Dugard's Suit Against Government for 18-year Captivity

BeenaBobba

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According to this article, Jaycee, her mom, and her daughters have filed a claim against the state for the failure to discover Jaycee and her daughters sooner. As the article states, filing a claim usually precedes a lawsuit. I did some brief research on this, and according to CA's Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board, the state will have forty-five days to either approve or reject their claims. If their claims are approved, they would have six months to sue the state; however, if their claims are rejected, they would have two years to sue the state. You can read more on that here.

As I've mentioned in previous threads, a successful outcome can be difficult -- but not impossible -- to obtain when it comes to suing the state or a state governmental agency. IMO, if Jaycee and her family have a lawyer who is willing to work on a pro bono basis, then they have nothing to lose. Of course, we all believe that Jaycee should receive compensation, but does anyone know much about the legal ins and outs involved in filing suit? I don't know much about this apart from what I posted above.
 
i dont know much about the ins and outs of lawsuits, but as long as the state cant claim immunity, jaycee and terry should win.
 
I think they should be suing the feds and/or NV. That's whose jurisdiction PG was supposed to be under when Jaycee was abducted, CA didn't take over until 99. One of his original parole criteria was "said prisoner is to remain with the limits of the District of Nevada until 4/10/2027". Had that been done, just maybe Jaycee would never have been abducted in the first place.
 
I think they should be suing the feds and/or NV. That's whose jurisdiction PG was supposed to be under when Jaycee was abducted, CA didn't take over until 99. One of his original parole criteria was "said prisoner is to remain with the limits of the District of Nevada until 4/10/2027". Had that been done, just maybe Jaycee would never have been abducted in the first place.

imo she should be suing everyone.
 
Well, it seems like her spokeswoman, Nancy Seltzer, is saying that Jaycee and her family have not yet decided whether they'll file suit, but that they're keeping their options open by filing claims. Unfortunately, this article states that "such claims are usually rejected." :(
 
On the other hand, the legal analyst in this article seems to think that they'll almost certainly sue down the line -- and most importantly, that they'll win. From what I've read so far, it seems as though legal analysts are somewhat divided on this.
 
"According to a release from attorneys representing Dugard, she has tried to set up private mediation with Government officials in this matter, but those requests were denied. They filed the lawsuit with the Federal Government because they ultimately had parole supervision responsibility over Phillip Garrido when he was released from jail in 1988 until the State of California assumed responsibility in 1999. It was during this time that Dugard was kidnapped."

"...100% of whatever money she is awarded will be donated to the JAYC Foundation, Inc., which was established to provide support and services for the timely treatment of families recovering from an abduction or trauma."

http://www.fox40.com/news/headlines/ktxl-dugard-files-suit-against-government-20110922,0,1549898.story
 
If they had done their jobs correctly/not fallen for his BS snow job, he wouldn't have been released or would have been re-arrested, and Jaycee could have been spared her ordeal, or found that much sooner than 18 years of torture and hell she endured!!!:banghead::behindbar:mad::furious:
 
If they had done their jobs correctly/not fallen for his BS snow job, he wouldn't have been released or would have been re-arrested, and Jaycee could have been spared her ordeal, or found that much sooner than 18 years of torture and hell she endured!!!:banghead::behindbar:mad::furious:

Another case where helpful "sleuthers" called in tips about strange activity and LE did not take it seriously.
I hope she wins as well, but mostly I hope the attitude of some LE (including and especially probation officers!) changes drastically.
 
I hope she wins that and more! Good for Jaycee in trying to make sure this never happens again! What a class act. If I were her parents, I would go after it as well. Laziness on the D0C cost her 18 years of life.
 
I too hope she wins; She sure does deserve it.

I only hope she did not sign anything when the state gave her 20M.
What if they gave her 20M to avoid a much larger legal battle?
 
Bay City News Service
Posted: 03/15/2016 09:50:19 PM PDT | Updated: about 6 hours ago
A divided U.S. appeals court on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by kidnapping victim Jaycee Dugard against the federal government for failing to supervise her captor when he was on parole from another kidnapping in the years before she was abducted. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said by a 2-1 vote that Dugard could not sue over the alleged failure to supervise Phillip Garrido in the three years before she was kidnapped in 1991 because she was not a "specifically identifiable victim" at the time. Dugard's lawsuit claimed that if federal parole officials had supervised Garrido properly, they would have revoked his parole and sent him back to prison for numerous instances of drug use and other violations, thus making him unable to kidnap her. <snip>
Dugard filed the lawsuit against the federal government in U.S. District Court in San Francisco in 2011. The appeals court majority Tuesday upheld a lower court decision that dismissed the case in 2013.
Circuit Judges Richard Clifton and John Owens said in a brief ruling that parole officials can be sued for failing to carry out their duties only by people who were identifiable victims at the time of the alleged failure.
Judge William Smith, a federal district judge from Rhode Island temporarily assigned to the appeals court, said in a 29-page dissent that parole officials' duty should extend to victims who are foreseeable, even if not specifically identifiable.
Establishing such a legal duty would promote "greater care, vigilance, and concern for the safety of foreseeable victims," Smith wrote.
Dugard could appeal for further review by an 11-judge panel of the circuit court. Jonathan Steinsapir, a lawyer for Dugard, said he could not comment on the ruling or on whether a further appeal is planned.
Separately, Dugard received a $20 million settlement from the state of California in 2010 for failures in the state parole supervision between 1999 and 2009.

more at link: http://www.contracostatimes.com/bre...misses-jaycee-dugard-lawsuit-alleging-federal
 
This is sad. Sad that he wasn't watched more closely and that her case was dismissed. And perhaps sad that the criminal justice system didn't take the other kidnapping seriously enough to put him away forever, instead choosing to release him early!

I can understand the ruling but it doesn't mean I like it. If her case moved forward you'd in essence be opening up the government to lawsuits from anyone who becomes the victim of someone on pretrial release or probation. And then are we stopping at just the probation officers? What about the judges who could have given longer sentences or ordered stricter conditions of probation? What if the probation office asked for the probation to be revoked but a judge decided to give the guy another chance? Can you sue the judge? It's a huge uphill battle to get judges to agree that people can sue judiciary employees, which probation officers are, much less sue other judges.

I haven't read anything about this prior to now but I wonder if they know he failed probation drug tests, how many times and how much of that probation reported to the court. I think the general public presumes that if someone on probation fails a drug test that they are returned to prison ,but my experience over the years of court dealings is that people on probation get many, many chances before anything really happens to them.
 
My reaction to this story is:
Good God! Give this woman anything she wants. Because she knows what happened and how she could have been found earlier. She lived it. She survived it. She wants to make it better for any other victims like her. What incredible strength she has.
 

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