Over the past year, our Washington DC personal injury law firm has written about the civil lawsuit between Kathy Wone and Victory Zaborsky, Dylan Ward, and Joseph Price. Wone is the widow of Robert Wone, a Radio Free Asia attorney who was fatally stabbed at the DuPont Circle residence shared by the three men in August 2006.
Although the Zabrosky, Ward, and Price were acquitted of charges of obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and evidence tampering related to Robert’s death (they have always maintained that he was killed by an unknown intruder), Kathy went ahead and pursued the men in civil court. Now, she and the three men have settled the DC wrongful death lawsuit against them for $20 million.
The outcome of this civil case is an example of how even if an acquittal is the outcome of the criminal case, you can still hold the parties that you believe are liable for your loved one’s death in civil court. Granted, a jury might have awarded Kathy a larger monetary sum if she had decided to go to court. However, in an interview that she gave this week Kathy explained that even if the case went to trial, she didn’t think more information would be shed on what happened to her husband (the three defendants had refused to answer a lot of questions that were posed during deposition). She has also decided to start focusing her energy on moving forward with her life and using some of the settlement money to go toward the causes that her husband believed in.
Who killed Robert remains a mystery. However, court documents reveal that it was likely that the then 32-year-old attorney was drugged so that he became paralytic and then sexually assaulted. He was also stabbed in the chest three times.
Wone family settles $20 million lawsuit against three former D.C. roommates, The Washington Post, August 3, 2011
Acquitted, But Not Exonerated, Metro Weekly, July 1, 2010
Related Web Resource:
More Blog Posts:
Judge Refuses to Dismiss Washington DC Wrongful Death Lawsuit in Robert E. Wone Case, Washington DC Injury Lawyer Blog, December 9, 2010
$20 Million Washington DC Wrongful Death Case is Next for Three Men Acquitted of Covering Up Dupont Circle Murder, Washington DC Injury Lawyer Blog, July 19, 2010
$10M Prince George’s County Wrongful Death Lawsuit Seeks Damages Over Man’s Fatal Stabbing, Maryland Accident Law Blog, February 28, 2011