NEWARK — The city paid a Garfield woman $80,000 to settle a lawsuit she filed claiming the Newark police department did not inform her of her son’s death in 2007, according to court records.
The November 2016 settlement was first reported by NJ Civil Settlements, a blog that provides a partial list of settlements paid out on behalf of government agencies in civil lawsuits.
The lawsuit, filed by Zdenka Simkova, alleged that Newark police found the body of her son Michael Simkova in 2007, and positively identified him through fingerprints. But Simkova said she did not find out about her son’s death until 2012 when he had already been buried in a grave for the unclaimed for more than four years, the court papers show.
Zdenka Simkova said in her lawsuit that Newark police did not allow her to file a missing persons report for her son on two occasions, and both times told her they had recently seen her son alive — even though his body had already been found.
Simkova was told by the New York Police Department, where she filed a missing persons report, of her son’s death in 2012.
Both the city and the police department said they do not comment on settlements.
The settlement is not an admission of guilt.
Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook.
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