By Marci Piltz
Record-Courier staff writer
A wrongful death suit filed two years ago and withdrawn earlier this year stemming from the 2006 drowning death of a 6-year-old girl in Mantua has been re-filed in Portage County Common Pleas Court.
James McGonagle, who has been appointed administrator of the estate for Emma Beck, granddaughter of the late Al Lerner, re-filed the suit June 20 and is seeking a jury trial in the case as well as more than $25,000 in damages.
Emma had been at the Mantua home of her mother and stepfather, Nancy and Elliot Fisher, when the July 9, 2006 drowning occurred. According to the original suit filed in 2006, Nancy Fisher had denied Emma's father, William Beck, access to Emma that day by saying they had a family function to attend.
Instead, the suit said, Fisher took Emma for a ride around the property in an adult-sized go-cart, then let the girl drive the cart by herself unsupervised. While driving, Emma drove off the side of a bridge over a creek on the property and became submerged upside down in the creek, causing her death.
In January, that case was withdrawn from the courts so amendments could be made, including the change of William Beck as the plaintiff and administrator of the estate to McMonagle, who the court named as administrator.
The newly filed suit alleges Emma's death was a result of negligence by not only Nancy Fisher but also by the girl's tutor and babysitter, Michael White, who also was on the property at the time of the accident.
White is named as a defendant in the suit along with Nancy and Elliot Fisher and a company Nancy Fisher owns, Sugarbush Farm LLC, which is connected to the Mantua property.
In addition to alleging wrongful death, the suit also alleges that evidence from the case -- specifically the go-cart -- was disposed of after the court ordered it be held for evidence.
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