NASCAR: Stewart Files Motion To Have Several Claims Against Him Dismissed
Three-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart is still dealing with the fallout of the accident that took the life of Kevin Ward Jr. back in 2014. This week Stewart filed a motion to have several of the claims against him dismissed.
The next step in the wrongful death lawsuit against former NASCAR driver Tony Stewart will come on April 18th when a mediation hearing is scheduled. After actions by Stewart and his legal team this week, we now know that the next step after the mediation hearing will come on April 28th.
This week Stewart and his legal team filed a motion to have several of the claims in the wrongful death lawsuit against him thrown out. The hearing for that motion will be on April 28th, just 10 days after the already scheduled mediation session.
The filing by Stewart and his team has a lot to do with the legal waivers that Kevin Ward Jr. signed in order to be able to compete in the race on that fateful evening. According to the filing, Stewart has asked for the claims of negligence, wrongful death, and terror pain and suffering prior to death to be dismissed. The logic here is that Stewart has maintained from the beginning that he did nothing wrong or intentional and that the accident was the cause of Ward’s own actions. The claims of terror pain and suffering prior to death also come into question given the fact that Ward approached the car, was under the influence of drugs and according to medical reports died almost immediately after impact.
A recent report by Bob Pockrass of ESPN.com, contains quotes from court filings from both Stewart’s expert team that reconstructed the crash as well as a signed police statement from a track worker who was 50-75 feet away from the accident.
According to the crash reconstruction by Stewart’s team of experts, there would have been no time for Stewart to realize that the person on the track was Ward and make the decision to try to hit him to go towards him. This of course is the centerpiece for the lawsuit against Stewart as the Ward family maintains that Stewart not only saw their son on the track, but he knew It was him and he intended to either hit him or make an aggressive move towards him in an effort to intimidate him.
"A crash reconstruction report by Scientific Expert Analysis, done for Stewart, stated that Stewart had at most 1.4 seconds to react to seeing Ward on the track, and that “Stewart simply did not have enough time to react to Mr. Ward’s unpredictable actions and successfully avoid hitting him.”Ward was hit by Stewart’s right rear tire. Stewart’s car was going approximately 40-42 mph at the time and his experts say he did not swerve to hit Ward.“Had Mr. Stewart maneuvered his car to go up track, Mr. Ward would have been contacted by the front right wheel or front of the right rear tire guard,” according to the SEA report."
Additional information in regards to the case is also available to the public for the first time in the form of the Ontario County Sheriff’s Office report on Ward’s death. It’s in that report that depositions from medical personnel that were on the scene confirmed that Ward never was breathing nor did he regain consciousness after the accident. This information is important because Stewart is trying to get the courts to drop the claim of terror pain and suffering prior to death. Having medical evidence on his side that Ward never began breathing again or was awake following the impact could help him win that part of his motion.
Also available in the report are the statements from the Ward family and their belief that Stewart’s actions were intentional. Pamela Ward alludes to the fact that Stewart’s actions were not only to hurt Ward but also his (Stewart’s) ex-girlfriend who was friends with her son and also racing in the event that night.
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It’s worth noting that the burden of proof in a legal case as compared to a civil case is far less. While Stewart was cleared of any legal wrong-doing a couple of years ago, it’s possible that he could be found responsible in the civil lawsuit. After the scheduled motion hearing on April 28th there are currently no other dates set in regards to the lawsuit, at the time of this writing a trial date hasn’t been set either.