A judge has thrown out a $40-million lawsuit stemming from a 2008 hate crime killing on Long Island.
Newsday reports that U.S. District Court Judge Leonard D. Wexler denied the suit because of a technicality. A process server delivered the court summons and complaint to a state criminal court building rather than the county clerk’s office.
The family of Ecuadorean immigrant Marcelo Lucero announced the lawsuit against Suffolk County and its police department last year. Lucero was fatally stabbed on Nov. 8, 2008, by a group of teenagers in Patchogue.
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Lucero’s family filed a civil rights lawsuit claiming authorities failed to prevent the killing.
The victim’s brother, Joselo, said he will seek other options to have the lawsuit proceed.
County officials didn’t immediately comment.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
