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PROVO — A wrongful death lawsuit filed after an 11-year-old boy with autism was left in a hot car and died under the watch of a care facility was dismissed last week after the parties reached a undisclosed settlement.
The lawsuit was filed against Roost Services, an American Fork day-treatment center for individuals with disabilities, and some of its employees.
Joshua "Joshee" Hancey, 11, died after being left in a hot car for nearly three hours after an employee went inside the nearby facility on July 21, 2021, after picking him up from his foster parents' home.
Peter Mifflin, the attorney for Joshua's estate, said especially as it is approaching the year anniversary of the boy's death, he is hoping to limit his clients' exposure to the case and did not have any comments directly from them.
Although they reached a settlement with Roost and its employees, Mifflin said no amount of money can make up for the family's loss. But he said his clients hope the lawsuit leads to improvements in the system and a lower likelihood of similar events happening in the future.
The lawsuit, which was filed in late April, explained that employees of Roost say they were understaffed and overworked at the time. A police report filed by American Fork police also said a lack of communication led to Joshua being left in the car.
"Prior to essentially cooking to death in the back seat of (the) car, Joshua Hancey experienced considerable agony, pre-death pain and suffering as evidenced by fresh bite marks on various locations of his body," the lawsuit states.
Police recommended the employee in charge of watching Joshua be charged with child abuse homicide and obstruction of justice. Utah County Attorney David Leavitt declined to file charges, saying the death was unintentional.
Mifflin said, typically, child abuse is not intentional, especially when it is neglect, and he argued that is not a sufficient reason to avoid filing criminal charges.
"From a legal perspective, that's a nonsense answer, that doesn't make any sense. Because that's not what's required," Mifflin said.
He said he hopes Utah County will revisit this case when Jeff Gray takes over from David Leavitt as the Utah County attorney at the start of next year and will file charges, or at least release a more complete reason for the decision not to file charges.
"I still, to this day, find it interesting that, in the current environment in the state of Utah, someone who leaves a dog in the back of a car is charged immediately for animal cruelty without blinking, and that exact same conduct with regard to a human being is not charged at all. That still bothers me," Mifflin said.
He said the family is grateful for the public's interest in the case and said that support helped the lawsuit get resolved.
Mifflin said the family is also grateful for a justice system that allows people to be on equal standing with businesses, especially businesses backed by insurance companies.
David S. Bridge, attorney for one of the employees, confirmed the case was dismissed with prejudice after a settlement but declined to comment out of respect to the parties in the lawsuit and the tragic nature of the events that led to the lawsuit.
The attorneys for Roost Services and two other employees did not respond to requests for comment.
According to the Department of Human Services' website, Roost's business license expired in April and was not renewed. The website lists the business as "closed."
