Jury selection began Tuesday morning in Blaine County 5th District Court in a wrongful death lawsuit against the Blaine County School District.
In the lawsuit, filed in 2011 by a Carey couple, Dennis and Maryann Hennefer, the plaintiffs are alleging that the district was negligent in a fatal car accident the morning of Oct. 26, 2010, that claimed the life of their son, 15-year-old Austin Hennefer. The accident occurred on U.S. Highway 20 about two miles west of Timmerman Junction.
Hennefer was driving a Carey School driver-education car when it was struck by a vehicle driven by Gooding resident Sergio Lopez-Rodriguez, who is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
The Hennefers are seeking unspecified damages in excess of $10,000.
The trial, being held before Judge Robert J. Elgee, is expected to last eight days and be heard Tuesday through Friday of this week and Tuesday through Friday of next week.
Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com