Around New England

Wrongful Death Lawsuit in Texting Suicide Case Dismissed, But Details Not Revealed

April 11, 2019

A wrongful death lawsuit filed by the mother of a Mattapoisett man who killed himself after being urged by text to do so by a female Plainville teen-ager has been dismissed, but the mother isn’t saying how the case was resolved.

Lynn Roy, mother of Conrad Roy, filed a $4.2 million lawsuit against Michelle Carter in 2017, about three years after her son killed himself in a parking lot in Fairhaven after having second thoughts about it.

At the time of his death in July 2014, Conrad Roy was 18, while his friend Michelle Carter was 17. Carter repeatedly urged Roy to follow through with his oft-stated interest in ending his life, even after Roy expressed second thoughts about it.

A district court judge convicted Carter of involuntary manslaughter in June 2017. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld the conviction this past February, and she began serving a 15-month sentence.

A lawyer for Lynn Roy told The Boston Herald that the case had been “resolved,” but didn’t say in what circumstances. Court papers say the case has been dismissed with prejudice, meaning that the plaintiff can’t refile it, according to The Boston Herald. One possibility is an out-of-court settlement.