Paula O’Reilly-Green: Forget lawyers, just pay locksmith’s widow

In regards to the Glendon Engert wrongful death suit, I’m intrigued to see it implied that there are actuarial tables which add discounts to the value of a person’s life, depending on their history of birth control use, their “sexual relations, financial assistance, and religious practices.”

How do any supposed difficulties in the Engert’s marriage affect the calculation of the value of his lost earnings? If Engert made some money playing online poker in his off time, what does that have to do with the County’s lack of care and supervision which resulted in his death, and how does it justify pawing through all the Engert’s electronic devices. It seems to me that it might be better for Stanislaus County to save the money they are paying to all these outside lawyers in an attempt to reduce their obligations and give that money to the widow.

This story was originally published November 3, 2014 at 6:48 PM with the headline "Paula O’Reilly-Green: Forget lawyers, just pay locksmith’s widow."