A judge for the District Court for the Eastern District Of Texas recently dismissed a wrongful death complaint against Morrisville, N.C.-based DSO Affordable Care.
Family members of Blake Sinclair, DDS, and Jack Burroughs, DDS, alleged in the lawsuit that Affordable Care failed to protect the two dentists from a patient who fatally shot them at a dental office in Tyler, Texas.
On March 16, 2022, Steven Alexander Smith, a patient at the practice, reportedly became angry with the dental office's staff and shot Dr. Sinclair and Dr. Burroughs. Mr. Smith pleaded guilty to the shooting in January.
The judge decided June 10 that the plaintiffs failed to establish foreseeability of the incident and failed to allege that Affordable Care owed the dentists a duty to protect them from criminal acts of a third party.