The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

February 7, 2010

Survivor of car-pedestrian accident sues

Case comes from 2007 accident that killed one woman

By Dan Nienaber Free Press Staff Writer

MANKATO — A deadly 2007 accident on a dark stretch of road north of Mankato, involving one college sorority sister who survived and another who never made it to the hospital, has become the subject of a civil lawsuit.

Corinne Overstake is suing Jesse Mann, the teen driving the Toyota Tercel that hit her and 22-year-old Rissa Joan Amen-Reif at about 12:45 a.m. on Nov. 18, 2007. Amen-Reif was killed instantly and Overstake was critically injured.

Even after a three-month investigation, police were not sure how the two women, both Minnesota State University students, wandered to the location of the crash. They had been attending a sorority event at the Morson-Ario VFW on Riverfront Drive and somehow ended up on Third Avenue north of the Highway 14 overpass.

Investigators only know they were on foot with a third friend and walked about two miles to the area, which is an industrial zone near one of the city’s industrial parks on the north edge of town. They also know, from witness reports, that Amen-Reif had fallen in the middle of the road and Overstake was attempting to help her when they were hit.

Mann told investigators he was traveling from one friend’s house to another friend’s house when he hit the women. He said he remembered looking in the rearview mirror, seeing a car behind him, then looking forward again to see the women in his path. He didn’t remember having time to hit the brakes before impact.

The Minnesota State Patrol investigation found there was no clear evidence showing Mann didn’t exercise “due care” at the time of the crash. He wasn’t speeding, wasn’t under the influence of alcohol or drugs, wasn’t using a cell phone and wasn’t violating curfew ordinances, the report said.

Overstake’s civil complaint, which says she is still receiving medical treatment, does not cite any evidence that has been found to dispute that. It simply claims that Mann, who was 17 years old at the time of the crash and is 19 years old now, was careless and negligent.

Kenneth White, Mann’s attorney, disputes that claim.

“Our answer denies any fault,” White said. “It’s a sad situation, but one where we don’t think my client was at fault.”

Mann’s father, Arland Mann, also is named as a defendant because he owned the Tercel. The lawsuit is seeking payment for medical expenses, lost earnings and compensation for physical and mental pain. It was originally filed in Hennepin County last month before a judge there ruled it should be moved to Blue Earth County.

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