PLYMOUTH, Mass. (Court TV) — The wrongful death lawsuit filed against Karen Read is facing delays now that Read is involved in a second lawsuit in a different county.
Karen Read listens to the cross-examination during her retrial at Norfolk Superior Court, Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
Read was acquitted on charges of second-degree murder in the death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, after prosecutors accused her of hitting him with her Lexus and leaving him to die in the snow after a night out drinking. His body was found on the front lawn of a friend and fellow police officer’s home in Canton during a blizzard in the early morning hours of Jan. 29, 2022.
While Read was found not guilty of criminal responsibility, O’Keefe’s family has filed a lawsuit claiming she carries civil liability for his wrongful death and emotional distress. Defendants in that lawsuit also include two bars where Read, O’Keefe and their friends had been out drinking in the hours before his death.
Read, who has steadfastly maintained her innocence in O’Keefe’s death, has pointed to the people who were inside the Canton home as her boyfriend’s killers. At a hearing in September, Read’s attorney said they planned to add additional parties to the lawsuit, including disgraced former trooper Michael Proctor and the group of friends who were inside the house. Those friends included the Albert and McCabe families and Brian Higgins, who testified at Read’s criminal trials.
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“Obviously, we had wanted this to all resolve itself months ago,” Marc Diller, the attorney for the O’Keefe family, said at Friday’s hearing. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t until Monday night that the Defendants withdrew their motion and started on a different track with a different mindset.”
Attorneys Alan Jackson (L) and Marc Diller (R) appear via Zoom for a hearing in the O’Keefe family’s lawsuit against Karen Read. (Court TV)
Instead of adding the parties to the wrongful death lawsuit, Read wound up filing her own lawsuit in a different county, targeting the so-called “House Defendants” as well as the investigators and agencies who she says “framed” her.
Despite the fact that O’Keefe’s lawsuit is in Plymouth County and Read’s lawsuit is in Bristol County, Diller proposed consolidating the discovery for both cases to avoid prejudice and create a more efficient process. The problem, however, is that not all the defendants in Read’s lawsuit have been served.
Tensions rose briefly at the meeting when one of Read’s attorneys, Charles Waters, accused Diller of reading from a script off camera. “I don’t know what he’s talking about, to be candid,” Waters said. “Karen’s statements have been consistent with the lawsuit filed in Bristol.”
Judge Mark Gildea noted that while discovery may overlap between the cases, there will be further delays should the defendants in the Bristol County case file a motion to dismiss. Judge Gildea set the next court date for Dec. 19, where the parties will discuss the status of discovery.
