Karen Read asks court to dismiss civil lawsuit filed by family of John O'Keefe
Karen Read is asking for a Massachusetts court to dismiss the civil lawsuit filed against her by the family of Boston police officer John O'Keefe, who she was acquitted of killing last month.
O'Keefe's family filed the wrongful death lawsuit against Read and two Canton bars in August 2024 in Plymouth Superior Court.
Karen Read seeks to dismiss lawsuit
On Wednesday, Read's attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. The filing did not provide additional details on why Read seeks to dismiss the lawsuit.
"Pursuant to Superior Court Rule 9E, the Defendant, Karen Read, hereby notifies the Court that she served a Motion to Dismiss pursuant to Superior Court Rule 9A upon all parties on July 9, 2025," the filing said.
Read was accused of killing O'Keefe, a Boston police officer who she was dating, after a night of heavy drinking in 2022.
In June, she was found not guilty of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol, and leaving the scene of bodily injury and death in the death. Jurors found Read guilty only of operating under the influence.
On July 3, Read added three new attorneys to represent her in the civil case. Aaron Davis, Charles Waters, and Damon Seligson were added to her legal team. Alan Jackson, David Yannetti, Bob Alessi and Elizabeth Little, Read's attorneys from her criminal trial, are not currently involved in her civil case.
Lawsuit filed by John O'Keefe's family
The lawsuit also includes the two bars Read was drinking at on January 28, 2022, C.F. McCarthy's and the Waterfall Bar and Grille in Canton.
The O'Keefe family seeks at least $50,000 in damages for what the lawsuit calls "conscious pain and suffering, fear of impending death, wrongful death, lost value to next of kin, severe and profound emotional distress manifesting in bodily symptoms, and other compensable damages."
In a civil lawsuit, there is a much lower legal standard than what exists in a criminal case like Read's high-profile trial that played out in Norfolk Superior Court.
