'Affluenza' teen's family won't pay full rehab fee

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Houston Chronicle

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — The family of a Texas teenager sentenced to probation after killing four people in a drunken-driving wreck will pay for just a fraction of his court-ordered treatment, a court official testified Friday.

Ethan Couch's parents will be charged $1,170 a month for his treatment at the North Texas State Hospital in rural Vernon. The facility That amount would cover less than two days of treatment, which costs $715 a day, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported (http://bit.ly/1qoRLts ).

Couch's case drew national attention due in large part to his defense's argument that his wealthy parents had coddled him into a sense of irresponsibility — a condition that a defense expert called "affluenza."

Couch, 17, killed four people last year when his vehicle rammed into a crowd of people trying to help the driver of a disabled vehicle south of Fort Worth. Investigators said he was driving his family company's pickup truck while drunk and with traces of Valium in his system.

FULL story, more photos, and video at link.


Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/texas/article/Affluenza-teen-s-family-won-t-pay-full-rehab-fee-5396137.php

---

Photo By LM Otero/STF
Tonya Couch, left, and Fred Couch, parents of teenager Ethan Couch, arrive at juvenile court for a hearing about their son's future Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014, in Fort Worth, Texas.

[TeamPooka]

1. Thank goodness no one but the victims will suffer the consequences. #richjustice

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

2. fuckyouenza

[AtheistCrusader]

5. That is perfect.

[passiveporcupine]

13. Yep

My sentiments too. They are too rich for the kid to be responsible for his actions, but too poor on a sliding scale to pay but a small portion of his cost of rehab. If the child doesn't have to pay for his parents faults, why don't they? This really turns my stomach and we are seeing more and more of this lately.

[Blue_Tires]

36. +1

[Newsjock]

3. My religion prevents me from providing services or goods to this child or to his family

Deeply-held beliefs, y'know. It's called humanity.

(Seriously, this whole family deserves to be shunned and shamed everywhere they go.)

[sakabatou]

6. If so, that's even more fucked-up jusice

[Major Nikon]

7. There might be a silver lining in this

More money for the victims after they sue the family into bankruptcy.

[alittlelark]

12. ^^^^THIS^^^^^^

I have a desire to see "affluenza" CURED !!!

[JoeyT]

15. Given that it was a company truck he wrecked

and killed people with while he was fucked up, that lawsuit is going to hurt.

[davidpdx]

18. Was the company owned by his family?

I only know just a bit about the case. If it is I'd imagine the company is going to be going out of business.

[Major Nikon]

21. Yes

It's a privately held corporation owned by the family. Some of the victims have already settled and I'm sure the corporation's insurance is going to pick up quite a bit of the liability. However, I doubt the shitstain's family business is going to survive for very long when their liability insurance will either be unobtainable or prohibitively expensive.

[PeoViejo]

20. They probably have good coverage on the Business

but I like your drift.

I bet the Lawyers see that too, because it will pad their Bottom Line.

[Major Nikon]

22. I'm sure they do

But insurance companies tend to frown on 7 figure settlements. Without insurance their business won't survive.

[former9thward]

25. Suing someone into bankruptcy is never a good idea.

Their debts are discharged. Besides the only one that can be sued are the son. I doubt he has any real assets of his own. I know it was a business truck but was he on the job when it occurred?

[Major Nikon]

28. The parents and the father's business already have been sued

And suing someone into bankruptcy means their assets get liquidated to service the debt.

[former9thward]

29. No it doesn't.

Especially personal assets. Judges rarely allow most of those to be used for debts -- and the laws in most states limit what can be done there. The fact that someone has been sued does not mean anything anyway. Lawyers sue everyone in sight and sees what falls from the tree.

[Major Nikon]

31. Some of the suits have already been settled with the father's business

[exboyfil]

8. Brings to mind the old Creedence song

Fortunate Son:

This has to be a story from The Onion.

Actually this might be more justice than the alternative California facility. I got to think a state facility dedicated to treating severely mentally ill is no horse ranch.

Today North Texas State Hospital operates two sites 55 miles apart in north Texas. The Vernon campus provides forensic services for the entire state of Texas and offers both a 284-bed Maximum Security Program for adults and a 78-bed Adolescent Forensic Program for dually diagnosed youth ages 13-17. The Wichita Falls campus provides general psychiatric inpatient services for child, adolescent, adult, and geriatric patients with a bed capacity of 330.

[PeoViejo]

19. One thing worse than a Mental Hospital

Is a Mental Hospital for the Criminally Insane.

That boy better grow eyes in the back of his head.

[ck4829]

9. So we're clear next time some guy mows down pedestrians and the legal system does nothing...

"Oh, it's Johnny McRichGuy who did that."

"Well gee golly, we can't go after HIM, why enforcing some rich trust fund baby to the same laws as us, that's Marxism!"

Between this guy and the rapist/DuPont heir, it's only a matter of time.

[Control-Z]

14. Heir Dupont never entered

the rehab center he was ordered to.

[Divernan]

27. Rich murderer & Dupont heir who raped preschoolers; it's Game of Thrones!

You have the arrogant, entitled, enabling, very wealthy parents - with the elderly father and his hot younger wife, and their spoiled drug & alcohol abusing son; then you have the DuPont heir who has admitted to raping his own pre-school son and daughter. A real life Game of Thrones, and sickening to the max.

[oldandhappy]

10. Ya think they say nasty stuff about takers??!!

Very real life. Rich boy and rich parents not held to same standard as poor people. Poor boy would be in jail and poor parents would not be able to find a lawyer.

[exboyfil]

11. It looks like at least one of the famly

members is out for justice and not just a payday. They want a jury trial in the civil suit. Hopefully we will be able to understand the family's finances a little better. I wonder along the way if the family members falsified any documents. I sure would love to see them in prison.

"Six civil lawsuits were filed against Couch, his parents and the family’s company, Cleburne Metal Works. All are close to being settled with the exception of one.

Kevin McConnell has said his family will not accept a settlement in their suit and wants a jury trial. He said the family believes there has been a total lack of accountability by anyone in the Couch family.

After Friday’s hearing, McConnell told reporters that he plans to be there for each “step” of the long journey ahead.

“It’s a journey were going to have take as a family and friends of the other victims,” McConnell said. “So it’s just one more step.”"

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/04/11/5730989/troubled-teen-is-being-treated.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

[Major Nikon]

23. The entire family sounds like a bunch of drunks

Both the father and the mother have been in and out of trouble with the law.

[Live and Learn]

16. This simply exposes another a travesty of justice.

Beside the ridiculousness of 'affluenza' being a better defense than poverty, it also brings up the ridiculous costs of rehab fees. Most of these treatment facilities are private and prohibitively expensive for poor or even middle class families. The entire system is utterly unfair and needs to be completely rethought.

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. I hope those undisclosed settlements with victims are taking them for millions

of their money, not an insurance company's. If the idea of the verdict was that their money had spoiled their child to the point of his being unable to be responsible, then their money is a danger, and should be taken away. I'm OK with it going to the victims and not the state, but it should go.

[former9thward]

26. How would that happen?

It is the son not the family driving?

[Major Nikon]

30. Like this...

http://www.fortworthinjuryattorneyblog.com/Petition-Molina.pdf

[muriel_volestrangler]

32. He was a minor (just 16) at the time, and the defense was that his parents' money

had made him unable to act responsibly. Therefore their money is partly responsible for the deaths. For instance, there may be younger siblings who need to grow up without being damaged as he was, or the parents may have future children.

[Major Nikon]

33. He also had previous alcohol convictions and was allowed access to his father's company vehicle

He also didn't have a family member in the front seat as was required by Texas law. There's all sorts of ways the family is liable.

[Sunlei]

24. no personal wealth to afford good Lawyer(s)? you fill our 'for profit' prisons. period.

[NaturalHigh]

34. Wait...

First the little brat is too rich to go to jail, and now his family is too rich to pay the rehab bills? Where do I sign up for a gig like this?

[warrant46]

35. From the sound of the Link

It appears that the Parents are being coy and secretive with financial disclosure of their assets. I imagine this is because they are being sued for punitive damages.

[47of74]

37. This makes me fucking sick.

There are days I hate people.

[yurbud]

38. is there any way to put the judge in the cell that he should have put the kid in?

[yurbud]

39. If the judge really beloved his own ruling, wouldn't he make parents pay full price?

That he didn't shows even he knew it was bullshit