The New Canaan woman accused of a town man with her and leaving the scene last summer now faces a $2.5 million from the deceased man's relatives, court documents show.
The family of Krishna Jayaraman, 84, filed its suit Feb. 23 against Kate Regan and her husband Michael Regan, according to papers filed in state Superior Court in Stamford.
In an affidavit that forms part of the law suit, the , also Krishna Jayaraman, said his father “was caused to experience great pain, suffering and emotional trauma,” before his death, and that the family has incurred medical, funeral and burial expenses as a result of the accident.
Jayaraman was struck and killed Aug. 18 as he collected mail outside his son’s home on Oenoke Ridge, where the elder Jayaraman and his wife also lived. Kate Regan has been with negligent homicide and evading responsibility in connection with the incident.
In the complaint, Kate and Michael Regan are both accused of negligence, and Kate Regan is also accused of commiting statutory recklessness and common law recklessness. Michael Regan is named as the owner of the his wife was driving at the time of the accident.
“Kate Regan knew she hit something while traveling on Oenoke Road (sic) in New Canaan on August 18, 2010, but failed to stop,” the victim’s son said in the affidavit attached to the filing. “Instead, she lied at least 3 times as to how the damage to their vehicle occurred.”
The chronology of events in Jayaraman's affidavit matches the one outlined in the that led to Regan’s in November — though it appears to run against the spirit of what Regan's criminal lawyer following her arraignment.
Both affidavits said that after the accident, Regan stopped at a Sunoco Station in Pound Ridge and told an employee there, Daniel Cruz, that her car had been damaged in a parking lot in New Canaan earlier in the day. She offered the same account to a representative from Geico, the Regan family’s insurance company, and to Sgt. Peter Condos, of the , when he contacted her as he conducted his investigation.
According to the papers, Kate Regan was speeding at the time of the impact. The filing says she was “speeding while she took her eyes off the road” to change a DVD and “veered to the far right of the roadway and without warning” struck Jayaraman with the front right side of the Infiniti, “violently throwing (Jayaraman) onto the ground” before driving over him “with the rear tires of her vehicle.”
Regan “did not stop to render assistance,” the document says, leaving Jayaraman “severely injured in his driveway.”
The accident took place at approximately 4:30 p.m. on a clear summer day. According to the affidavit filed with the lawsuit, Jayaraman was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. at .
In the affidavit, Jayaraman said the event, which has New Canaan residents, has been devastating to his entire family.
“I have lost my father, and my children have lost their grandfather, with whom we were all very close with as he lived in the cottage on my property with my mother,” Jayaraman said. “My mother lost her life time spouse and caregiver.”
According to the filing, on the day of the accident the Regans were covered by two insurance policies. They held a liability policy from Geico Insurance Co. in the amount of $250,000 and an Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Policy from Chubb Insurance, with $300,000 coverage.
As a result of the filing, the Regans’ assets, including their home in New Canaan, and all bank, stock and brokerage accounts have been frozen. According to town tax records, the home at 383 Michigan Road was by Michael and Kate Regan for $1.6 million on Sept. 17, 2010.
You also confuse affidavits as "truths." An affidavit is a personal account of what the affiant believes to be the truth. Just because Mr. Krishna's affidavit says that Mrs. Regan's back tire ran over his father does not necessarily mean that is what happened. That is Mr. Krishna's belief as to what happened. Mr. Krishna's affidavit also states that Mrs. Regan "knew" she hit something, which is curious, because how could Mr. Krishna "know" what Mrs. Regan did know or did not know? And a civil complaint is not necessarily the truth. It's a legal document designed to tell a story in a light most favorable to a plaintiffs' ability to recover money from a defendant. I don't mean to attack you and you're certainly entitled to your opinion but I hope that you keep your comments to at least a cordial discourse. Vilifying Mrs. Regan does nothing for this community. It's a sad story. No one knows the "truth" about what happened yet. The justice system will decide the scope of Mrs. Regan's liability and eventually the facts of that day will come out. Until then, it's entirely unhelpful to grandstand here and fuel the fire by ranting or lashing out against Mrs. Regan through hundreds upon hundreds of internet posts.
The respectful way the Jayaraman family has conducted themselves over the last 7 months does not reflect a family that wants a "victory" of any kind.
occurred to them.
Has anyone listened to an argument in Congress lately? Everyone is entitled to their opinion, unplesant or not or whether you are tired of hearing/seeing them or not. What is the issue? A woman driving a vehicle hit a person who died, did not stop then lied about hitting anything at all. The deceased's family is suing. Motive? Who knows? Actual facts? Who knows? One can speculate and one can certainly be upset about what values are represented by such actions.
@jennifer - you go girl - motherhood is work! $2.5 million is good vacation money - sitting at Disney World will ease the pain somewhat for the kids. Might be a good down payment on the Regan house too!!! Talk about payback.
More of a judicial system believer.
I am deeply saddened when I read through the string of comments on this site. This was no doubt a terrible tragedy for all involved. I have lost a close family member myself so I feel the pain of the victim's family. I am also a young mother so I have empathy for Ms. Regan and what she is going through. But please, let's leave the case up to the judicial system. Pointing fingers, speculating, arguing with each other - it all seems like such a waste of time. Let's step away from our computers and invest our time and resources in more worthy pursuits available to all of us in our wonderful town.