Photo: OregonLive.com
The estate of an Oregonian woman is going after the driver that ran her over and killed her in September 2017, seeking millions in damages on claims that the crash could have been prevented if the driver hadn’t skipped 2 meals.
The incident happened in a Safeway parking lot in Dallas, Oregon, where the 68-year-old victim Susan Matthies was loading groceries. Robert Morgan had been on the Whole30 diet and had skipped 2 meals on that day in question. As a result, he was feeling lightheaded and nauseous, but he still insisted on driving home.
He ran over Matthies, who was pronounced dead at the hospital, but prosecutors didn’t charge him in her death. That doesn’t mean that he wasn’t guilty of it, Matthies’ estate argues in a new lawsuit, obtained by OregonLive.
The estate is seeking $3.6 million in damages, with court documents arguing that Morgan was unfit to drive because of the fad diet he was on. By getting at the wheel despite the fact that he was feeling unwell, Morgan is guilty of negligence. The suit also accuses him of failing to obey traffic laws, failing to maintain proper control of his vehicle, and driving too fast for the conditions.
“The fad of aggressive diets can be potentially dangerous to not just the person on the diet,” Brian Lathen, an attorney for the Matthies’ estate, says in a statement for People Magazine. “The world lost a wonderful woman, in part, due to a diet. Please talk to a doctor before starting a diet.”
Because the name of the diet the driver was on has been widely publicized, Whole30 cofounder Melissa Hartwig Urban says the program doesn’t encourage dieters to skip meals. Instead, it proposes they try and eat clean (no diary, no legumes, no pastries, no sugar or alcohol, no grains) for 30 days, to offer the body the chance to recover and reboot.
“Our deepest sympathies go out to the Matthies family,” Urban says in a statement for the same publication. “Whole30 has always maintained the importance of eating whenever participants feel hungry, and to avoid skipping meals.”
Morgan, who is named sole defendant in the suit, was not immediately available for comment.
He ran over Matthies, who was pronounced dead at the hospital, but prosecutors didn’t charge him in her death. That doesn’t mean that he wasn’t guilty of it, Matthies’ estate argues in a new lawsuit, obtained by OregonLive.
The estate is seeking $3.6 million in damages, with court documents arguing that Morgan was unfit to drive because of the fad diet he was on. By getting at the wheel despite the fact that he was feeling unwell, Morgan is guilty of negligence. The suit also accuses him of failing to obey traffic laws, failing to maintain proper control of his vehicle, and driving too fast for the conditions.
“The fad of aggressive diets can be potentially dangerous to not just the person on the diet,” Brian Lathen, an attorney for the Matthies’ estate, says in a statement for People Magazine. “The world lost a wonderful woman, in part, due to a diet. Please talk to a doctor before starting a diet.”
Because the name of the diet the driver was on has been widely publicized, Whole30 cofounder Melissa Hartwig Urban says the program doesn’t encourage dieters to skip meals. Instead, it proposes they try and eat clean (no diary, no legumes, no pastries, no sugar or alcohol, no grains) for 30 days, to offer the body the chance to recover and reboot.
“Our deepest sympathies go out to the Matthies family,” Urban says in a statement for the same publication. “Whole30 has always maintained the importance of eating whenever participants feel hungry, and to avoid skipping meals.”
Morgan, who is named sole defendant in the suit, was not immediately available for comment.
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