HOUSTON –A $7 million lawsuit brought by the father of a woman from Honduras, who sued the U.S. government after his daughter died while on a flight of deportation to Central America, has been dismissed.
Edelberto Herrera Alvarea, also the administrator of the estate of Sinitia Yadira Herrera Castro, filed his lawsuit Sept. 11 in the Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas.
His initial complaint against the government was denied on March 16.
Court records show that on Nov. 23 the U.S. filed a motion to dismiss, stating that “the USA has not waived its sovereign immunity for the tort alleged in the Complaint, and thus this Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction and must dismiss it.”
On Jan. 7 the parties filed an agreed stipulation of dismissal with prejudice. Four days later, an order of dismissal was entered.
According to the complaint, after being detained by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Division of Immigration Health Services in the Laredo Center and then the detention facility in Houston, Herrera Castro was put on board a deportation flight to Honduras, where she was a citizen, June 18, 2012.
The suit says her condition worsened while she was at the facilities, and her requests for help were ignored.
After complaining several times that she did not feel well, she died while on the plane in ICE custody, the lawsuit states, after receiving no medical attention or care while on the plane.
The plaintiff alleged the government and its agents were negligent and reckless in causing the death of his daughter.
Herrera Alvarea was represented by attorney Richard W. Summers of Atlanta.
U.S. attorney Kenneth Magidson represented the U.S.
Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas Case number 4:15-cv-02631