Logansport State Hospital’s legal team responds to wrongful death lawsuit

The Logansport State Hospital’s legal team recently responded on a wrongful death lawsuit filed Aug. 8 by the estate of Travis Lunsford, a former patient at the facility who died after being beaten by another patient. 

According to court documents the incident took place in early February, after Lunsford was allegedly beaten by John Loran, another patient who was admitted to the hospital due to his violent past. Lunsford died in a Fort Wayne hospital 10 days later due to injuries sustained in the beating. 

The estate is seeking hospital, medical, funeral and burial expenses; reasonable attorney's fee; and emotional losses including the loss of care, love and affection from Lunsford. 

The complaint filed alleges the hospital failed to properly protect Lunsford and should have known Loran was violent. Among the allegations, the complaint detailed the attack against Lunsford, noting that none of the State Hospital employees immediately came to Lunsford's aid giving Loran the opportunity to attack a second victim, an unidentified hospital resident, after he had attacked Lunsford. 

Loran's previous criminal history include voluntary manslaughter in 1993 and aggravated battery in 2009. Loran was arrested after Lunsford's death. Criminal charges are still pending as Loran undergoes evaluation that will determine what his state of mind was in when the alleged crime happened and whether he will be able to legally stand trial. 

Logansport State Hospital attorneys responded to the legal complaint stating the plaintiff “may have been careless and negligent with regard to his or her own safety and well-being.”

The defense claimed to lack sufficient information to address 16 of the 37 allegations laid out in the initial complaint, however, and therefore denied them. The defense attorneys also argued the alleged injuries and damages were the “proximate result of the risk voluntarily incurred and/or assumed” by the estate, further stating the estate failed to mitigate its damages and that the State Hospital should be immune from the claim.

The defense wrote in its response that it lacked sufficient knowledge of Loran's history of violence and denied any attack was foreseeable. It also denied allegations that the hospital breached its duties or that Lunsford’s injuries could be attributed to negligence.

Both parties have requested a jury trial for the case.