Plaintiffs can seek punitive damages in Aaron Hernandez wrongful death lawsuit, judge says

The families of two men allegedly killed by Aaron Hernandez can seek extra compensation known as punitive damages in their pending lawsuit against the estate of the former New England Patriots star, a judge ruled Thursday.

Lawyers for Hernandez’s estate had filed a motion to dismiss claims for punitive damages brought by the families of Safiro Furtado and Daniel de Abreu. Suffolk Superior Court Judge Douglas H. Wilkins denied the motion on Thursday.

Punitive damages refer to extra compensation above actual damages, meant to punish a defendant whose actions are deemed in civil court to be particularly egregious.

The victims’ families allege in their lawsuit that Hernandez killed Furtado and de Abreu in a drive-by shooting in Boston in 2012. A Suffolk jury cleared Hernandez of killing the men during a criminal trial in April. Hernandez hanged himself in his prison cell days later.

The once-promising tight end had been serving a life sentence for the June 2013 fatal shooting of Odin L. Lloyd, a Dorchester man who dated the sister of Hernandez’s fiancee. A Bristol County judge vacated Hernandez’s first-degree murder conviction in the Lloyd case after his suicide, since he had not yet exhausted his appeals. Prosecutors are challenging that decision.

Lloyd’s family also has a wrongful death lawsuit pending against Hernandez’s estate.

It remains unclear what assets would be available to the plaintiffs, should they prevail in their suits.

The families of all three murder victims have attachments on a North Attleboro home, valued at more than $1 million, that Hernandez shared with his fiancée and young daughter.

But George Leontire, a lawyer for the estate, has asserted that Hernandez’s daughter is entitled to a $500,000 homestead exemption on any sale of the property.

Leontire has also said that Hernandez had about $200,000 in two retirement accounts at the time of his death.

Separately, lawyers for the plaintiffs’ families have called on the Patriots to provide financial compensation to their clients. The team has not responded publicly to those entreaties.