Young man who fell from pick-up bed and died cannot sue driver

In a typically hard-hearted Henry Saad opinion favorable to insurance interests, the Court of Appeals this week ruled that Scott Rubio's Estate cannot sue Louis Motowski (and thus his insurer) for wrongful death.  Rubio, Motowski and a third kid planned to drive by a home and throw rocks at it.  All three were apparently very intoxicated.  In the process, Rubio apparently fell out of the pick-up bed while attempting to move to the cab, and suffered a fatal head injury.  Rubio's family claimed that Motowski, as the driver of the truck, was at least fifty percent responsible for the death and owed that share of damages. 

Judges Saad, Hoekstra and Servitto applied the rule that denies a day in court to any injury victim who is engaged in wrongful conduct at the time the injury is suffered.  Since the boys "conspired" to "engage in the malicious destruction of property," the entire loss falls solely on Rubio's family and no responsibility is placed on Motowski.