Slipknot bassist Paul Gray’s daughter October can proceed with a lawsuit against a Des Moines doctor over her father’s overdose death, the Iowa Supreme Court has ruled.
According to the Des Moines Register, the first-of-its kind case will see October head to court against Dr Daniel Baldi for the loss of her father’s love and emotional support — known as loss of consortium — even though she was still in her mother’s womb when Gray died of a drug overdose in May 2010.
Justice Daryl Hecht noted in his ruling that Gray’s daughter could still suffer the emotional effects of her father’s death after her birth, making her claim eligible to be decided by a jury.
Hecht wrote: “Whatever deprivation of consortium she is currently experiencing is no less real just because she did not experience it while in utero.”
Baldi had previously been acquitted of seven counts of manslaughter in a 2014 trial over the Slipknot bassist’s death in an Iowa hotel at the age of 38.
The Iowa Supreme Court also upheld a District Court judge’s 2014 ruling that a wrongful death lawsuit against Baldi by Gray’s widow, Brenna, was initiated too late under the state’s two-year filing rule and should not be allowed to proceed to trial.