Consumer Law
A Federal Judge Dismisses a Wrongful Death Lawsuit Over a North Dakota Road Washout
A federal judge has dismissed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Standing Rock Sioux Tribe stemming from a road washout nearly three years ago that killed two people and injured two others.
Heavy rain in July 2019 washed away a section of roadway on the Standing Rock reservation. In the dark hours of the early morning, Trudy Peterson and Jim VanderWal, both of Mobridge, South Dakota, unknowingly drove their vehicles into a deep culvert where the road washed away and were killed.
Steven Willard and Evan Thompson, both of Fort Yates, were injured and flown to Bismarck hospitals for treatment of injuries their attorney said are permanent.
