Courts and Civil Liability

The city of Southfield, a Detroit suburb, has agreed to pay $3.25 million to the family of 20‑year‑old Timesha Beauchamp, who was declared dead at home in August 2020 but was later found gasping for air when funeral-home staff unzipped her body bag. Paramedics had stopped resuscitation efforts and a doctor pronounced her dead over the phone during the early months of the COVID‑19 pandemic; she was then rushed to a hospital and died two months later, after years of litigation in which the city unsuccessfully sought dismissal on governmental immunity grounds. Southfield expressed condolences and called the case an "extraordinarily difficult" situation arising in the context of the global pandemic, while the family’s attorney said medical experts believed she would have survived with immediate hospital care.