An attorney for Kate and Michael Regan said he has reached out to the family of Krishna S. Jayaraman “at least a dozen times to arrange for dates for the parties to meet,” but his overtures have been “rebuffed at every turn,” according to (attached) in Stamford Superior Court on April 26.
Jayaraman was as he collected mail from in front of his son’s home on Oenoke Ridge Road last summer. Kate Regan, 32, has been charged with in connection with Jayaraman’s death.
“The very first day I was retained in this matter, I reached out to one of Plaintiff’s attorneys. The very first day,” Jonathan P. Whitcomb told Patch. “From the very first day we’ve been trying to engage in a dialog and have a private meeting with the family, but we have been rejected. So, to continue to have us depicted as the devil incarnate is disconcerting.”
Whitcomb said he and his clients are fighting a “battle we prefer not to wage,” as they respond to a $2.5 million civil suit brought against the New Canaan couple by the Jayaraman’ son, also named Krishna.
that an attorney representing Kate Regan wanted to contact him, but he saw "no point in meeting her lawyer."
"I come from a family where if you did something wrong at your neighbor's house, you could walk across and knock on the door and apologize," he told Patch at the time. "She has not reached out to me."
Whitcomb told Patch that despite what Krishna said in the press, it was not meant to be a meeting for attorneys.
"This was meant to be a meeting for the parties," he said. "It’s easy to say Kate should have walked up to his house and made overtures that way, but in this world you never know how someone is going to react. We made these overtures through counsel, dozens of times."
Jayaraman against the Regans Feb. 23. On March 11, Whitcomb filed a request for a subpoena that ordered Jayaraman to appear in Stamford Superior Court on April 4. The subpoena included an order for Jayaraman to bring a copy of “all documents…related to the accident that occurred on August 18, 2010.” A list of 39 categories of documention is included in the subpoena, including medical records, his father’s autopsy report and income tax returns.
On April 13, in response to the subpoena, Jayaraman’s attorney, Frederic S. Ury, filed a request for a protective order that states the “Defendants’ request for production seeks information that is overly broad and burdensome” and called the request “clearly an early fishing expedition by the Defendants.”
Ury could not be reached for comment.
The request for a protective order states that “the inexcusable actions of Kate Regan that caused the death of Mr. Jayaraman, have left his family in shock,” and further states the request for documentation “adds to the already enormous burden of dealing with the violent death of his father that has been subject to months and months of media attention and police investigation.”
Whitcomb said the request for documentation is standard in a civil suit, and allows defendants to prepare for their defense. Without them, his filing says, “…the Regans will be severely prejudiced and irreparably harmed. Plaintiff seeks, by means of a Draconian attachment of all assets, to squeeze a young family of four in an economic vice.”
Whitcomb told Patch he requested the documentation to contest allegations made in the affidavit filed with the civil suit. Among them are claims that Regan was “operating her motor vehicle at an unreasonable rate of speed.”
According to Whitcomb, Regan was not charged with speeding, and he will subpoena New Canaan Police officers to appear as witnesses. He also said Jayaraman’s statement that, by leaving the scene of the accident, Regan’s “failure to render assistance contributed to Plaintiff’s decedent’s death.”
Whitcomb said an affidavit from the first witness to arrive on the scene offers evidence that refutes this claim. In the court document, Christina Aguilar says she is “a former emergency medical technician and [has] experience with fatal accidents and injuries resulting in fatalities.” In her sworn statement, Aguilar said “Based upon the condition of Mr. Krishna (sic), I believe I arrived at the scene almost immediately (within two minutes) after the accident occurred.” She continued, “From what I observed, I belive Mr. Krishna’s injries were fatal and that any purported delay in medical treatment or emergency response did not contribute to his death.”
Whitcomb told Patch that he doesn't relish litigating the case.
"There are mitigating factors and there are real defenses here," he said. "The important part I want to convey, this is a battle we prefer not to wage. We are still interested in meeting with the family and discussing a resolution but we can’t fall on our sword. We are being forced into this battle.”
