SEATTLE (Legal Newsline) - A man who sued a Washington city because his brother's corpse was filled with tubes for a fire department's training exercise has settled his claims during trial but before he could testify.
The Washington Supreme Court last year allowed Robert Fox to pursue with his case after a Seattle federal judge asked if he could. The question certified to the state Supreme Court involved the tort of "interference with a corpse."
The state Supreme Court said close relatives with substantial contact can also seek damages for emotional distress. A year later, a trial was getting started in the case before a March 29 notification to Judge Robert Lasnik that the case had been settled for confidential terms.
Fox and his brother, Bradley Ginn, had previously lived together then spoke on a weekly basis before Ginn’s death in 2018. The hospital in Bellingham had no space for the body, so the city’s fire department brought it to its station.
Without obtaining permission, it used Ginn’s body for a training exercise. Employees took turns intubating his body approximately 15 times, leading to Fox’s lawsuit in federal court.
His pre-trial brief said each employee involved in performing intubations on Ginn was disciplined, while a division chief was fired. Fox's lawyers planned to put him on the stand to testify regarding his emotional distress.
"Mr. Fox will present evidence in the form of live testimony regarding the significant mental and emotional pain and suffering he experienced, and continues to experience, as a result of the city's repeated desecration of his brother's body on the garage floor of Station 1," the brief said.
"Mr. Fox will testify about the pain and grief caused by learning of the city's conduct through publicly accessible newspaper and online articles.
"Mr. Fox will introduce as evidence the media reports that detailed the horrific nature of what the city employees did to Mr. Fox's deceased brother."