News - Local News

POSTED: Thursday, Jun. 25, 2009

Trial coverage: Lawsuit from Bellingham teen's 2006 death starts trial

BELLINGHAM - A wrongful death lawsuit that resulted from a 2006 car crash that killed a Bellingham teenager started trial in Whatcom County Superior Court this week.

George Tsimouris, 14, was in the backseat of a Volkswagen Golf while joyriding with five other teenagers on the narrow, hilly stretch of 30th Street south of Old Fairhaven Parkway in Bellingham on Feb. 20, 2006.

The driver, then 16, was driving at night at speeds between 70 and 85 mph when he lost control of the car, killing Tsimouris and seriously injuring three other passengers. The street's posted speed limit was 25 mph.

Tsimouris' mother and the parents of two of the other teenagers in the back seat, Cody Jacobson and Louis Burrell III, sued the driver and the owners of the car, Steven and Simone Hathaway, in September 2006.

The Bellingham Herald does not publish the names of juveniles tried in juvenile court, as the driver was.

The lawsuit alleges that the driver was negligent because he was going too fast on a road he knew to be dangerous.

It alleges the Hathaways were negligent because they entrusted the car to the teen despite knowing he was a reckless driver.

Before the accident, Jacobson told Simone Hathaway that the boy had driven on the wrong side of the road to get around slower cars, which prompted her to tell the boys they would not drive with him again, according to the plaintiffs' trial brief.

The driver's attorney countered in a trial brief that the teen was encouraged to drive on 30th Street and none of the passengers wanted him to stop, making them all culpable for the accident that resulted.

The Hathaways' attorney argued that the teenagers in the back seat voluntarily accepted the risk of crashing when they encouraged the teen to drive recklessly.

The trial began Monday, June 22, and continued Wednesday with testimony from the driver and Tsimouris' older brother, Emmanuel.

The driver testified that he was at the Hathaways' house near Lake Padden when one boy asked them to drive three of his friends to a classmate's house so they could cover it in toilet paper.

The driver testified Simone Hathaway gave them money for the toilet paper and told them to go to the house but to return immediately after that.

Before returning to the Hathaways' house, the teen drove the others to 30th Street, where they began speeding.

The driver said the boys yelled for him to go faster and didn't want to leave the car.

Emmanuel Tsimouris told the jury the accident has profoundly impacted his family.

"George was the nicest person I ever met," Emmanuel said. "It was probably one of the hardest days of my life. My mother has completely changed. Our relationship will never be the same."

The trial is scheduled to last 10 days and continues Thursday.