Suits Lists 41 Acts Of Negligence

Citing 41 acts of negligence, a Tacoma woman has filed a $15 million lawsuit against the U.S. government over last year’s fatal shooting spree at Fairchild Air Force Base.

Michelle Sigman was shot twice in the back during the shooting rampage on June 20, 1994, by discharged airman Dean Mellberg.

Six months pregnant at the time of the shooting, Sigman lost her unborn child the following day.

Her U.S. District Court suit alleges that Mellberg was discharged “without treatment, supervision or confinement,” even though military officials knew about his mental problems and potential danger.

After his discharge, the Air Force provided Mellberg with documentation giving him authorized access to Fairchild.

At the base, Mellberg had access to “people he viewed as responsible for destroying his military career,” and innocent bystanders like Sigman, the suit says.

The deranged gunman was fatally shot after he fired dozens of rounds from his MAK-90 military assault rifle. The shooting at the Fairchild base hospital killed four people and wounded 22, including Sigman.

Lawyers in the legal office at Fairchild wouldn’t say Monday whether other claims have been filed as a result of the Mellberg shooting. If claims are rejected, as expected, the federal government likely will face other multimilliondollar lawsuits.

James Connelly, the U.S. attorney for Eastern Washington, said the case will be assigned to two government lawyers in his Spokane office and others from the civil division of the Department of Justice. “It’s a case we will defend,” Connelly said.

The suit was assigned to senior Judge Justin Quackenbush, who entered semi-retirement earlier this year. Pre-trial arguments likely could be heard in the spring, and the case could go to trial in less than a year.

Sigman was the first to file a claim last February. When that was rejected, her attorney, Mark Vovos, filed suit last month in U.S. District Court.

She seeks $5 million for her injuries and the same amount for her 6-year-old son, James, who witnessed the shooting but wasn’t wounded. She also seeks $5 million for her stillborn daughter.

James Sigman was with his mother, getting a prescription filled at the base pharmacy, when the shots rang out.

Michelle Sigman “threw her son under her to shield him,” the suit states.

“James remembers his mother bleeding from the mouth, unable to move, and that she said, ‘I love you,’ and then went to sleep.”

, DataTimes