News - Local News

POSTED: Thursday, Jul. 02, 2009

Trial coverage: Lawsuit from Bellingham teen's 2006 death now in jury's hands

The lawyers could agree on this much - George Tsimouris, who died in a 2006 car crash in Bellingham, was an extraordinary boy whose death was avoidable.

But they couldn't agree on much else as they gave closing arguments to a jury Thursday, July 2, in the trial of a lawsuit stemming from Tsimouris' death.

The eight-woman, four-man jury began deliberating Thursday afternoon in Whatcom County Superior Court. They will continue deliberations Monday morning.

Tsimouris, then 14, was killed in a car crash on a narrow, hilly stretch of 30th Street south of Old Fairhaven Parkway on Feb. 20, 2006.

Tsimouris was in the back seat of a Volkswagen Golf and was joyriding with five other teenagers when the 16-year-old driver lost control of the car at more than 80 mph. It went airborne and crashed.

Tsimouris' mother, Vicki Kapellakis, sued the driver and the owners of the car, Steven and Simone Hathaway, in September 2006. The lawsuit finished a 10-day trial Thursday.

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

The jury is tasked to determine whose actions caused the crash, if those actions were negligent and if any damages should be awarded.

The jury can assign negligence to the Hathaways and five of the teenagers in the car, including Tsimouris. The driver has already admitted negligence.

Robert Mahler, an attorney for Kapellakis, told the jury not to assign negligence to the teenagers because they were too young to accept the risks produced by their decisions to ride in the car and encourage the driver to go faster on 30th Street.

Mahler said the Hathaways' negligence was most to blame for the crash. The Hathaways' son, Garrett, testified that he asked his mom to drive him and his friends to toilet paper a house the night of the crash.

She refused, Garrett Hathaway testified, and told him to get his sister, who was dating the driver, to get him a ride. Simone Hathaway gave them $20 for the toilet paper and told them to go to the house but return immediately after that. They did not, and instead went to 30th Street to joyride.

"This was an absolute recipe for tragedy," Mahler said. "If the Hathaways were acting as responsible parents that day, George Tsimouris would still be alive. The Hathaways are responsible because they set the wheels in motion."

David Hennings, the driver's attorney, told the jury to assign negligence to every teenager in the car because none of them told the driver to slow down or asked him to stop.

They took two trips up and down 30th Street, and crashed near the end of the second trip, Hennings said. After the first trip, the teenagers told the driver he wasn't going fast enough.

"Make everyone in that car responsible," Hennings said. "Every single person in that car encouraged that activity."

John Murphy, the Hathaways' attorney, defended his clients' parenting and said the teenagers' parents trusted the Hathaways. Tsimouris and Garrett Hathaway had been friends since kindergarten.

"Mothers trusted her to have their children to go over to their house," Murphy said. "In George's case, since kindergarten there had been that trust. Simone Hathaway's actions spoke louder than her words for many, many, many years."

Murphy blamed the crash on the driver's reckless behavior.

"(His) driving caused George's death," Murphy said. "If (he) had kept his agreement with Mrs. Hathaway, we would not be here today."