Attorney asks for change of venue in Omarion Rose death civil lawsuit

AMHERST — The attorney for a Madison Heights teenager being sued for the wrongful death of a toddler last year is asking for the case to be moved out of Amherst County due to media coverage.

The motion to change the venue of the civil trial as well as an answer to the allegations in the suit was filed Wednesday in Amherst County Circuit Court on behalf of Kaylie Renee Silby.

The suit filed by the family of Omarion Rose alleges Silby was negligent and distracted when the vehicle she was driving struck and killed the 2-year-old on Seminole Drive on Jan. 14, 2008. The $1.35 million lawsuit was initially filed in September 2008, but was amended last month to name two insurance companies.

The motion to transfer the case out of Amherst notes extensive news coverage of the wreck, the trial and the civil suit.

“The publicity over the past year has been more than isolated incidents and commentary,” the motion said.

“In fact, the community focus on the trial of Kaylie Renee Silby and the recently filed amended complaint has been significant; and as a result the publicity has so saturated the community jury pool that obtaining a fair and impartial jury whose members have not heard, read and/or seen the media coverage would be virtually impossible.”

Silby, 18 years old at the time, was convicted of improper driving in July 2008 and fined $500. According to testimony at that trial, she was driving on Seminole Drive that morning near Omarion Rose’s Branch Drive home when her cell phone rang. She looked over to find it and felt the car hit something, but did not see what that was.

Omarion was found on the side of the road and rushed to the University of Virginia Medical Center, where he later died of blunt force trauma to the head.

The suit alleges that Silby failed to maintain a proper lookout while driving and failed to see and take reasonable precautions for any person, children or property entering the road.

Silby’s answer denies all the allegations in the suit and said she will rely on the defenses of “unavoidable accident, contributory negligence, sudden emergency and that the proximate cause of this accident was due to the actions of other individuals who the defendant had no control over …

“Defendant specifically alleges that the parents of Omarion Rose failed to use ordinary care for his safety and that this negligence was the sole or contributing cause of his death,” the answer said.

The civil suit was amended last month to include Silby’s insurance, Metropolitan Direct, and Allstate since Silby’s policy may not be sufficient to cover the damages, the amended filing says. Allstate had extended coverage to Withney Hughes, Omarion’s mother.

No hearings have been scheduled in the case.