$2 million lawsuit filed against deadly crash victims

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – The Gofundme page for little 4-year-old Zander Ortega is still up after he was killed in a violent crash in late October.

Neley Haynes, a neighbor said, "To hear that a child died, it's incomprehensible."

That's when the SUV Ortega was riding in crashed with a motorcyclist, who investigators say was going over the speed limit at the time, and was likely never seen by the driver of the SUV he collided with as it was turning.

Authorities say the force of the impact threw the motorcyclist, 21-year-old Elias Currier, into the SUV where he hit Ortega, who later died.

Donald Rushing, a witness to the accident said, "It's something you don't forget, especially when it involves a child. A 4-year-old gets killed."

Now, we're learning Currier has hired an attorney and is suing the little boy's mother for $2 million dollars.

Ortega's mom told us in person she couldn't believe it and hadn't even heard about the lawsuit.

She also explained the family is still grieving their loss.

Haynes said, "Just sounds absolutely ridiculous, the family has to be in enough pain as it is."

Currier's attorney, Jose Orhuela, told us by phone the lawsuit is an effort to recoup hundreds of thousands in medical expenses from the mother's insurance company.

Orhuela said because the way the law is written, the only way to recover from the company is to sue the driver.

He also said the policy amount for the insurance company is capped at $30K.

The attorney declined an on-camera interview, only saying this was a catastrophic case all the way around and mentioned this isn't an "us versus her" situation, rather an "us versus her insurance company."

"In the midst of their tragedy, why would in the world would you sue them. Doesn't make any sense. Just causing their pain to be even worse," said Haynes.
 


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