'Wrongful act or negligence' caused Don Dunphy's death, claims Meghan Dunphy's lawsuit
Lawsuit suing Const. Joe Smyth, the RNC and the provincial government filed in court
The daughter of the Mitchells Brook man who was fatally shot two years ago is suing the police officer who killed him, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and the Newfoundland and Labrador government.
Meghan Dunphy believes her father's death was avoidable.
Her two-page statement of claim filed at the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador Tuesday is short on details, but in that document she argues the shooting death was caused by "the wrongful act or neglect" of Const. Joe Smyth.
Donald Dunphy 58, was fatally shot by Smyth on Easter Sunday 2015.
Smyth, 38, said he fired four times in self-defence after Dunphy pointed a rifle at him.
Smyth was at Dunphy's home that day, working in a police unit providing security for then-premier Paul Davis.
He travelled to Dunphy's home that day to speak Dunphy about tweets he had posted that used strong language criticising the premier and other MHAs.
No comment from lawyers
There's a two-year limit on civil actions so the lawsuit naming Smyth, the RNC and the provincial government as defendants had to be filed by April 5, 2017.
Dunphy's lawyers aren't commenting, but at the judicial inquiry into Dunphy's death led by Justice Leo Barry earlier this year, her lawyers suggested Smyth had been negligent — a suggestion Smyth's lawyer Jerome Kennedy strongly opposed.
A statement of defence has not been filed and Smyth's lawyer isn't commenting either.
The inquiry into Dunphy's death heard from 56 witnesses this winter. Lawyers with standing at the inquiry are expected to submit their final written arguments by April 7.
Justice Barry is expected to file his report by July 1, 2017.
A vigil marking the second anniversary of Dunphy's death will be held in Mitchell's Brook April 5.