PLYMOUTH, Mass. (Court TV) — John O’Keefe’s family has bolstered its legal team in their wrongful death lawsuit against Karen Read by adding California-based attorney Bibi Fell, a move that could significantly impact the civil case’s outcome.
Karen Read appears in court for a hearing in a civil lawsuit filed against her by the O’Keefe family on Sept. 22, 2025. (Court TV)
Fell, who founded the Fell Law Firm and focuses on catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases, brings substantial experience to the O’Keefe team. She secured the second-largest personal injury verdict in California in 2018, worth over $100 million, and obtained a $5 million settlement after a child was hit while riding a bike.
The civil lawsuit, filed by O’Keefe’s mother, father, brother and niece, names Read along with two bars the couple and their friends visited before O’Keefe’s death in January 2022. The suit alleges the same events that criminal prosecutors alleged: that Read was drunk, drove her SUV, hit O’Keefe and left him to die in the snow outside a fellow officer’s home in Canton, Massachusetts.
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Read was acquitted of murder charges in her criminal trial but was convicted of driving under the influence and sentenced to probation. The civil case operates under a significantly lower burden of proof than the criminal proceedings.
Read’s legal team has also strengthened its position by adding attorney Alan Jackson to help with the civil case. Jackson previously represented Read during her criminal proceedings.
This undated photograph provided by the Boston Police Department shows officer John O’Keefe, 46, of Canton, Mass. (Boston Police Department)
In a recent court hearing, Judge Daniel O’Shea dismissed one claim of negligent infliction of emotional distress on behalf of O’Keefe’s niece but allowed other claims of reckless and intentional infliction of emotional distress to proceed. The judge pointed not to O’Keefe’s death itself, but to Read’s alleged narrative surrounding his death and her collaboration with blogger Aidan Kearney, known as Turtleboy, who accused the O’Keefe family of being involved in a cover-up.
The parties are scheduled to return to court in November, with discovery continuing until December of next year. No trial date has been set.
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