Lawsuit against victims dismissed

Justine Winter’s lawsuit against the estate of a woman she killed in a highway crash has been dismissed.

Winter, 18, who was convicted Feb. 3 of two counts of deliberate homicide for causing the crash, had filed the lawsuit in July 2010.

Flathead District Judge Katherine Curtis signed off on the dismissal Wednesday after Winter’s attorney Maxwell Battle had initiated the process Feb. 4.

Following a nine-day trial, a District Court jury found that Winter was responsible for the deaths of 35-year-old Erin Thompson and her 13-year-old son Caden Vincent Odell.

Winter’s Pontiac Grand AM crossed the center of U.S. 93 near Church Drive on the night of March 19, 2009, and crashed into Thompson’s Subaru Forester at a speed of up to 85 miles per hour, according to testimony.

The crash came only minutes after Winter sent text messages to her boyfriend in which she threatened suicide and crashing her car.

Winter’s attorneys had sought to prove, both in the civil lawsuit and criminal trial, that Thompson had crossed into Winter’s lane and therefore was responsible for the crash.

Several crash reconstructionists dismissed that theory during the trial, a fact that Battle noted in his motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also alleged that Western Traffic Control — the company in charge of construction on the stretch of highway where the crash occurred — was negligent in failing to properly mark the roadway and erect signs.

Battle requested that the lawsuit be dismissed on behalf of Winter, who is currently being held in the Flathead County Detention Center awaiting sentencing April 12.

The lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice, meaning Winter retains her right to seek civil damages in the future.

“Dismissal without prejudice is appropriate because if an appeal is successfully taken on the conviction, the statute of limitations will not have expired and [Winter] may wish to pursue her civil remedies at that time,” Battle wrote, according to court documents.

Attorneys for Western Traffic Control and Thompson’s estate each filed responses to Battle’s request in which they voiced no objections to the dismissal.

Winter, who was tried as an adult, faces between 10 years and 100 years in Montana State Prison for each count of deliberate homicide.

Reporter Eric Schwartz may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at eschwartz@dailyinterlake.com.