Parents of Susan Cox Powell win appeal to reinstate $98.5 million negligence verdict against state

The parents of Susan Cox Powell have won an appeal to reinstate a $98.5 million jury verdict against the state of Washington for the pain and suffering of their grandsons who were killed by their father in 2012.

In July 2020, a jury ruled that the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services was negligent in the deaths of Susan’s sons Charlie, 5, and Braden, 7.

Her parents, Judith and Charles Cox, were awarded $57 million per child, but that was reduced by $8.4 million because of Josh Powell’s responsibility for their murders. Josh Powell was the father of the two boys.

The initial verdict was reduced by two-thirds by a court judge to around $32.8 million a few months later.

Judith and Charles Cox brought the case against DSHS, alleging the state didn’t do enough to keep the boys from their father, who killed them in February 2012.

The boys had arrived for a visit supervised by DSHS after Josh Powell lost custody to the grandparents.

Josh Powell bludgeoned the boys with a hatchet then killed them and himself by dousing his home with gasoline and setting it on fire.

Josh Powell was declared a suspect in the disappearance of his wife Susan Cox Powell who disappeared in 2009 in Utah. Her body has never been found.