Relatives of Couple Killed by Tree on Merritt Parkway Suing State

The relatives of a couple who died in 2007 when a 70-foot pine tree fell on their car as they drove on the Merritt Parkway in Westport — crushing them but sparing their two children in the back seat — are reportedly pressing on with their wrongful death suit against the state for a total of $15 million.

As per a report in the Hartford Courant, the separate estates bringing the suit claim state inspectors were negligent in failing to recognize that the tree had some decay, which in turn resulted in it falling on the Volvo XC90 SUV, killing Joseph J. Stavola, a physician and clinical research director for a biomedical research company, and his wife, Jeanne C. Serocke-Stavola, a corporate attorney for Quest Diagnostics, on the night of June 9, 2007. The couple's sons, James and William, then 7 and 9, survived the accident and reportedly witnessed their parents deaths.

The case has rekindled the debate over the that line the , including whether it should be that could fall and cause an accident — and whether a tree falling is considered an "act of god" or a preventable event.

Accidents caused by trees falling on the Merritt Parkway are relatively common: when their vehicle struck a tree that had fallen across the parkway near Exit 42 in Westport; in June a ; and near Exit 44 caused a multi-vehicle crash with no injuries.