Wrongful Death - Article - Businessman's Ex-Girlfriend, Father Settle Wrongful Death Suit

Posted on Jan 25, 2006 | Associated Press - The Hartford Courant

Businessman's Ex-girlfriend, Father Settle Wrongful Death Suit

WATERBURY , Conn.  --The family of a prominent Rocky Hill businessman killed in a car crash more than six years ago has withdrawn a wrongful death lawsuit against his former girlfriend.

A settlement was reached Tuesday afternoon in a suit that Neil Esposito's father, Raymond, filed against Heather Specyalski.

In 2004, a jury acquitted Specyalski of criminal charges that she was the driver in the 1999 car crash in Cromwell.

The speeding Mercedes-Benz crashed off Route 9 on Oct. 30, 1999 , killing Esposito, 42, and injuring Specyalski, then 29.

The settlement comes days after a settlement was reached in a suit Specyalski filed against Esposito's estate. The terms of both are confidential.

A lawyer for the Espositos asked the judge Tuesday to postpone the civil trial because pathologist Cyril Wecht, whose testimony was expected to bolster claims that Neil Esposito wasn't driving, was indicted Friday in Pennsylvania on charges he used government resources to benefit his practice.

That made Wecht, who has worked on cases such as President Kennedy's assassination, unavailable to testify in Connecticut .

The judge rejected the request for a postponement, prompting lawyers to try to reach a settlement.

Raymond Esposito has spent years trying to prove his son was not behind the wheel when the car crashed.

"I just want to find some peace," he told The Hartford Courant.

Prosecutors tried to prove that Specyalski was behind the wheel. That was after an initial police investigation concluded Esposito was the driver. They later charged Specyalski after high-ranking state officials pressed them to look at the case again. Raymond and Neil Esposito were political campaign contributors to former Gov. John G. Rowland and others.

A jury acquitted Specyalski, sparing her a possible 25-year prison sentence.

The criminal case drew national attention after Specyalski's attorney, Jeremiah Donovan, suggested that she could not have been behind the wheel because she may have been performing a sex act on Neil Esposito at the time of the crash.

Specyalski sued Esposito's estate in 2000, alleging that he was the driver. Raymond Esposito filed a countersuit in 2001.

The cases were to be tried simultaneously but a settlement was reached earlier this month in Specyalski's case.

Specyalski, who was in a coma for six weeks after the crash and has since had many surgeries, said she was pleased Raymond Esposito's suit was settled.

"I thought this case was going to be a mirror image of the criminal trial and I didn't want that for my family again," Specyalski said. "I think we can try to put this behind us now. We'll always have memories of Neil that no one will be able to take away."

The Esposito family said in a statement: "Our family suffered a great tragedy with the death of our son, Neil. Years of litigation concerning this matter has finally been resolved today to the satisfaction of all parties."

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