Chapter Sixteen:Kathy Kohm:Seeking Justice

 Chapter 16

    Retired FBI agent turned Private Investigator, Bob Duvall, was contacted by the Kohm family early on in the search for Kathy.  The family was frustrated by the lack of progress by police and felt a private investigator might be able to help. Duvall had assisted where he could.  He tried to prepare the family for the worst. He also encouraged the family to hire a lawyer. 

    After Kathy was found and everyone’s worst fears were confirmed; Duvall was crushed along with everyone else.  When no charges were filed by Spencer County Prosecutor John Hargis, Duvall began to talk to the best legal minds he knew searching for some recourse for Kathy’s family. 

    Duvall approached an old lawyer friend, Hugo Songer, and asked him to meet Rosemary and Bill Kohm. Songer had followed the disappearance of Kathy in the news along with the rest of the public. After meeting the devastated grieving family;Songer decided to get involved and they began to discuss the possibility of a civil trial.

    Today we are all familiar with the O.J. Simpson murder trial and the subsequent civil trial.  O.J. was acquitted in a criminal trial for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.  The families of the victims then chose to seek some sort of justice in a civil court.  They sued O.J. Simpson in a civil trial. The families felt that there was enough circumstantial evidence to find him liable for the deaths of the two victims despite the fact that a jury had not been able to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.  O.J. was found guilty and ordered to pay a large settlement. For the families there was a feeling of some justice being done.

    In 1981, however, this type of civil court suit was almost unheard of in a situation like this. Some reporters, lawyers and legal scholars questioned the legality of bringing a lawsuit against a person who had not been criminally charged. Some were even outraged that the civil suit was going forward. After a thorough review by the court; the civil trial was set to proceed. 

    


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