Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Family gets $20M in son's death

The defendant didn't show up for the case involving a boy and an all-terrain vehicle.

By JAMAL THALJI AND MOLLY MOORHEAD
Published April 3, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT Donald "D.J." Roberts Jr. was an eighth-grade student who liked to fish and play Monopoly.

DADE CITY - A Pasco County civil jury last week awarded Donald and Terry Roberts $20-million in the 2002 death of their 13-year-old son Donald "D.J." Roberts.

The Pasco Middle School student died when he lost control of someone else's four-wheel all-terrain vehicle and crashed head-first into a barbed wire fence off Stellar Drive.

There was simply no defense for what happened, the jury ruled.

Because there literally was no defense.

The defendant - Timothy Mark Taylor, the man accused of inviting D.J. over to ride the ATV - didn't even come to court. No lawyers showed up for his side.

Which may be just as well.

"I doubt seriously we'll be able to collect it from the defendant," said Tampa attorney Hendrik Uiterwyk, who represents the boy's parents.

A records search shows Taylor does not own any property in Pasco County. Uiterwyk declined to comment on what the family's next legal step will be.

D.J. had just started the eighth grade, was an excellent student, liked to fish, play Monopoly and wanted to be a police officer one day, jurors learned during last week's trial.

At the time of the accident, witnesses and investigators told the Times that D.J. and a 10-year-old were riding a nearby resident's ATV without permission.

Witnesses said the boys were riding too fast, and ignored their shouts to slow down. The accident left the 10-year-old injured. D.J. died at the scene.

But according to the Robertses' 2004 wrongful death suit, Taylor invited their son over to ride the 1986 Honda ATV.

It is unclear if Taylor owned the ATV, but the lawsuit alleges he was "responsible" for it.

The lawsuit further alleged that Taylor: failed to provide adult supervision; failed to "properly secure" the ignition key; and failed to keep the ATV in a "safe" condition.

D.J. "was almost decapitated in the accident," Uiterwyk told the jury.

After the accident, Taylor never wrote, called or visited, according to Uiterwyk. The lawyer asked the jury for $20-million, and got it.

"You can show the value that our society places on the family relationship," Uiterwyk told jurors.

Taylor could not be reached for comment. Nor could the boy's parents.

"They have prevailed," Uiterwyk said. "But it doesn't bring them any pleasure because they still lost a 13-year-old son."

[Last modified April 2, 2007, 23:32:18]