An Oak Harbor man who is being sued by the family of a 15-year-old girl killed in a car crash last year denies that he gave her permission to use his car, according to court documents.
The parents of Grace Horn, who died in the Dec. 2, 2024 accident, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against former Oak Harbor resident Hunter Boone in Island County Superior Court July 31. The lawsuit claimed that Boone, who was 18 years old at the time of the crash, allowed the teenage girl to drive his Dodge Charger and use his DoorDash account even though he knew she was too young to drive.
An attorney representing the family previously said that the two teenagers were in a relationship. The attorney provided the News-Times with copies of texts the two exchanged hours before the tragedy. In a text he wrote “Take the car” and that “It’s cold out.”
When Boone did not respond to the lawsuit, the family’s attorney filed a motion for default. But just before the hearing on the default motion, an attorney representing Boone responded with an answer and affirmative defense.
The answer states that Boone “denies that he gave permission, written or otherwise, for Grace Horn to drive his vehicle.”
Boone admits that he provided Horn with permission to access his parked vehicle on Dec. 1, 2024 “so she would sit in the vehicle following an argument that he and Ms. Horn had as he did not want her to walk alone in the cold at night.”
Horn declined, however, and instead walked to a restaurant where Boone picked her up and drove her home, Boone’s answer states.
Further, he states that Horn had access to his DoorDash account on her phone, which had been installed when his phone was broken.
Boone, who now lives in another county, asks that a judge dismiss the lawsuit and to order the plaintiff to pay attorney’s fees and costs.
Investigative documents obtained through a public records request show that Horn delivered food for DoorDash on Fidalgo Island and later in Coupeville prior to the collision. She was on her way home when she lost control on Highway 20 at the intersection on Libbey Road, left the roadway and struck a power pole. She died at the scene.
