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Published Wednesday | September 5, 2007
Lawsuit filed in fatal Sarpy boat crash
BY JOE DEJKA
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

The son of a couple killed in a Sarpy County boating accident has filed a
wrongful-death lawsuit against the boat driver and the private lake
association.

Authorities say Kenneth Tonn was under the influence of alcohol July 15
while operating the boat that struck and killed David and Kathleen Gilfillan
of Bellevue on Hanson Lake No. 2.

Scott Gilfillan of Peoria, Ariz., on behalf of his parents' estate, is suing
Tonn as well as the Eastern Sarpy County Lake Improvement Association,
alleging the association had a duty to keep the lake safe for everyone on
the water.

The lawsuit seeks funeral expenses and unspecified damages for loss of
comfort and companionship.

Tonn, 60, declined to comment Tuesday on the lawsuit.

Attempts to reach the association for comment were unsuccessful.

Tonn is charged in Sarpy County Court with manslaughter in the death of
Kathleen Gilfillan, 57. He also is charged with second-degree assault in
connection with injuries to David Gilfillan, 61, who died 11 days later. The
Sarpy County attorney is seeking to upgrade that charge to manslaughter.

Tonn, who lives at the lake, had a blood-alcohol level of .177 percent —
more than twice Nebraska's legal limit of .08 percent — at the time of the
crash, authorities have said.

The couple's son and two daughters are "devastated," their attorney, Timothy
O'Brien, said Tuesday.

"Like any tragedy, they're dealing with it best they can," O'Brien said.

According to the lawsuit filed last week in Sarpy County District Court,
David and Kathleen Gilfillan were seated on the rear of a boat beached on
shore when Tonn lost control of his boat and struck them.

Tonn was steering a 16-foot white 1974 Invader motorboat through a channel
about 265 feet wide, with boat docks jutting out on either side.

He was towing a raft on which his wife and 10-year-old granddaughter were
riding. The rope became entangled on the boat, and Tonn apparently turned
away from the boat controls for 10 to 15 seconds, authorities said.

The lawsuit alleges that Tonn failed to keep a proper lookout, operated a
boat while drunk and failed to control the boat.

It also alleges that the deaths occurred as a direct result of the lake
association's negligence.

The association, the lawsuit says, allowed Tonn to drive drunk, failed to
monitor and control watercraft on the lake, failed to ensure that boaters
complied with the Nebraska Safe Boating Act and allowed unsafe boat
operation though they had knowledge it was going on.