Bruce Jenner of the "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" fame can possibly face more legal woes in the coming months. The stepchildren of the elderly woman killed in the fatal car accident involving Jenner in February are reportedly gearing up to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the former Olympic champ, media sources revealed.
It will be recalled that Jenner, 65, got involved in a multi-car accident in Malibu that left Kim Howe, 69, dead on February 7.
Jenner at that time was driving a black Cadillac Escalade when he rear-ended Howe's white Lexus, sending it into oncoming traffic where it was struck by a Hummer H2, reported CNN. The collision killed Howe, but there were no other fatalities reported.
Howe, a resident of Calabasas, California, had no direct relatives, said TMZ. Her husband passed away in 2003, and it appears she had no living parents or immediate blood relatives when she died. The ones who are allegedly preparing to file a wrongful death lawsuit are Howe's grown stepchildren who, interestingly, had "virtually no relationship" with the victim, according to TMZ.
Sources told the publication that the stepchildren, both of whom are non-California residents, have sought legal assistance as they are the only remaining people who have a legal right to file a lawsuit for the victim's wrongful death. In the state of California, stepchildren have legal standing to sue, regardless of whether or not they were estranged from the stepparent, the site explained.
In a separate report, however, Howe's stepdaughter is said to have shared "a very real relationship" with the victim. Speaking to ET on Thursday, Atty. Jeffrey D. Wolf, Howe's stepdaughter's lawyer, said his client "had a very real relationship with her stepmother and is deeply saddened by her death."
The lawyer declined to speculate whether his client would sue after the investigation was ended. "We leave it to the police to conduct their investigation and issue a report," he said.
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