Lexington surgeon charged with manslaughter now faces wrongful death lawsuit
The Lexington surgeon charged with manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a man at his home last year now faces a wrongful death lawsuit from the victim's family.
Attorneys for Dr. Adam Lazzarini, however, are asking that the civil suit be put on hold until the criminal charges against him are resolved.
Lazzarini is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the October 2017 shooting death of 30-year-old William Player Holland. Police have said Lazzarini was under the influence of alcohol when he pointed a handgun at Holland's chest and fired it, killing him. He also faces a charge of obstruction of justice for lying to investigators, according to warrants.
Sheron Holland, the victim's mother, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Lazzarini last week in Lexington County Circuit Court that alleges negligence, recklessness and willful and wanton conduct by Lazzarini in her son's death.
Player Holland, a pharmaceutical device salesman, was a guest at Lazzarini's home on Hunters Mill Drive in Cayce the night of Oct. 9, 2017, according to the summons and complaint. Lazzarini invited Holland into a bedroom to look at some guns that were locked in a safe.
At that point, Lazzarini removed a firearm "or multiple firearms" from the safe, pointed one of the guns at Holland and pulled the trigger, the lawsuit states. The coroner's office said Holland died at the scene.
Members of Lazzarini's family were at the home that night, and "at least one additional person" was in the bedroom with Lazzarini and Holland when the shooting happened, the lawsuit states. It does not identify who else was in the room with them.
The suit says Holland experienced fear and apprehension before he was shot, in addition to "conscious pain and suffering and apprehension of his death after he was shot and up to, and including, the moment of his death."
Holland's mother, who is represented by Columbia attorney Temus Miles Jr. of The McKay Law Firm, is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.
In an answer filed Thursday afternoon, Columbia attorneys Eric Bland and Ronald Richter deny the allegations against Lazzarini and the claim that Holland's family is entitled to recover damages.
"The conduct of the Defendant is not the proximate cause of the Plaintiff's alleged injuries, and any injuries or damages complained of by the Plaintiff was proximately caused by one or more independent and intervening causes," the answer states.
Lazzarini's attorneys also filed a motion to stay the proceedings and limit discovery in the civil case until the criminal case is resolved. The motion states that refusing to grant the stay would impose "a two-pronged hardship" on Lazzarini, who would have to use his limited financial resources to fight the criminal charges and civil litigation simultaneously and also have his Fifth Amendment rights violated.
"Certainly, Dr. Lazzarini grieves for the Hollands for the loss of their son," Bland told The State on Thursday. "He was a very good friend of Dr. Lazzarini, and Dr. Lazzarini has to live with the fact that this man died in his house in front of him for the rest of his life."
Cayce police said shortly after Holland's death that the shooting appeared to be accidental, and Bland said they had it right then.
"Those are the perils of handling a handgun when you may not have the skill sets to use it," he said. He added that Lazzarini, who did not have a South Carolina concealed-weapons permit, did have concealed-carry permits in Connecticut and California, and also had "significant, significant" experience in handling firearms in training and target practice.
"Dr. Lazzarini intends to vigorously defend this," Bland said. "He does not believe he has culpability for the death of Mr. Holland."
Lazzarini, who worked at the Southern Orthopedics and Sports Medicine center at Lexington Medical Center, resigned from the hospital last month. His medical license was suspended by the S.C. Board of Medical Examiners after he was charged, but the board later restored his license, saying Lazzarini is in good standing.
On the day Lazzarini turned himself in to face charges in Holland's death, his wife, Vanessa Biery, was found dead in their Cayce home. Investigators have said her death is suspicious and related to the shooting death of Holland.
Attorneys for Lazzarini told The State last month that a second autopsy ruled out foul play in Biery's death and showed she likely died of natural causes. However, Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher said in response to the lawyers' comments that the official autopsy results are still pending, and that "no apparent evidence was found to indicate that Mrs. Biery's death was natural."
This story was originally published June 21, 2018 at 3:55 PM with the headline "Lexington surgeon charged with manslaughter now faces wrongful death lawsuit."