The Estate of Melinda Duckett Sues Nancy Grace, Producers & CNN For Wrongful Death
Attorneys representing the Estate of Melinda Duckett are suing Nancy Grace and her producers for inflicting emotional distress on Melinda Duckett that resulted in her taking her own life.
The attorneys say Duckett killed herself just hours after being questioned, some say grilled, on the show by Grace over the disappearance of Melinda’s 2-year-old son Trenton Duckett. Melinda committed suicide one day after being grilled by Nancy Grace as to whether she killed her missing son, Trenton Duckett.
The lawsuit is expected to be filed Tuesday, and alleges that Grace and the news network inflicted emotional distress on Duckett. Josh Duckett, Melinda’s estranged husband, is also named in the suit. (Central Florida News)
The lawyer that represents the Estate of Melinda Duckett, Jay Paul Deratany, states that Nancy Grace encouraged Melinda Duckett to come on ‘The Nancy Grace Show’ saying “the goal was to draw public attention to help find the boy”.
“It’s not just about the questioning. It’s about the misrepresentation with the knowledge that she was emotionally distraught,” Deratany said. The attorney said Grace improperly took on the role of a law enforcement officer.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. (CBS News)
See copy of the complaint filed here at the Smoking Gun.
Desratany says that was a misrepresentation of fact and that the real intentions became quickly apparent as soon as the interview began.
Please note that Jay Paul Deratany, attorney representing the Estate of Melinda Duckett will be a guest of Dana Pretzer on Scared Monkey’s radio Friday, November 24 at 9:00 EDT.
“We’ve alleged that Nancy Grace and her producers deliberately misrepresented the reasons for wanting Melinda on the show.
Within minutes of Melinda’s phone interview, it became quite obvious that Nancy’s questions weren’t about finding Trenton at all, but rather about impliedly accusing Melinda of murdering her beloved son.” (FOX News)
Melinda Duckett Estate Sues Nancy Grace
Talk show host Nancy Grace, her producers, and C-N-N are named in a wrongful death suit being filed today. Melinda Duckett committed suicide in September, shortly after an aggressive questioning episode on Grace’s T-V show. Kara Skorupa is the attorney for the Duckett estate. Grace repeated asked Duckett about her missing son. Skorupa says it was so aggressive it may have helped lead Melinda Duckett to kill herself. (AM850)
Grace should pay for ‘ambush,’ say boy’s grandparents
The parents of Melinda Duckett will file suit today in Lake County against CNN Headline News talk-show host Nancy Grace, accusing the ex-prosecutor of pushing their daughter to suicide with an insensitive, fist-pounding TV interview.
The wrongful-death lawsuit accuses Grace and her producers of luring the young mother onto the show by misrepresenting their intentions to find her missing 2-year-old son, Trenton.
“I believe it to be an ambush,” South Florida lawyer Kara Skorupa said. She provided a copy of the nine-page complaint and said it would be filed today in Circuit Court in Tavares.The lawsuit, which claims intentional infliction of emotional distress, seeks an undisclosed amount of monetary and punitive damages from Grace and Cable News Network. (Orlando Sentinel)
UPDATE: Lockport Couple Sues CNN Journalist
Although this may not be criminal it certainly is bad form and is probably one of the biggest determining factors why the family of Melinda Duckett may have gone forward with this law suit. The Nancy Grace Show had to have known that Melinda Duckett was dead when they aired the previously recorded interview. Then they continues to show it over and over in the following months.
Her parents in Lockport were outraged by the talk show hosts harsh, accusatory line of questioning. The segment aired just hours after her death.
Melinda’s father, Jerry Eubank: “It was 3-4 hours after I heard that Mindy died and I’m watching this woman banging the table, and screaming about why aren’t you telling us this, I mean she was judge, jury and executioner.”
Melinda’s mother, Beth Eubank: “She physically makes me ill. The night she aired the show on September 8th, it was less than four hours since Mindy’s death, family members had not even been notified.” (WIVB 4)