SPRINGFIELD (AP) - The ex-wife of a prominent southwest Missouri attorney and book collector will not have to pay a judgment assessed against her after a jury in a civil lawsuit found she was likely responsible for the man's death.
Although no one has been charged in Rolland Comstock's July 2007 shooting death, his daughter filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging her mother, Alberta Comstock, was responsible for the death. In July, a Greene County jury found Alberta Comstock liable and ordered her to pay a $125,000 judgment to the daughter and Comstock's other survivors.
But on Wednesday, Greene County Circuit Judge Michael Cordonnier voided the judgment. He sided with Alberta Comstock's attorney, who had argued the jury's verdict was "so inconsistent as to be self-destructive."
Comstock, 70, a book collector and attorney who handled tax and probate cases in Springfield for more than 40 years, was shot to death in his home on July 3, 2007.
His daughter, Faith Stocker, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her mother - who was living in Oklahoma after a contentious divorce - alleging her mother, acting alone or with a co-conspirator, killed her father.
In July, a Greene County jury found Alberta Comstock more than likely was responsible for her ex-husband's death, awarding Stocker and other survivors $125,000 in damages for "aggravating circumstances."
However, the jury awarded no actual damages, prompting Alberta Comstock to challenge the decision and ask Cordonnier to enter a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, which he did Wednesday.
In the memo announcing the decision, Cordonnier cited case law barring punitive awards when no actual damages are assessed. He also noted an opinion filed this month in the Western District Court of Appeals "reconfirm(ing) Missouri's adherence to (that) general rule."
Cordonnier also rejected Stocker's request he amend the jury's award to add nominal actual damages or order a new trial.
Wednesday's ruling overturns only the monetary judgment, not the jury's finding that Alberta Comstock likely killed her ex-husband.
Rolland Comstock was best known for a home library that contained about 50,000 items, primarily modern first-edition British and American literature. He housed his collection in a $200,000, two-story addition built in 1993. Investigators have said none of the books were missing after his death.
Rolland and Alberta Comstock divorced in 2005 after 38 years of marriage and were involved in a dispute over a $215,000 settlement Rolland Comstock was to pay.