Tennis star Venus Williams is responding to the family suing her for a deadly Palm Beach Gardens car crash.
On June 9, Palm Beach Gardens police said her SUV was in an intersection when there was a collision with a vehicle driven by 68-year-old Linda Barson. Her husband Jerome, who was in the car, died 13 days later at St. Mary's Medical Center.
The lawsuit seeks to hold Williams responsible for Barson's death and seeks damages in excess of $15,000 as well as a jury trial.
They attorney for Williams filed an emergency protective order when he learned Barson's lawyer was going to inspect Barson's vehicle and download data.
The attorney for Williams argued no one should be allowed to inspect either vehicle until both sides can be present with their experts and the court issues procedures for collecting the data.
The order was granted pending a hearing set for Friday.
Malcolm Cunningham, the attorney for Venus Williams, issued the following statement:
The vehicles involved in the accident are believed to contain critical information within their computer systems. It is important that the information be preserved so that it is available to both parties for examination to understand how the accident occurred. The motion for protective order ensures both parties have sufficient opportunity for their legal teams to prepare for an inspection and to establish a protocol that will govern the inspection which will ensure extraction of critical information by both parties in a way that preserves the evidence.
