TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Legal Newsline) - As a COVID wrongful death lawsuit progress in Florida, the plaintiff's stance is that putting a dollar amount on the loss of her mother can't be done.
Quest Management Group last month filed a motion to force Sunetta Edwards to give better answers to severa of its interrogatories, served in July. Sunetta is representing the estate of Theresa Edwards, who contracted COVID-19 in April 2020 while a resident at Tallahassee Development Center.
The defendant asked for a claimed value or damage sustained by each survivor or personal representative.
"Plaintiff is unsure how to answer this question as it ambiguous and confusing; however, as a result of the Defendant's negligence, Plaintiff lost her mother of which placing a value on her life is impossible," plaintiffs lawyers wrote.
That wasn't the answer Quest was looking for, and its motion defined the word "survivors on the Florida Wrongful Death Act.
"(T)he answer is deficient, unresponsive and a non-answer," the motion says.
Much of the other "better" answers Quest seek involve the value of Theresa Edwards' life. It is trying to figure out her highest level of education (plaintiffs lawyers said she attended college but didn't earn a degree, but they also failed to say which college) and her work history.
Sunetta filed suit in Leon County Circuit Court in February 2021. She said despite multiple affirmations at the national level that the COVID-19 virus was a public health crisis, the defendants issued a formal written mandate forbidding staff from wearing face masks in March 2020.
Shortly after, the outbreak of 70 positive COVID tests at TDC occurred. Theresa Edwards contracted COVID-19 in early April and passed away April 25, the suit says.
A subsequent OSHA investigation found the defendants to have intentionally ignored the risks of COVID-19, failed to implement a mitigation plan and neglected employees' and residents' safety by prohibiting face masks, the suit says.
Edwards is represented by Amber Hall Law, PLLC, of Tallahassee.
Justin Hales and Joshua Canton at Conroy Simberg represent the defendant.