the attorney for Frank and Teresa Everett, said his clients thought the settlement was fair.
“It prevented both sides from having to talk about the case in court and re-experiencing the pain and anguish on both sides,” he said.
Donna Chambers struggled to keep her composure as she talked about her life since the wreck. Just looking at Landon’s picture made her cry.
“Our life has been a mess,” she said.
Landon had made all-star baseball teams and was always throwing a ball in the driveway, she said.
Now her youngest son, Kyle, won’t play baseball.
Landon had loved to look in her jewelry box at his grandfather’s wedding ring, given to Landon by his grandmother when her husband died. Landon had been named for him.
“He was very proud of that,” Chambers said. She buried her son with the ring.
Donna Chambers said she knows she can’t stay unhappy, that she has to move on for her sons.
The Everetts’ move will help, she said. But she still will return to a home without her son.
“We have a quiet house now, and it’s never been quiet, ever,” she said.
Reach Michelle Washington at 446-2287 or michelle.washington @pilotonline.com.
OH - I'm aware of the law. It's the law that I don't agree with. I firmly believe that the definition of murder (and the possibility of capitol punishment) should be expanded.
I checked, Everette was 30 years old. How the F do you sue the parents of a 30 year old for something the 30 year old did? I would have told the Chambers to a freakin' hike.
If you're really that hung up on semantics. Most states classify what used to be called manslaughter as criminally negligent homicide.
I thought that this arrangement was strange to say the least.
bump
Maybe because the parents owned the vehicle....
IT's not the semantics that I am hung up on. It's the fact that people who kill other people are killers - particularly when they made the decision that resulted in the death.
If a family member is shot to death in a robbery attempt, are they any more dead than the family member killed by a repeat offender drunk driver? No. And both hypothetical dead people were killed by someone's DECISION. And in my opinion (not worth much, apparently) both are murderers who deserve the maximum.
If they litigated, the victim's family could've got MUCH more. This was an agreed-upon mediation settlement. The parents opted for this instead of what could have been... probably a smart choice.
Well, I guess you're titled to your opinion. I can't say that it makes a great deal of sense, but it's yours to keep.
I bet you are right. As a headline, it sounds pretty mean, but you have more common sense than I do.
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