SANTA MONICA (CNS) - A judge said today she is inclined to pare a lawsuit filed on behalf of the 11-year-old daughter of a Playboy model dubbed "The Queen of Snapchat," who died in 2016 after a West Hollywood chiropractor visit left her with a torn artery in her neck.
However, Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Elaine W. Mandel did not immediately rule in the suit involving the death of Katie May, saying she was taking the case under submission.
The suit was brought on the girl's behalf in June 2017 by her father against chiropractor Eric Marc Swartz and Back to Total Health Inc., alleging causes of action that include wrongful death, professional negligence, negligent misrepresentation and that Swartz failed to disclose all information material to May's decision to undergo a medical procedure.
Swartz's lawyer, Michael J. DeFuria, filed a motion to dismiss the latter two claims, but the judge said she was inclined to toss only the one for negligent misrepresentation, writing that there was no evidence Swartz made false representations to May.
The judge said she was inclined to let the other cause of action go before a jury.
"There is a triable issue as to whether defendant adequately disclosed all material information, including potential risks, prior to the manipulation," Mandel wrote in her tentative ruling.
Plaintiff's attorney Ronald Richards said it would be a "big victory" if Mandel adopts her tentative ruling because it would leave the most important claims in the case.
May died on Feb. 4, 2016. The lawsuit states that the coroner's report "confirms that the cause of death is due to infarction of the brain... due to blunt force trauma of (the) neck."
Los Angeles Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said previously that a chiropractor shifted May's neck, tearing her left vertebral artery and blocking the blood flow to her brain.
May went to the defendants' office for a neck adjustment, and was later taken to a hospital after complaining of dizziness and weakness, according to the lawsuit.
"May was not conscious when her parents finally arrived at the hospital in Los Angeles," the suit says. "Her parents were never able to speak to her again."
At the time of her death, May had nearly 2 million Instagram followers and was named "The Queen of Snapchat." She modeled for Sports Illustrated, GQ and Playboy.