Judge Dismisses Part of Hunter Tylo's Wrongful Death Suit

By Lorenzo Benet

Saturday March 01, 2008 01:40 PM EST

Hunter Tylo

Jill Johnson/JPI

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Las Vegas district court judge Timothy Williams has dismissed a portion of a lawsuit filed by actress Hunter Tylo against a therapist who was counseling her 19-year-old son, Michael Tylo II, prior to his drowning last October.

The Bold and the Beautiful star filed the suit in the form of a Jan. 24 amendment to an April 2006 malpractice lawsuit filed against Henderson, Nev., therapist Shanna Downing, who was working with several members of the Tylo family in 2004 and 2005.

Downing countered the wrongful death lawsuit with a motion to exclude Michael Tylo II as a party in the legal action, and Tylo was required to respond to Downing's motion by Feb. 11, but she missed the filing deadline.

"To date, no opposition has been filed," court papers state.

While the judge agreed to dismiss Michael Tylo II as a party in the wrongful death action, his estate remains a party in the earlier malpractice lawsuit, set for trial in the fall.

Downing's attorney, Michael Shannon, had no comment. Tylo attorney Patricia Vaccarino was unavailable for comment.