Parents file lawsuit in teen’s drug death

Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2005 | 11:17 a.m.

The parents of a 16-year-old Boulder City girl who died of a drug overdose in June 2004 have filed a lawsuit holding her daughter's teenage friend and her parents liable for her death.

The lawsuit filed by Chris Sisney of Boulder City and his wife, Melissa Plemmons, of Henderson seeks $108,000 for the medical bills of their daughter, Jessica Sisney, who died June 30, 2004, at Sunrise Children's Hospital, and unspecified other damages.

The parents are suing Stephen and Marilyn Provenza and their teenage daughter, Jillian, a friend of Sisney. The two neighborhood friends were students together at Boulder City High School.

The lawsuit filed by Boulder City attorney Hamilton Moore accuses the parents of allowing or encouraging their daughter to have access to or use of prescription drugs and alcohol kept in their Boulder City home. The daughter gave drugs and alcohol to Sisney, who died from ingesting them, the lawsuit alleges. The lawsuit also claims the Provenzas did nothing to help Sisney when she fell ill.

The Provenzas could not be reached for comment.

A medical examiner in the Clark County coroner's office listed Sisney's cause of death as opiate intoxication, brain damage from a lack of oxygen and bronchopneumonia. A toxicology report on June 21, 2004, when Sisney was taken to Boulder City Hospital, showed she had opiates, marijuana and alcohol in her system, a police report said.

In Sisney's room, police discovered three bottles of Vodka and a Pepsi can made into a homemade pipe for smoking marijuana, according to the police report.

Jill Provenza told police that she obtained eight Hydrocodone pills, a pain reliever, from a friend on June 18, 2004, the police report said. She and Sisney drove to Albertsons in Boulder City where they stole a can of energy drink to help them each take four of the Hydocodone pills, the report said. Sisney also took the pain pill Soma that she already had with her, the police report said.

The following day, the two friends smoked marijuana and drank alcohol with two other friends at Lake Mead, the police report said. Sisney went home sometime during the early morning hours of June 20, 2004. Jill Provenza told police she called Sisney twice but did not get an answer and got permission from her mother at 6:45 p.m. to leave home and go check on her friend, the police report said.

Provenza said when she got to the house, no one answered, so she walked into the home. She found Sisney lying on the bed, appearing to sleep, the police report said. She said Sisney looked pale, had purple fingertips and had a crusty substance coming out of her mouth, the report said.

When Sisney would not wake up, Provenza called Sisney's brother, but did not contact police or paramedics, the report said. Sisney's brother talked with his dad and he drove home and rushed her to the hospital emergency room shortly after 7 p.m.

Moore said he expects the defense will argue that Sisney bears full responsibility for taking any drugs or alcohol, but that doesn't dismiss that someone supplied her, which led to her death.

Moore compared the lawsuit to those filed by parents of a child who is killed because a homeowner doesn't secure a handgun.

"We are trying to open people's eyes," Moore said. "They should take the same precautions as when a loaded gun is left in the house with a kid that is off balance."

The Provenzas had received 136 prescriptions for Lortab, a pain killer, and similar drugs over the years by seeing multiple doctors, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also alleges negligence by the Provenzas, accusing them of telling their daughter not to get involved after she went to Sisney's home and found her friend passed out.

The lawsuit draws even more attention to drug use in Boulder City.

Sisney's overdose death in June 2004 got little attention at the time, but City Attorney Dave Olsen has cited that case, along with the drug overdose of Boulder High School football player Johnny Aquino in 2003, as one of the reasons for filing a lawsuit to seize Cynthia Warren's home, which city officials estimate will fetch $400,000 at an auction.

Boulder City accused Warren of selling marijuana out of her home, but she pleaded guilty to misdemeanor drug possession, sparking community debate over whether the attempt to seize her home is appropriate.

Warren's alleged drug case had nothing to do with the death of the two teens, police said. But city officials said they wanted to make an example out of her that selling drugs in Boulder City won't be tolerated.

Boulder City Police declined to comment on the Sisney lawsuit.

No charges have been filed in Sisney's death. Boulder City Police Detective Joe Ebert said the case is suspended until there are more positive leads that would allow them to seek prosecution.

If someone gives or sells drugs to another person and they die, they can face second-degree murder charges, he said.

"We did not have probable cause to charge someone," Ebert said. "We have beliefs, but it takes probable cause to charge somebody."

Moore said he doesn't fault police for charges not being filed because they have a higher burden of proof in a criminal case. Also, they can't force anyone to talk, but the parties will be required to testify in civil proceedings, he said.

He said Sisney's parents, who don't want to comment, remain distraught over their daughter's death and need to know the truth.

"They want to know what happened," Moore said. "The police haven't been able to find out, but we intend to find out what happened and keep after it until the last stone is unturned."

Ann McGinley, a law professor at UNLV's Boyd Law School, said such cases are rare. Typically, parents aren't responsible for their children unless the parents are negligent themselves, McGinley said. The parents could be found negligent in this case if they had reason to believe their daughter was taking prescription medications and giving them to someone else.

"If the facts in the case demonstrated that they did provide drugs to their daughter intentionally or negligently and because of this, someone died, there is a very good cause of action. A jury could reasonably find that they were responsible."

In 2003 the family of Danielle Heird, a 21-year-old Henderson woman who died of an overdose of Ecstasy, settled a lawsuit filed three years earlier against the Venetian, where the girl had spent a night of partying. The lawsuit said the hotel had an obligation to provide a safe environment for patrons.

The lawsuit also named a man who sold the drug to her and another who was aware of the purchase. One case against the men was settled and the other defaulted, said Las Vegas attorney E. Brent Bryson, who represented the Heird family.

"The issue will be what the parents knew and whether it was reasonable that it was foreseeable that something like this could happen," Bryson said. "These cases are always difficult."

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