A wrongful death suit filed against the Cherokee County Sheriff Jeff Shaver, Investigator Josh Summerford and Investigator Brent Snead back in January of this year has been dismissed, according to court documents obtained by WEIS Radio News.
The suit was filed by the mother of a Centre man killed back in 2016 alleging among other things the wrongful death of her son.
32 year old Daniel Leon Porter of Centre was killed in September of 2016 when a hydraulic grain bin crushed him at a location on County Road 14 in Ellisville.
The suit filed named Cherokee County Shaver Jeff Shaver, Josh Summerford who at the time was Chief Investigator, Investigator Brent Snead who serves as the evidence custodian and those person/persons or entities that caused or allowed the “bottle jack” to be “lost, stolen, destroyed and/or otherwise spoilated” as Defendants
The suit claimed that the Defendants were all served with and signed for or acknowledged receipt of Evidence Spoliation and Retention letters from the Counsel of the Plantiff while the jack was in the possession of Sheriff Shaver, Summerford and Snead.
According to court documents, in spite of such notice, the defendants allowed the jack to be obtained or returned to Terry Law, Ryan Law or Jack May and/or T.L. Trucking in violation of Alabama Spoliation Law. Court documents say that the jack was “lost, destroyed, spoliated and/or stolen while in their custody and that they failed to notify the Plaintiff.
The Plantif’s in the case were asking for judgment of $10 million for compensatory and punitive damages for pain/suffering and mental anguish for herself, herself as the Administrator of the Estate and the Estate and the wrongful damage and loss done to the jack, the evidence, the Wrongful Death Lawsuit and its’ value, plus the cost of action.
Cherokee County Circuit Judge Shaunathan Bell dismissed the suit based upon Article 14 Immunity filed by the Defendants. Article I, Section 14 of the Alabama Constitution states that Sheriff’s and their deputies are absolutely immune from civil suits for damages.