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Parents in Thayer lawsuit seek protective order
Defendant John Bundy allegedly ‘threatened and harassed’ them
Steve Rock
Kansas City Star
October 7, 2005
ST. JOSEPH — The parents of a boy who died at a northwest
Missouri military-type home for troubled teens have asked for a
protective order against the home’s owners.
Victor and Gracia Reyes alleged in recent court filings that John
Bundy, who owns Thayer Learning Center with his wife, Willa Bundy,
made an unannounced visit to the Reyes’ home in Santa Rosa, Calif.,
in July and “threatened and harassed” the Reyeses.
The motion for a protective order, filed last week in Buchanan
County Circuit Court, said John Bundy and his son Isaac Bundy
encouraged the Reyeses to settle their wrongful-death lawsuit
against Thayer.
Roberto Reyes, 15, died in November 2004 while a resident at
Thayer, about 50 miles northeast of Kansas City in Kidder, Mo. He
had been there less than two weeks, and his death has been
attributed to a probable spider bite.
Rhonda Smiley, an attorney for Thayer, said Thursday that she
would have no comment until attorneys file a formal response with
the court next week. John and Willa Bundy have denied in court
records any wrongdoing in conjunction with Roberto’s death, and
Thayer officials previously said in a written statement to The
Kansas City Star that general allegations of abuse at Thayer were
“ludicrous and false.”
According to the motion, the Bundys indicated they “would be
forced to investigate all family members in an attempt to uncover
any embarrassing or personal information which would then be
publicized through the litigation” if the lawsuit continued.
The Reyeses alleged in their wrongful-death lawsuit, filed in
February, that Roberto was subjected to physical exertion and abuse
that caused or contributed to his death. They alleged that Roberto
was dragged, hit, “forced to lay in his own excrement for extended
periods” and that he would have lived had he received competent
medical care in a timely manner.
In court records, Thayer officials deny those and other
allegations.
According to an affidavit signed by Victor Reyes and entered into
the court file, John and Isaac Bundy told the Reyeses they were in
California on business when they showed up at the Reyeses’ home
about 7 p.m. on July 27. The Bundys said that they were sorry for
what happened to Roberto and that they did not wish to see the
Reyeses hurt further. They said that if the lawsuit continued,
however, they would seek any information that would cause
“embarrassment, hurt and anguish” to the Reyeses, the affidavit
said.
The affidavit said the Bundys indicated that the embarrassment
could be avoided if the Reyeses reached a settlement “outside our
lawyers’ knowledge” and that the Reyeses “would be able to keep all
the money and not have to give the lawyers any of it.”
No dollar amounts were listed in court records.
“We felt threatened and scared that the Bundys would try to
embarrass us and cause our family further hurt,” Victor Reyes wrote
in the affidavit.
The Reyeses asked that all defendants in the case — including
their agents and employees — be required to stay 100 feet from the
Reyeses and be ordered to refrain from contacting them by any means.
There are seven defendants in the case: Thayer, two affiliated
businesses and four employees of Thayer at the time of Roberto’s
death.The case is scheduled to go to trial in June.
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