
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, September 17, 1995                   TAG: 9509180074
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FAIRFAX                                LENGTH: Medium

COUPLE SUING NANNY, AGENCY IN BABY'S DEATH

A Loudoun County couple who contend a Dutch nanny shook their baby to death have filed a $7.3 million lawsuit against the woman and the agency that provided the baby sitter.

The suit contends the agency was negligent in screening and selecting au pairs, including Anna-Corina Peeze, who in April entered a plea agreement in connection with the death of 8-week-old Brenton Scott Devonshire. A month earlier, a Loudoun Circuit Court jury deadlocked over whether Peeze had killed the baby.

The suit alleges that EurAupair International Inc., of Laguna Beach, Calif., intentionally made false claims about its screening process of the foreign students it selected as au pairs, and it describes Peeze's alleged actions against the baby as ``grossly negligent, reckless and wanton conduct.''

The lawsuit was filed Friday in Fairfax County Circuit Court.

When contacted by The Washington Post on Friday, EurAupair receptionist Kelli Leggett said agency officials were traveling and could not be reached for comment.

The child's parents, Sharon and Stephen Devonshire, also were unavailable for comment, said their attorney, William O. Snead III.

Snead said the company's lack of adequate screening procedures made the trustworthiness and dependability of nannies ``purely a function of chance and luck.''

Peeze began working as an au pair for the Devonshires in late July 1994, according to the lawsuit. The couple paid EurAupair $3,800 for its services. Brenton died Aug. 6, four days after Peeze shook him violently when he would not stop crying, authorities said. He suffered a severe brain injury and was in a coma until he died.

Peeze, who was 19 at the time, returned to Amsterdam in April after entering an Alford plea, in which she did not plead guilty to misdemeanor child abuse but acknowledged that the evidence was strong enough to convict her. The agreement required her to serve 12 months on probation there and undergo psychological counseling.

Peeze entered a plea rather than face a possible 10-year prison sentence if convicted in a retrial on charges of involuntary manslaughter.

Since Brenton's death, the federal agency regulating the foreign baby-sitter program has enacted new guidelines aimed at preventing abuses.

EurAupair is one of the eight agencies authorized by the U.S. Information Agency to recruit au pairs and process applications. There are an estimated 10,000 au pairs working in this country, federal officials said.

USIA officials would not comment on the lawsuit.

The Devonshires are seeking $7 million in compensatory damages from EurAupair and Peeze, as well as $350,000 in punitive damages against EurAupair alone.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB