The family of a Wisconsin teen whose body was sent to a morgue while he was still alive has shared their heartache in a decade-long battle for justice.
Jake Anderson’s parents, whose son tragically passed away at 19 in December 2013, secured their first damages in March, though lingering questions remain about the details of the incident.
The University of Minnesota freshman was discovered frozen by the Mississippi River late one night after attending a party earlier in the evening.
Jake left the party to walk some friends home and was not seen again until a photographer found him slumped over near the Stone Arch Bridge.
At the time, temperatures had dropped to 15 degrees below zero. When paramedics arrived, they quickly concluded that the teenager had frozen to death.
First responders are accused of making a critical mistake, according to the Star Tribune. A firefighter checked for a pulse under his arm, but paramedics, who had authority over the scene, determined he was ‘obviously dead.’
The term ‘obviously dead’ is typically reserved for cases like when a body has been struck by a train. However, the paramedics made their assessment based on a ‘visual evaluation’ from 15 feet away from Jake’s body.
It was later revealed that Jake was still alive at the time, though his heartbeat and breathing had slowed drastically.
Jake’s heartbroken parents, Bill (pictured with his son) and Kristi, have been fighting for justice since their son’s death.
Jake’s devastated parents, Bill and Kristi Anderson, have been fighting for justice ever since, accusing the first responders of allowing their son to die when he could have been saved with quicker action.
Last month, the Andersons were awarded $6.4 million in damages, but the ruling did not hold the first responders accountable for Jake’s death. Instead, they won a claim against their former attorney, Robert Hopper, whom they had hired to handle a wrongful death lawsuit.
Hennepin County Judge Edward Wahl determined that, had it not been for Hopper’s legal malpractice, the grieving parents “would have been successful in the underlying wrongful death action” they had intended to pursue.
Their original lawsuit named several defendants, including the city of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, the Minneapolis Police Department, the Minneapolis Fire Department, and HCMC Ambulance Services, accusing them of numerous errors in their attempts to save Jake’s life.
“We were wronged by so many entities in this endeavor,” Kristi told the Star Tribune.
Kristi and Bill Anderson said they have continued to fight for their son’s memory because he was deprived of “a fighting chance to survive.”
On the night Jake died, it was revealed that the critical decision to declare him “obviously dead” before his heart stopped resulted in paramedics never attempting the usual lifesaving measures.
Jake was never transported to the hospital, and after his body was left in the cold for hours, an expert analysis concluded that he died at the morgue.
Experts explained that in similar cases of severe hypothermia, medical professionals should attempt to slowly warm the body back to normal temperatures, which can potentially revive a slowed heartbeat and breathing.
“He laid there in zero-degree weather for three hours,” Bill said. His wife Kristi added that the first responders “didn’t even turn him over.”
“They left him lying on the pile of rocks where they found him and didn’t even give him a fighting chance to survive,” Kristi said.
Last month the Andersons were awarded $6.4 million in damages after their former attorney Robert Hopper (pictured) who was found to have been legally negligent in their case
Jake’s devastated family says they are still baffled by what happened to him, with police speculating that he may have been attacked on his way home from the party.
The case against the paramedics collapsed after the Andersons discovered they were never designated as the trustees of Jake’s estate.
Investigators remain puzzled about what happened to Jake, with one theory suggesting he may have been attacked while walking home, as he had defensive wounds.
There were drag marks in the snow around his body, his shoes and coat were missing, but surveillance cameras in the area had been turned off, and no forensic evidence pointed to a suspect.
After uncovering a series of errors, the Andersons paid a \$5,000 retainer for Hopper’s services as they planned to file a wrongful death lawsuit.
They initially had confidence in Hopper, a respected attorney with 40 years of experience handling similar cases, who also taught law at the University of Minnesota, their late son’s former college.
Hopper’s firm investigated the case for over a year, and the Andersons were informed that the statute of limitations would expire on December 15, 2016.
Hopper told them on July 12, 2016, that they had a viable wrongful death claim and that the suit would be ready to file by September 1.
However, that date was pushed back multiple times, and Hopper only filed the lawsuit seven days before the statute of limitations would have expired.
Two months later, as they awaited news on when the civil case would be heard, a paralegal from Hopper’s firm contacted them with a logistical question that revealed the lawsuit would never proceed.
They asked if either Bill or Kristi had taken steps “to be legally appointed as administrator, executor, or trustee of Jake’s estate”—a crucial element in a wrongful death lawsuit that the Andersons say Hopper never mentioned.
More than a decade after Jake’s death, the Andersons were awarded \$6.4 million against Hopper after a judge ruled that his actions had effectively ended the lawsuit before it could even begin.
The day after, the defendants named in the suit moved to have it dismissed, arguing that the Andersons were “not court-appointed wrongful death trustees.”
Although Hopper tried to amend the lawsuit, the missing filing ultimately dashed their hopes. In March 2018, a judge dismissed all of their claims, ruling that the statute of limitations had expired.
Hopper later lost his law firm and surrendered his law license after being hit with a legal malpractice lawsuit.
Hopper did not contest the ruling against him.
