Newtown Named Defendant In Legal Action

By Andrew Gorosko

HARTFORD — The Town of Newtown has been named as one of nine defendants in a “bill of discovery” civil action filed by the estate of a 24-year-old Massachusetts woman, who was killed in a catastrophic multivehicle auto accident on Route 7 in Sheffield, Mass., last February.

In the legal papers filed in Hartford Superior Court, the Estate of Moira Banks-Dobson of Sheffield, Mass.; Edwin J. Dobson IV of Sheffield; and Anne B. Banks of Hillsdale, N.Y., are bringing the action against four individual members of the Connecticut State Attorney General’s office, as well as the Town of Monroe, Town of Newtown, Town of Stratford, City of Stamford, and City of Waterbury.

Through such a legal action, the plaintiffs seek to have the defendants disclose certain facts to them.

The lawsuit stems from a February 28 motor vehicle accident in Sheffield, in which Moira Banks-Dobson was killed. The accident involved Sandy Hook motorist Frederick Weller, 35, whom Massachusetts police later charged with drunk-driving homicide, among various other offenses.

Weller reportedly had been charged with at least six other drunken driving offenses in the past in various Northeast states before the February fatality in Sheffield.

Connecticut Superior Court records indicate that Weller has been convicted in seven separate cases involving various criminal/motor vehicle charges from 2005 to 2011.

In April, Weller pleaded not guilty to the Massachusetts charges against him stemming from the February incident and was then detained on $1 million bail.

In the Sheffield multivehicle accident, Weller was driving a Ford F-350 truck that collided head-on with a Toyota Corolla sedan driven by Banks-Dobson.

The collision involved four vehicles on a straightaway where the speed limit is 55 miles per hour.

In the legal papers, the plaintiffs, among many other claims, allege that Newtown officials engaged in negligent and/or reckless conduct by allowing Weller to engage in unlawful behavior, or by failing to secure his arrest, which would have prevented the motor vehicle accident that resulted in the fatality.

Through the legal action, the plaintiffs seek to have Newtown, among the eight other defendants, produce information pertinent to the case that is beyond the scope of a Connecticut Freedom of Information Act request.

Newtown Police Chief Michael Kehoe declined specific comment on the legal action. The town would be defended by its insurance carrier in the legal matter, he said.

According to Connecticut court records, Weller was convicted twice in Danbury Superior Court during the past several years following arrests by Newtown police.

In March 2010, Weller was convicted of driving while under suspension, following a September 2009 arrest by Newtown police.

In December 2011, Weller was convicted of second-degree threatening, following a August 2011 arrest by Newtown police.