Judge dismisses lawsuit by family of slain border agent
Source: Reuters
BY TIM GAYNOR
PHOENIX Mon Nov 18, 2013 8:01pm EST
(Reuters) - A wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of slain Border Patrol agent Brian Terry has been dismissed by a federal judge on the grounds that a court settlement would interfere with the powers of the U.S. government, which has a compensation scheme of its own.
Terry died in a shoot-out with Mexican drug cartel gunmen in southern Arizona in December 2010 in a case tied to a flawed bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF, gun-running operation that embarrassed the Obama administration and strained relations with Mexico.
Last year Terry's parents, Kent and Josephine Terry, filed a $25 million wrongful-death claim against prosecutors and ATF agents alleging they acted in violation of their own policies and that so-called "Fast and Furious" operation negligently allowed the weapons to be bought by violent criminals.
In a written ruling released on Friday, District Judge David G. Campbell found that federal law and prior U.S. Supreme Court rulings barred such damages because the U.S. Congress has passed laws providing compensation - including death benefits - for survivors of federal officers killed in the line of duty.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/19/us-usa-arizona-brianterry-idUSBRE9AI02520131119
