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It's Unusual, But Family Picks Change Over Money
Gertrude Pruckmayr, with son, Gregory Pruckmayr, filed a suit against the District after her daughter, Bettina Pruckmayr, was killed in 1995 by a convicted murderer out on parole. It called for an investigation, not money.
(By Rick Bowmer -- The Washington Post)
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A D.C. inspector general's report later blamed firefighters, emergency workers, police and hospital personnel for an "unacceptable chain of failure" and demanded improved training, communication and supervision.
Rosenbaum's family, according to legal experts, had the potential to win millions of dollars if it had pursued a negligence case. Under the terms of the settlement with the city, the city will establish a task force to examine the agency. A family member will sit on the panel.
In a telephone interview, Marcus Rosenbaum, the slain journalist's brother, said the family has never been interested in monetary damages as an end in itself.
"When you lose your brother, you don't see dollar signs and say, 'Oh boy I can really cash in on this,' " he said. "To me, the important thing was safety, changing the way things work in this city. I live here, and I want everyone in the city to feel safe."
However, Rosenbaum pointed out that, as part of the agreement, the family could reinstate the lawsuit at any time during the next year if it does not believe the District is making sufficient changes.
The family's claim against Howard University Hospital alleges that Rosenbaum waited for more than 90 minutes before he was seen by a hospital physician and nearly four hours before receiving a neurological examination.
The Rosenbaums are not the first to seek reform instead of financial gain.
In 1995, Bettina Pruckmayr, a 26-year-old human rights lawyer, was stabbed to death by Leo Gonzales Wright, a convicted murderer out on parole. Instead of seeking monetary damages, Pruckmayr's parents filed a lawsuit demanding an investigation into why Wright had been paroled and into the failures of the agencies charged with monitoring him.
Less than a year later, the D.C. inspector general issued a 47-page report contending that Pruckmayr would not have died if the city's criminal justice system had performed its job.
Scott Flicker, the attorney who represented Pruckmayr's parents, said the Pruckmayrs never expressed interest in a monetary settlement while filing their lawsuit.
Although he said he never discussed their motivation with them, Flicker said he suspects that the couple "didn't want it to be characterized as being about money. Someone can always question the motives of someone who's trying to make change if there's money at the end of the road," he said.
