The motion of NASCAR star, Tony Stewart's counsel to move the case from a state court to a federal court has been recently granted as the "wrongful death lawsuit" is now bound to go on trial before the sala of U.S. District Judge David Hurd on October this year.
Stewart has been charged for the death of Kevin Ward, Jr. after his car bumped onto the latter resulting to the 20 year-old's fatal crash into a wall. A grand jury declined the conviction of the three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion after a toxicology report revealed that Ward had marijuana in his system when he approached Stewart's car on the day of the accident.
Fox News reported that Stewart's lawyer, Brian Gwitt, filed for the transfer since his client lives in Indiana and the Wards are residents of New York. The lawsuit was filed two days prior to the anniversary of Ward's Aug. 9 death during the Empire Super Sprints race at Canandaigua, NY Motorsports Park.
Kevin Sr. and Pamela Ward filed for a jury trial seeking for unspecified monetary damages against the Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner accusing the latter of reckless conduct and gross negligence that resulted to the young NASCAR driver's death last year. The lawsuit stated that Stewart could have acted with prudence to prevent bumping onto Ward and noted in the same pleading of Stewart's reputation of having a bad temper as per Foxsport.
Meanwhile an ESPN report stated that Stewart contended that the incident was "100 percent an accident".
The Wards have previously expressed their hope for Stewart's conviction in order to hold him responsible for the death of their son and to further show him that the recklessness he had had resulted into the death of another life which consequences should be dealt with by him.
