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Lawsuit evaporates in hit-run deaths of 2

The victims' mother has bought a new house, hinting at a civil settlement while a criminal case continues.

By SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
Published June 2, 2005

TAMPA - As the case involving the hit-and-run deaths of two brothers winds through criminal court, civil litigation appears to be over.

Lisa Wilkins, whose two sons were killed in the wreck a year ago, earlier this year bought a two-story house worth $270,000 in Land O'Lakes, but her attorney refuses to say how she paid for the house or whether she reached a civil lawsuit settlement.

Shortly after the crash on March 31, 2004, which killed 13-year-old Bryant Wilkins and 3-year-old Durontae Caldwell, attorney Tom Parnell, representing Wilkins, threatened to file suit.

But civil matters are sometimes resolved before lawsuits hit the courthouse because insurance companies often negotiate settlements in cases they know will be lost at trial, or are not worth the expense of going to court.

Parnell said he could not comment other than to say he would not be filing a civil suit. The house, according to Pasco public records, has no mortgage and appears to have been bought with cash.

Leading up to the wreck, Wilkins had financial difficulties. Public documents showed she lived on government assistance and faced eviction numerous times for failing to make rent payments.

Jennifer Porter was charged with leaving the scene of an accident involving death. The criminal case against her is moving toward trial after she and her attorney on Tuesday rejected a plea offer of three years in state prison and 10 years of probation.

In addition to Porter, possible targets for a civil suit were Tampa Electric Co., which had not replaced burned-out street lights in the area of the crash; and the county, which is responsible for maintaining that stretch of 22nd Street.

The County Attorney's Office has said it did not receive paperwork from Parnell regarding a civil claim.

Meanwhile, the two-story house, where her remaining children get to have their own bedrooms, brings Wilkins some peace, Parnell said.

"It gets her away from all she had to put up with the past year," he said.

Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report.

[Last modified June 2, 2005, 01:07:17]