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The wrongful death suit against the city of Tacoma, Pierce county and the state of Washington has been dismissed by Superior Court Judge J. Wesley Saint Clair. The family of Zina Linnik was a Hilltop girl that was kidnapped and then murdered four years ago by a sex offender. The family of Zina brought the suit on the allegations that the county and state negligently supervised Terapon Adhahn after he was convicted of a sex crime, and also allegations that the city mishandled the issuance of Zina’s Amber Alert on the Forth of July in 2007 when Terapon took her.

Some of the issues that were raised during the lawsuit are the fact that the Tacoma Police spokesman fell back asleep instead of issuing the Amber Alert for Zina. This is what directed the former Tacoma City Manager to discipline the Police Chief and had an outside investigation done on how Zina’s death was handled by police. The family of Zina is planning on appealing the ruling by Judge Saint Clair but was not surprised by it. The lawyer for Zina’s family said that there were two important parts to this case; we wanted expose the momentous errors and oversights that lead to the little girl dying. This we have accomplished. The other is we want to change the laws concerning the different agencies and the duties they have to protect the children and the public. To accomplish this there needs to be a higher duty of care created for Child Protective Services (CPS) and for law enforcement. The family’s lawyer said the Judges ruling did not address the negligence of the different administrations but addressed if they had a legal duty to protect the little girl. The prosecutor who represented the county said that if cities were legally responsible for all crimes that happened under their command then they would not do anything out a fear of liability. He understood the fact that they are going through a great pain and that they would want to find everyone they could share that pain with but this is not a foundation for a lawsuit.

If you or someone you know has lost a loved one to tragic circumstances call our Toledo, Ohio wrongful death attorneys at 800.637.8170 for a free case evaluation or to request your free copy of The Ohio Wrongful Death Book.