Vick Wrongful Death Lawsuit Settled
A lawsuit for the wrongful death of toddler is settled for $300,000. Tuesday El Paso County Commissioners accepted the recommendation of staff to settle the lawsuit because the risks of going to litigation were unacceptably high.
“I think the amount that was paid out is a fairly accurate damage award for the pain and suffering that the child endured,” said El Paso County Attorney William Louis. “But with a jury, you never know. Given the evidence that is in this case it is possible that an angry jury could have returned a higher amount.”
Ashley Lindenberger filed the lawsuit after her biological daughter, Alize Vick, died at the hands of foster mother Jules Lynn Cuneo.
“For a foster parent to kill a child, this is just not something we’ve seen,” said El Paso County’s Director of Human Services Rick Bengtsson.
In February 2010 Cuneo was found guilty of reckless manslaughter in Alize’s death, after throwing the toddler into a coffee table in October 2007. Cuneo will be sentenced in April and is facing up to 60 years in prison.
“The evidence in this case was highly unusual in that we had a specific audio recording that documented abuse against this unfortunate child,” said El Paso County Attorney William Louis.
Alize’s death prompted criticism over Colorado’s foster care system. The El Paso County Department of Human Services has made changes to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again. “We can’t go back and re-do what happened, but we can go forward and make changes to our policies and procedures,” said Clark.
When Alize was killed, her brother was also in Cuneo’s care. Custody of both children was taken from Lindenberger. “In this case the family itself, the mother, the father, the grandmother, the grandfather all had criminal backgrounds, and so she couldn’t stay with them,” said County Commissioner Sallie Clark. “The grandfather was a registered sex offender. You just, you can’t do that.”
Ashleigh Lindenberger told NEWSCHANNEL 13 that she did serve prison time on drug charges, but she is trying to get on with her life and do things differently now. She said she originally asked for a $700,000 settlement. She agreed the lower amount of $300,000 to protect her personal life. She didn’t want her past to be put on trial.
Lindenberger did win back custody of her son, who is now three years old. She also has a seven-month old daughter.