Cassondra Chappell Files $50 Million Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against City of Seattle
Cassondra Chappell did not bury her son quietly, and she is not seeking quiet justice.
The mother of D’Vonne Pickett Jr. has filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against the City of
Seattle, the Seattle Fire Department, and the City’s 911 emergency response system, alleging that
negligence and systemic failure cost her son his life. The lawsuit is brought by Cassondra Chappell
individually and on behalf of the Estate of D’Vonne Pickett Jr., and it lays bare a truth Black families in
Seattle know too well: violence may pull the trigger, but institutional failure often delivers the final blow.
D’Vonne Pickett Jr. was a 31-year-old father and business owner. He was shot at the intersection of
Martin Luther King Jr. Way and East Union Street. What happened after the shooting is at the center of
this lawsuit. According to the complaint, emergency medical care was delayed due to dispatch errors
and failures within Seattle’s 911 system and the Seattle Fire Department. Those lost minutes, the suit
alleges, were not incidental. They were fatal.
This lawsuit asserts claims for wrongful death, survivorship damages, and negligence. Wrongful death
addresses the profound loss suffered by the family. Survivorship damages focus on the pain and
suffering D’Vonne Pickett Jr. endured between injury and death. Negligence strikes at the core of the
case: a duty existed, that duty was breached, and that breach caused irreversible harm.
The complaint challenges Seattle’s emergency response infrastructure and raises serious questions
about systemic failures that disproportionately impact Black communities. It demands accountability
from institutions entrusted with preserving life and asserts that symbolic gestures and internal reviews
are no longer sufficient.
Cassondra Chappell’s lawsuit seeks justice not only for her son, but for every family forced to ask why
help did not arrive in time. It insists that D’Vonne Pickett Jr.’s life had value, that his suffering mattered,
and that the City of Seattle must answer for its conduct in a court of law. The Family didn’t even have enough
money for D’vonne head stone. Which then Seattle city Mayor Bruce Harrell said he would cover all cost of
the burial.
