Prompted by a comment in another question, the story of a woman suing herself came to my attention.
Suit yourself: Utah court lets woman sue herself over fatal wreck
A Utah woman will be the plaintiff and the defendant in a wrongful death lawsuit that has legal experts scratching their heads.
Barbara Bagley was driving her family's Range Rover Dec. 27, 2011 on Interstate 80 near Battle Mountain, Nev., when it slid on sagebrush on Interstate 80, and flipped. Her husband, Bradley Vom Baur, was sent flying from the vehicle, suffered major injuries and died nearly two weeks later in a hospital, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. Bagley, 48, suffered a concussion, broken ribs, a shattered wrist and two punctured lungs. One of her dogs, a Shetland sheepdog named Dooley, ran from the scene and wandered the desert for 53 days before being found.
Someone mentioned in the comments to the article the full name of the case:
k_runner Feb 20, 2015
For those who follow particular cases, this one is "Barbara Bagley and the Estate of Bradley M. Vom Baur v. Barbara Bagley" or simply "Bagley v. Bagley."
But more interesting is another comment:
MrTrout Feb 19, 2015 If she is suing herself for negligence which resulted in the death of another, then the state should arrest her and charge her with manslaughter (ie- negligence resulting in the death of another). She is basically admitting she caused the death of her husband through negligence. From a legal perspective, seems pretty straight forward to me.
Indeed, if she sues herself in a civil case for negligence (resulting in death of another), doesn't she automatically have to admit the guilt, and wouldn't / shouldn't she be immediately charged for manslaughter by the state?