This is justice.
A court has tentatively ruled that Jahi McMath’s mother can offer proof that she is not brain dead. From the tentative ruling:
The court is not persuaded that the cited allegations in the FAC contain admissions that Jahi is brain-dead.
As to the death certificate, while the court can and will take judicial notice of it, the court cannot take judicial notice of the truth of factual conclusions in it.
By statute, a death certificate is prima facie evidence of the facts stated therein but is subject to rebuttal and explanation.
The FAC includes new allegations to the effect that the death certificate is invalid and has been the subject of requests or petitions to rescind, cancel, void or amend it, but that such efforts have been unsuccessful.
Further, it appears that, Jahi and her mother Latasha Naila Spears Winkfield (“Winkfield”) filed a complaint in federal court seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, including a determination that the death certificate is invalid.
The court is not persuaded that the death certificate itself establishes the fact of Jahi’s death as a matter of law so as to preclude her from bringing the first cause of action. Counsel may address this and also the question of what effect the federal complaint should have (if any) on the instant lawsuit.
As I have written here and elsewhere previously, enough evidence has been produced to create a reasonable doubt that Jahi is actually dead.
The case should be opened wide and the best doctors examine her to see if she remains brain dead.
If not, this case will make legal and medical history.
HT: Thaddeus Mason Pope