State settles suit over suicide

Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2004 | 9:23 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The state Examiners Board Tuesday approved an out-of-court settlement that includes a $100,000 payment to the family of a Las Vegas woman who committed suicide after being released from the state mental health center in 1999.

Shekira Cook, 19, had been admitted to the Southern Nevada Adult Mental Health Center because she had threatened suicide. She had previous suicide attempts and had a parent who committed suicide.

Deputy Attorney General Suzanne Sliwa told the Examiners Board that Shekira told Dr. Agapito Racoma that she did not want to kill herself but wanted more attention from her husband. The psychiatrist agreed to release her.

A day and a half after her release, she killed herself. A suit was filed by her survivors against the state and the doctor.

Sliwa said the matter was best resolved with a settlement, rather than through a long court case. She said an investigation at the time did not find the doctor did anything wrong. Racoma, the doctor, has since left state service but is also a defendant.

Under the settlement, $50,000 would go to Shekira Cook's husband, David Cook, and $50,000 would be put in a trust for her 5-year-old daughter Ashley.

In other action, the Examiners Board recommended $250,000 be released from an emergency fund to pay for arbitration of Addison Construction of Las Vegas' lawsuit against the state.

Addison was awarded a $14.8 million contract in 1999 by the state Public Works Board to build the veterans home in Boulder City. After disputes between Addison and the state over the project, the company was removed from the job and another firm was called in to complete the work.

Addison sued. Dan O'Brien, general manager of the state Public Works Board, said Addison is seeking "a little over $1 million" from the state.

In May, the Nevada Supreme Court ordered the state to go to binding arbitration with Addison.

The company maintains there were numerous flaws and defects in the design that required extra work to be performed and for which it is owed money. The state says Addison was guilty of code violations and construction defects.

The state hired the law firm of Santoro, Driggs, Walch, Kearney, Johnson & Thompson, and the firm estimates the cost of the three-member panel of arbitrators would be $100,000 and expert witnesses would cost the state $150,000. The fees of the law firm are not included.

The arbitration hearings are expected to start later this year.

The $250,000 expenditure still needs the approval of the Legislative Interim Finance Committee.