Pensacola, FL – Michael Haggard and Christopher Marlowe have settled the negligent security wrongful death lawsuits involving the abduction and murder of 12-year-old Naomi Jones.
Claims against the principal defendant, the management company of the Pensacola apartment complex where she was abducted, were resolved under confidential terms.
The lawsuit against the owner of the apartment complex was resolved for policy limits of $2,000,000.
Shantara Hurry, Jones’ mother, hopes the impact of these civil cases will send a message to other apartment complex owners and managers to improve their standards of monitoring who is living or visiting a property. She says “Nothing will ever make my family whole again, but I hope that the result of this legal action will stop another family from suffering the horrible tragedy my loved ones and I still live with today.”
Naomi Jones was abducted from the Aspen Village apartments on May 31, 2017, by a registered sex offender who was living at the complex with his girlfriend. Naomi’s body was found five days later in a nearby creek. The killer confessed to the murder and is pending trial on capital murder charges.
Christopher Marlowe of The Haggard Law Firm, says the Defendants failed to monitor their property for people living there “off lease.” Marlowe says “had common apartment industry practices been followed at this relatively small complex, the fact of the killer’s presence upon the Premises would have been known and prevented.” “Our investigation involved a comprehensive review of FBI, Sheriff, police and nonprofit agencies’ who worked to help find Naomi Jones” added Marlowe.
Hurry’s legal team says the case litigation included interviewing witnesses spanning several states, principally in Florida and Alabama, where the killer also maintained a residence. The case was fought predominantly on issues of notice – whether the Defendants should have known that they had a violent sex offender living in this family community.
