CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Over 30 relatives have filed a civil suit alleging the Nueces County Medical Examiner's Office of conducting botched autopsies prior to April 2022. The suit is now headed to mediation Tuesday and Wednesday.
This means that a neutral third party, the mediator, will work with both sides to try and come up with a settlement in order to avoid a full trial.
The families are also suing over claims of negligence on the part of the former Chief Medical Examiner Adel Shaker and Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Sandra Lyden.
Both sides were in court in September where the county asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit completely.
On Thursday, the county filed an order asking for a hearing on a plea to the jurisdiction, arguing that the court lacks authority to hear the case. The hearing request is for March 6.
Dave Johnson with Gowan Law Group said it's ready for the mediation.
"We're going in with complete faith that it will work," he said. "The judge has asked us to do that. Mediation is a very effective process, nobody's going to be completely happy, neither side is completely happy whether it's a mediation or whatever. The goal is justice. Whether or not we're going to obtain justice at this stage or at the trial stage is yet to be seen."
3NEWS reached out to County Judge Connie Scott about the mediation but did not receive a response.
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