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Many defendants listed in suit over man’s slaying
Many defendants listed in suit over man’s slaying
The group home owners negligently housed a dangerous resident, lawsuit says.
YOUNGSTOWN — The mother of a man who was allegedly choked to death a year ago by a fellow North Side group home resident has sued the man accused of murdering him.
Also named as defendants in the suit are the home’s owners and operators and a host of others she said neglected their responsibilities concerning her son’s care.
Elaine Lawson, of Euclid, filed the civil lawsuit Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court in the March 11, 2007, death of her son, Stephen A. Lawson, 34, a resident of Illinois Manor, 135 Illinois Ave., a group home for mentally ill men.
The suit, filed by Attys. James S. Gentile and Ronald D. Yarwood, demands a jury trial and seeks more than $25,000 in damages. The civil case is assigned to Judge Maureen A. Sweeney.
In a separate criminal case, James R. DiCioccio, 50, has entered innocent and innocent by reason of insanity pleas to a murder charge in Lawson’s death. In that case, Judge R. Scott Krichbaum will have a mental competency hearing at 11 a.m. Thursday.
After the fight, police found Lawson unconscious in a basement hallway at the group home. He died in St. Elizabeth Health Center less than an hour later.
Besides DiCioccio, who is in Mahoning County Jail, defendants in the civil lawsuit include the home’s owners and operators, Robert and Mary VanSickle and the Van Sickle Corp., the Mahoning County Mental Health Board, Turning Point Counseling Services and two of its caseworkers, the District XI Area Agency on Aging, and the city of Youngstown.
Robert Van Sickle was chairman of the board of the Van Sickle Corp., which went out of business eight months ago. Mary Van Sickle is his ex-wife.
The suit says the Van Sickles and the Van Sickle Corp. negligently admitted and retained DiCioccio, who was known to have violent propensities, as a resident of the group home; failed to properly supervise DiCioccio; failed to properly train employees; and neglected their duties to protect Lawson from harm.
In May 2007, the Ohio Department of Health told the owners they were in danger of losing their state license because they improperly retained a dangerous resident and failed to notify the state of major incidents at the facility.
Shortly thereafter, the Van Sickle Corp. announced the home would close permanently July 1, 2007, not because of the fight that preceded Lawson’s death, but because of increases in the minimum wage and in food, utility and insurance costs.
The lawsuit says the city, which licenses group homes, negligently allowed the home to operate when it knew or should have known conditions there were dangerous.
The suit says the mental health board, which plans and coordinates mental health services, neglected its oversight responsibilities, as did Turning Point and District XI, which are providers of mental health services.
Robert Van Sickle declined to comment because he hadn’t seen the lawsuit. Turning Point’s executive director, Joseph Sylvester, did not return a call seeking comment. Spokesmen for the city, the county mental health board and District XI declined to comment.
milliken@vindy.com