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The family of Audrie Pott, the California girl who committed suicide last year in a tragedy that highlighted the devastating consequences of school bullying and humiliation in the digital age, has filed a civil action lawsuit against the three teens arrested in connection with her death. Audrie, 15, hanged herself after photos that showed her being sexually assaulted while unconscious at a school party began spreading through her classmates via text messages and social media. Now, Naples personal injury attorneys report that the family will be suing Audrie's attackers for wrongful death of their daughter. 

The family's lawsuit names the three boys who were arrested on sexual assault charges when the pictures went viral, along with the parents who own the house where the party took place. Evidence from the photos and the police investigation has shown that the party was unsupervised, and several minors were drinking alcohol. The three teenagers involved are not named because they are minors. Two of them attended Saratoga High School with Audrie, and the third was a former student.

The lawsuit indicates as evidence the photos that were made public, as well as several Facebook posts published to Audrie's public profile before she committed suicide. "My life is ruined…I am in hell…The whole school knows...My life is over...," the girl wrote on her page after the pictures began circulating. Her parents have said in interviews that they have no doubt about what caused their daughter to take her life. The suit claims that the boys' actions, both in sexually assaulting her and in humiliating her by taking and sending out pictures of the attack, caused the girl to feel as though she had nothing left to live for.

In a wrongful death lawsuit, immediate family members can seek financial recompense for a death that was the result of someone else's negligence or misconduct. The compensation is meant as a way for families to deal with the financial fallout of an unexpected death, and cover any current, as well as future, expenses related to their loss. Pecuniary injuries in these kinds of lawsuits are determined by the child's age, life expectancy, state of health, and habits, her earning potential, the relationship between the deceased child and the person filing the lawsuit, as well as the surviving party's circumstances, health, and age. While these decisions are hard to determine in a child as young as Audrie, judges sometimes focus on the loss of potential.

Naples personal injury lawyers say that the family may also seek damages for personal injury to Audrie. In determining the amount of those damages, judges take into account circumstances such as the level of the victim's consciousness at the time, the severity of the pain inflicted, and the duration of suffering fear of impending death. In Audrie's case, the suffering she endured during the assault and the humiliation that followed may be cause enough for her parents to receive restitution.

The Spivey Law Firm, Personal Injury Attorneys, P.A., a Fort Myers-based personal injury firm, represents anyone who has suffered the loss of a family member through someone's negligence or misdeeds.